Karamanlis, Papandreou close campaign marked by fires
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Harry Papachristou
Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and Socialist leader George Papandreou, scions of two political dynasties, hold final rallies tonight in an election campaign marked by deadly wildfires that have eroded support for both men's parties.
The fires, which killed at least 65 people and left 2,500 homeless, have overshadowed the promises of New Democracy's Karamanlis to spur economic growth, cut taxes and overhaul the nation's pension system. Papandreou, whose Pasok party pledges to increase spending on the poor and education, has focused his attacks on the government's competence.
Polls have shown Karamanlis struggling to retain New Democracy's governing majority. He called for elections last month, six months before his four-year term ends, to renew his party's mandate.
``What's at stake here is if Greece will keep having a one- party government,'' George Nikolakopoulos, a researcher at Athens-based polling firm Opinion, said in an interview yesterday. ``Never before was there so little interest in a national election, and this may increase abstention and benefit fringe parties.''
Karamanlis, who turns 51, is speaking at a rally in the capital of Athens, while the U.S.-born Papandreou, 55, addresses supporters in the western city of Patras, his grandfather's hometown. Campaigning tomorrow, ahead of the Sept. 16 vote, is prohibited.
Greece's worst forest fires, which scorched the site of the ancient Olympic games, began the week of Aug. 20. They blazed for six days across 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) of forest and farmland, mainly in the southern Peloponnese peninsula.
Many Greeks have since blamed corrupt officials for allowing arsonists to burn forests to clear land for illegal building or grazing.
The government announced more than 300 million euros ($409 million) in immediate relief and plans to seek European Union aid to assist fire-stricken areas.
``The fires have just numbed the people, and the party campaigns suffered,'' George Skodras chief executive officer of Thessaloniki Water & Sewage SA, a state-controlled water utility, said in a Sept. 8 interview.
Greece's electoral system allows a party to control the country's 300-member parliament if it wins at least 42 percent of the vote.
New Democracy maintained a two-point lead over Pasok in an Aug. 30 poll of 1,105 people by Athens-based polling firm MRB, though its rating dropped to 35.4 from 36.8 percent. No margin of error was given.
Support for smaller parties rose to a combined 18.1 percent from 16.6 percent. The percentage of people who were undecided or didn't plan to vote rose to 13.2 percent from 12 percent, MRB said.
Another poll of 1,033 people by Athens-based polling firm VPRC on Aug. 29-30 showed Karamanlis with 42 percent, which would give him 152 parliamentary seats compared with 164 now. Papandreou had 38 percent. The margin of error was 1.5 percentage points.
Polls can't be published in the two weeks before a vote.
New Democracy won 2004 elections with 45.4 percent, 4.8 percentage points more than the Socialists, who had ruled Greece since 1993.
Greece, with a population of 11 million, joined the euro region in 2001. It is the third-poorest nation among the 13 countries, according to EU data. A fifth of its population lives below the poverty line, based on estimates from the national statistics agency.
Its economy has grown for 14 straight years, the longest period of continuous economic expansion since the 1960s, spurred by falling interest rates, investment and EU funds for poorer regions.
Karamanlis, the nephew of a former prime minister, slashed the budget deficit and reduced corporate taxes to help the economy ride out an expected slowdown after the 2004 Athens Olympics, which cost about 10 billion euros ($13.9 billion) -- the most expensive in history. The slowdown never came, and the Greek economy has grown about 4 percent annually since 2004.
Karamanlis has pledged to increase social spending and further reduce taxes and the budget deficit while overhauling the pension system and allowing private universities.
The biggest political challenge may be the pension system, which the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development calls a ``fiscal time-bomb.''
If it isn't changed, Greece will spend nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product on pensions in 2050, up from more than 10 percent now -- the biggest projected increase among the OECD's 30 members, the Paris-based institute said in a May report.
Papandreou, whose father and grandfather were also prime ministers, has promised to reduce consumption taxes, increase the education budget to 5 percent of the country's gross domestic product of 195 billion euros, boost retirement benefits to low-income pensioners and give families a bonus of 2,000 euros for every child born.
He attacked Karamanlis for what he called incompetence in dealing with the fires. He also accused New Democracy of failing to fulfill a promise to tackle corruption, after a scandal involving the sale of overpriced bonds, underwritten by JPMorgan Chase & Co., to some of the country's pension funds.
The 280-million euro sale sparked protests from Pasok and labor unions, cost Labor Minister Savvas Tsitouridis his job and prompted Karamanlis to overhaul investment rules for about 200 state-run pension funds. JPMorgan last month agreed to buy back the bonds at face value, paying additional interest.
