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Recession Fears. Under Strongman Colonel George Papadopoulos, 48, the junta has made other changes in Greece. It has brought order, though of a far too repressive brand, to a country whose politics had grown dangerously faction-ridden and inflammatory. It has reduced the cost of living by cutting bus fares, scaling down some artificially high crop subsidies, and lowering the price of bread by 21 cents per loaf. Greece's military rulers have made the trains, the mail, and the bureaucrats arrive on time. On the foreign front, they have begun promising negotiations with Turkey to end the long-standing dispute over Cyprus. Colonel Nicholas Mararezos, 47, the Minister of Coordination, who is the least conspicuous of the ruling triumvirate (Pattakos is the other member), has signed up nearly a dozen foreign companies, including Union Carbide, Litton and France's Pechiney-Saint-Gobain, to build new plants or expand their activities in Greece. Still, the country is drifting into a recession, partly because of an almost complete standstill in the once buoyant construction industry, and the junta may be faced by fall with a full-scale economic crisis.
Royal Pressure. Almost to a man, Greece's civilian politicians feel that organized resistance to the junta would only lead to repression and violence. They feel that the wisest course is to remain quiet and give young King Constantine a chance to work on the junta. The King at first opposed the coup, then decided to go along with the junta officers in hopes that he could influence them. The King has called for national elections some time soon after a commission of jurists finishes a new Greek constitution in early December. After the elections, he hopes that the junta will graciously step aside and allow Greece to become once more a functioning parliamentary monarchy.
The soldiers feel that their mission cannot be completed quite so quickly. Says Lieut. General Gregorios Spandidakis, 57, the Defense Minister: "The situation the old politicians left the country in was so bad that it will take a long time before we get Greece on the right path again." Pattakos is more explicit. "We are under no obligation to hold elections," he says. "We feel we restored normal conditions after the April 21st revolution. Why should we return to abnormal conditions?"
The King is touring the country to build up his prestige so that he can exert more leverage. The junta-controlled Greek press carefully plays down the King's travels. In some towns the King finds that the microphone is suddenly missing when he wants to make a speech; in others he is greeted by mayoral speeches sent ahead from Athens that unctuously praise his support of the junta. In the past, King Constantine has referred to any Greek cabinet as "my government," but he now calls the junta simply "the government."