Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Last night Mr Pretenteris, a well known Greek TV journalist, hosted in his political talk show some key exponents of the Socialist party (PASOK), New Democracy (the right wing party in opposition), SYRIZA, a smaller left wing party and LAOS, a small extreme right wing party, together with the president of the national power company (DEH) workers’ union, Mr. Fotopoulos. A  former PASOK-bred trade unionist, Mr. Fotopoulos, now fiercely opposing the government’s plan for semi-privatising DEH, was verbally attacked during the talk show but the representatives of New Democracy (Mr. Panayiotopoulos) and LAOS (Mr. Voridis) and even by Mr. Pretenderis himself.

He was asked to explain to the citizens why DEH is on strike, why the country faces hourly power interruptions (because of the strike) and he is up in arms, when the government’s plan is to keep the company under public management (the government’s plan is to keep the ownership of approx. 30% of DEH’s shares compared to the current 51% but also to keep the company under public management). Interestingly, Mr. Chryssochoidis of PASOK had to do no talking as all was said an even if politely at the same time quite strongly by the main opposition parties (with the exception of SYRIZA who is also against the government’s plan). Actually when eventually Mr Chryssochoidis talked it was mainly to praise Mr Fotopoulos career as a trade union activist and as an honest man.

Indeed it was clear that Mr Chryssochoidis was trying to soften Mr Fotopoulos and his trade union for the interest of the government and the bill to be voted while in reality many people (including myself) would share the view that Mr Fotopoulos is one of the worse examples of trade unionists that Greece has to give. A person that made politics his job and that has continuously threatened to black-out the country whenever he felt that any government was threatening DEH’s monopoly and the trade union’s rule within it. Always in the name of the people and of cheap power (that is actually not so cheap, while service is often poor) he has been blackmailing one government after another.

However, yesterday’s talk was very interesting not because it exposed Mr Fotopoulos and his union’s selfish behaviour. It is nothing new in the way Greek trade unions behave – they will fight till the last privilege – interpreted as a fundamental workers’ right – while the ship (the country, that is) is… shinking (we have seen this of course in the case of the privatisation of the national airline, Olympic Airways. The company was eventually privatised, despite the strikes and the shouting of the trade unions, and its former staff got very good deals, at the expense of the tax payer’s pocket – but none seems to remember this any more!). What is new is this transversal tacit alignment of ‘left wing’ (PASOK, in goverment) and ‘right wing’ (New Democracy and LAOS, in opposition) forces towards some important reforms.

Could this hide some maturing of the idea that in the present circumstances the political parties need to carve some common solutions and support them together? could it be the end of the world as we know it? and the dawn of some hope for Greek citizens that their elites are talking sense?