The government’s “hell week” ended, as expected, with it comfortably winning a vote of confidence, in what turned out to be a far from edifying parliamentary showdown.
In the meantime, of course, the government lost two ministers for reasons that are probably unrelated to the opposition’s lack of confidence. It is possible that their loss will give the Prime Minister the opportunity to rethink his large and byzantine Cabinet.
But all of this relates to superficialities.
Because the substance of the show-down remained unchanged. One can only hope that responsibility for the Tempi accident will now be attributed in a more rational way without the extreme acts, knee-jerk reactions and unhinged rhetoric we have grown used to.
And that the judiciary will be allowed to do its work conscientiously and effectively in this new framework. Because it has no need of pointers from anyone.
And should the judges consider it necessary to attribute criminal responsibility to political figures, no problem. Because the Constitution outlines the procedure clearly: no need for pointers there, either.
So the government may have survived the motion of no confidence in the Hellenic (Greek) Parliament, but the facts of the case have not changed. And it has a vital and urgent duty to see that justice is done in order to dispel the cloud of suspicion that now hangs over the nation.
On the other hand, of course, one could not fail to note the imbalance in our political system, which made its presence felt over the three days of the debate and in the final result, but also in the way the protagonists comported themselves.
It is now blatantly obvious that we have a government that does not feel controlled and an opposition that is incapable of exercising control over it.
And this imbalance does not stem only from the relative number of MPs—it is also the result of real political dimensions. In Parliament, it was made clear as the light of day for the umpteenth time.
To be honest, I’m not at all sure the situation is amenable to change in the near future, and I certainly don’t know how it might be achieved.
Of course, another national election lies ahead, exactly seventy days from now. It relates to the European Parliament, sure, but every vote tells a story. And this one will reveal whether the current imbalance can even be called into question.
But we are not there yet. And until then, the government’s primary adversary won’t be the opposition or vague and unnamed “interests,” but the climate of suspicion, pervasive distrust, and unfocused discontent that is becoming ever more palpable in society.
A divisive frame of mind that could easily imprint itself on the results of an election is which voters feel less duty-bound to vote for their party. And one that could thus usher in a new and different political scene in a manner that will be very hard to predict.