Bloomberg
Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and Socialist leader George Papandreou, scions of two political dynasties, hold final rallies tonight in an election campaign marked by deadly wildfires that have eroded support for both men's parties.
The fires, which killed at least 65 people and left 2,500 homeless, have overshadowed the promises of New Democracy's Karamanlis to spur economic growth, cut taxes and overhaul the nation's pension system. Papandreou, whose Pasok party pledges to increase spending on the poor and education, has focused his attacks on the government's competence.
Polls have shown Karamanlis struggling to retain New Democracy's governing majority. He called for elections last month, six months before his four-year term ends, to renew his party's mandate.
``What's at stake here is if Greece will keep having a one- party government,'' George Nikolakopoulos, a researcher at Athens-based polling firm Opinion, said in an interview yesterday. ``Never before was there so little interest in a national election, and this may increase abstention and benefit fringe parties.''
Karamanlis, who turns 51, is speaking at a rally in the capital of Athens, while the U.S.-born Papandreou, 55, addresses supporters in the western city of Patras, his grandfather's hometown. Campaigning tomorrow, ahead of the Sept. 16 vote, is prohibited.
Greece's worst forest fires, which scorched the site of the ancient Olympic games, began the week of Aug. 20. They blazed for six days across 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) of forest and farmland, mainly in the southern Peloponnese peninsula.
Many Greeks have since blamed corrupt officials for allowing arsonists to burn forests to clear land for illegal building or grazing.
The government announced more than 300 million euros ($409 million) in immediate relief and plans to seek European Union aid to assist fire-stricken areas.
``The fires have just numbed the people, and the party campaigns suffered,'' George Skodras chief executive officer of Thessaloniki Water & Sewage SA, a state-controlled water utility, said in a Sept. 8 interview.
Greece's electoral system allows a party to control the country's 300-member parliament if it wins at least 42 percent of the vote.
New Democracy maintained a two-point lead over Pasok in an Aug. 30 poll of 1,105 people by Athens-based polling firm MRB, though its rating dropped to 35.4 from 36.8 percent. No margin of error was given.
Support for smaller parties rose to a combined 18.1 percent from 16.6 percent. The percentage of people who were undecided or didn't plan to vote rose to 13.2 percent from 12 percent, MRB said.
Another poll of 1,033 people by Athens-based polling firm VPRC on Aug. 29-30 showed Karamanlis with 42 percent, which would give him 152 parliamentary seats compared with 164 now. Papandreou had 38 percent. The margin of error was 1.5 percentage points.
Polls can't be published in the two weeks before a vote.
New Democracy won 2004 elections with 45.4 percent, 4.8 percentage points more than the Socialists, who had ruled Greece since 1993.
Greece, with a population of 11 million, joined the euro region in 2001. It is the third-poorest nation among the 13 countries, according to EU data. A fifth of its population lives below the poverty line, based on estimates from the national statistics agency.
Its economy has grown for 14 straight years, the longest period of continuous economic expansion since the 1960s, spurred by falling interest rates, investment and EU funds for poorer regions.
Karamanlis, the nephew of a former prime minister, slashed the budget deficit and reduced corporate taxes to help the economy ride out an expected slowdown after the 2004 Athens Olympics, which cost about 10 billion euros ($13.9 billion) -- the most expensive in history. The slowdown never came, and the Greek economy has grown about 4 percent annually since 2004.
Karamanlis has pledged to increase social spending and further reduce taxes and the budget deficit while overhauling the pension system and allowing private universities.
The biggest political challenge may be the pension system, which the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development calls a ``fiscal time-bomb.''
If it isn't changed, Greece will spend nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product on pensions in 2050, up from more than 10 percent now -- the biggest projected increase among the OECD's 30 members, the Paris-based institute said in a May report.
Papandreou, whose father and grandfather were also prime ministers, has promised to reduce consumption taxes, increase the education budget to 5 percent of the country's gross domestic product of 195 billion euros, boost retirement benefits to low-income pensioners and give families a bonus of 2,000 euros for every child born.
He attacked Karamanlis for what he called incompetence in dealing with the fires. He also accused New Democracy of failing to fulfill a promise to tackle corruption, after a scandal involving the sale of overpriced bonds, underwritten by JPMorgan Chase & Co., to some of the country's pension funds.
The 280-million euro sale sparked protests from Pasok and labor unions, cost Labor Minister Savvas Tsitouridis his job and prompted Karamanlis to overhaul investment rules for about 200 state-run pension funds. JPMorgan last month agreed to buy back the bonds at face value, paying additional interest.
Bloomberg