Greece: Snubs and Empty Files

The conservative New Democracy Party had just entered into a historic coalition with the Communist-led Alliance of the Left and was ready to start work. But when Cabinet members arrived at their offices last week, some found them stripped of files and equipment. Tzannis Tzannetakis, the new Prime Minister, was greeted by a single staffer, who told him, “Everything has been looked after, so there is no need for files.”

The story was similar in ministry after ministry: no records, not even paper clips. Had members of Andreas Papandreou’s outgoing Panhellenic Socialist Movement spirited away documents that might be incriminating? Their administration stands accused of large-scale corruption, including embezzlement and taking kickbacks. Angry politicians suggested that stripping the offices was also an act of revenge. Some PASOK officials admitted as much. Sniffed one: “It was a show of our disapproval of the way this government was formed.”