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| (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Acting as the victim once again, and not the aggressor, Papandreou left it to be understood that one of the reasons that it looks like he hasn't been around is because he was ousted from politics due to competing political and financial interests.
(Crazy us... we thought it was because he was living in New York next to Lady Gaga, and doing the strip in Las Vegas alongside the Dali Lama...)
Papandreou noted that after huge sacrifices, the Greek people have the moral right and obligation to demand straight answers from the international community and he was critical towards Greece’s EU partners, claiming that they did not act efficiently to curb the escalating deficit and debt, making the fiscal consolidation and austerity necessary.
(He forgets of course that it was he who threw Greece into the arms of the Troika, and it was he who was reluctant to adopt light reforms during his term in government because he purposely wanted the crisis to escalate. He needed this in order to have something to analyze at all those lectures he gave over the past three years.)
It comes as no surprise that Papandreou once again defended his choices. In George's world -or unique mind- he actually acted in defence of European values, rather than subvert them.
During his speech he also noted the achievement of establishing a support mechanism “in record time and after difficult negotiations” and said that “Greece did not go bankrupt or experience the national tragedy of a violent default in 2010”, despite the unprecedented loans and debt haircut.
(How does one even attempt to comment on such a statement? Did he actually want Greece to go bankrupt? Does the man realize how idiotic this statement sounds?)
It gets better.
When asked what will happen when the present aid program ends, good old George warned that unless the changes and reforms are pushed forward, then a new bailout and aid program would be thrown on the table.
(Cuckoo Land at its best. Excuse us George... But what has been going on in this country while you were travelling around the globe? Oops we forgot... You were always here... Meaning that your cronies are still here continuing work as usual.)
And here is where it gets a bit juicy...
While parroting a speech that was obviously prepared for him by one of his numerous advisers, members of the audience indirectly asked Papandreou about his involvement in a recent NGO scandal. They asked him how citizens can once again trust political leaders when such “fraud” is taking place in the country. Instead of answering the question, Papandreou decided to pat himself on the back and said that the current NGO inspection framework was established during his tenure, but he did concede that it could have been more strict.
( Of course mums the word about the fact that all these scandals involve PASOK supporters, or close friends of your family. Also... mums the word that all this money was given out during your run as Minister of Foreign Affairs.)
He slammed the media for the wave of criticism over this particular scandal and said that they present NGOs as inherently “evil”. He then stressed the importance of NGOs in Greece and how they have helped diplomatically in the Balkans and the Middle East.
Read The Background to NGO story by clicking HERE
Also, Read an interesting follow-up to this scandal by clicking HERE
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