Greece Politics

Former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was taken to a hospital Tuesday after joining in a bruising debate on Greece's shattered economy and learning that his co-defendant in a bank scandal was in jail pending trial. Papandreou, 71, who dominated politics during eight years of Socialist rule from 1981 to 1989, has led a vigorous fight against the conservative government's economic austerity plan and sweeping free-market reforms.

ATHENS - As Greece lurches along without a government, its deepening political crisis is fast turning into a war of wills in which Europe's economy potentially hangs in the balance. On one side are the Greek politicians who accuse other Europeans of trying to "terrorize" their country into accepting more draconian austerity cuts and who warn that if Greece gets kicked out of the euro, "Europe will be doomed. " On the other are officials in Brussels, Berlin and other capitals, who say that expelling Greece from the Eurozone would be regrettable but "can be managed" if Athens reneges on the tough terms to which it has agreed in exchange for two international bailouts.

Complete official election returns confirmed Monday that Greek voters had failed for the second time in five months to choose a new government, and President Christos Sartzetakis asked caretaker Prime Minister Yannis Gravis to remain in office while the dust settles. Conservatives who finished first in Sunday's vote but fell short of the necessary majority said they will try to form a one-party minority government to break the left-right impasse.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who steered Greece from a financial morass to the threshold of Europe's currency union, won reelection Sunday, narrowly surviving voter angst over his austere management and a stock market slump that hurt thousands of small investors in the final weeks of the race. The 64-year-old incumbent defeated his younger rival, Costas Karamanlis, in Greece's closest parliamentary election since the end of military rule a quarter of a century ago.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who steered Greece from a financial morass to the threshold of Europe's currency union, won reelection Sunday, narrowly surviving voter angst over his austere management and a stock market slump that hurt thousands of small investors in the final weeks of the race. The 64-year-old incumbent defeated his younger rival, Costas Karamanlis, in Greece's closest parliamentary election since the end of military rule a quarter of a century ago.

Troubled Greece, sick man of the prospering new Europe, is headed for a new round of political turmoil with an old cast of characters. Former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, a sharp-tongued socialist, is maneuvering for a political comeback, warring with renewed vigor against conservative Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, who drove him from office in 1990 amid charges of massive corruption during eight years of spendthrift rule.

Drama in a historic vote of censure in the small hours of the morning. Pathos at a funeral in the afternoon rain. Such were the political signposts Thursday in a country on hold. Greece, the divided and unstable kin of a united and powerful Europe, is adrift, searching for a new course. An improbable government of conservatives and Communists, formed after no-winner June elections, announced Thursday that, as planned, it will resign next week to clear the way for new elections Nov. 5.

A country searching in economic distress for a new government failed again to find one Sunday when Greek national elections solidified a left-right stalemate. Nearly complete returns in parliamentary voting early today mirrored results of an inconclusive June election in which conservatives wrested a plurality from socialist foes but fell tantalizingly short of the majority needed to form a one-party government.

In contentious Greece today, national unity and regional divisiveness are summarized in a single invented word: Fyrom. Anyone headed for Athens should brace for a preoccupation with Fyromic intentions and laments about the inability of Greece's allies to understand the Fyromonian problem in its true dimension.

A special 13-judge criminal court in Athens early today acquitted former Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou of all charges against him in a $200-million financial scandal that was instrumental in driving his Socialist government from office in 1989. In dramatic conclusion to the most spectacular corruption trial in recent Greek history, the court found Papandreou innocent of masterminding an embezzlement at the privately owned Bank of Crete through the misuse of government funds.

Greece has endured its share of tumult since World War II, surviving civil war, military dictatorship and larger-than-life elected leaders whose personal antics often made a mockery of its democracy. Now Greeks face another challenge: political normalcy. If Parliament this week, as expected, formally approves a government presented by new Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, it will also signal a far larger change for one of the world's oldest nations.

In this ancient city, the final, tragicomic act of a modern political drama has begun to unfold. The central character--as he has been for the better part of two decades in Greek politics--is Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, 76. The once-flamboyant populist firebrand, reduced by age and fading health to frailty, no longer can wield power effectively yet is unwilling to give it up. Then there is his third wife, Dimitra, Europe's most unlikely first lady.

In contentious Greece today, national unity and regional divisiveness are summarized in a single invented word: Fyrom. Anyone headed for Athens should brace for a preoccupation with Fyromic intentions and laments about the inability of Greece's allies to understand the Fyromonian problem in its true dimension.

Once again it is the role of Andreas Papandreou to bring hope to many Greeks and uncertainty to all of them. As he savored his improbable electoral victory in suburban seclusion Monday, Greece's 10 million people could only wonder what the Socialist Papandreou has in store for the partner that Europe left behind.

A special 13-judge criminal court in Athens early today acquitted former Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou of all charges against him in a $200-million financial scandal that was instrumental in driving his Socialist government from office in 1989. In dramatic conclusion to the most spectacular corruption trial in recent Greek history, the court found Papandreou innocent of masterminding an embezzlement at the privately owned Bank of Crete through the misuse of government funds.

Troubled Greece, sick man of the prospering new Europe, is headed for a new round of political turmoil with an old cast of characters. Former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, a sharp-tongued socialist, is maneuvering for a political comeback, warring with renewed vigor against conservative Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis, who drove him from office in 1990 amid charges of massive corruption during eight years of spendthrift rule.

In this ancient city, the final, tragicomic act of a modern political drama has begun to unfold. The central character--as he has been for the better part of two decades in Greek politics--is Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, 76. The once-flamboyant populist firebrand, reduced by age and fading health to frailty, no longer can wield power effectively yet is unwilling to give it up. Then there is his third wife, Dimitra, Europe's most unlikely first lady.

Greece has endured its share of tumult since World War II, surviving civil war, military dictatorship and larger-than-life elected leaders whose personal antics often made a mockery of its democracy. Now Greeks face another challenge: political normalcy. If Parliament this week, as expected, formally approves a government presented by new Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, it will also signal a far larger change for one of the world's oldest nations.

A conservative new broom sweeps busily through Greece these days, stirring hope, stress and controversy in the country that Europe left behind. After eight months in power, the government of Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis--Mr. Establishment--is firmly launched on an ambitious agenda of political and economic reform. Its goal is to change Greece's course after nearly eight years of free-spending, assertive socialism directed by former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou--Mr. Autocrat.

Former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was taken to a hospital Tuesday after joining in a bruising debate on Greece's shattered economy and learning that his co-defendant in a bank scandal was in jail pending trial. Papandreou, 71, who dominated politics during eight years of Socialist rule from 1981 to 1989, has led a vigorous fight against the conservative government's economic austerity plan and sweeping free-market reforms.