The September 16, 2007 elections will take place after three years of New Democracy under the leadership and Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. It is his “average” elections that confirm the attractiveness of ND. in the electorate and resume his term as prime minister. Also, with the clear impact of the tragic event, the September 2007 elections are held three months after the fire in Parnit, which destroyed 2/3 of the national forest, and also a few weeks after the fire in Elijah, with “represents” the results of the fire, that is a total of 84 recorded deaths (49 in Ilia), 1,500 houses destroyed and 4.5 million olive trees burned. In general, the country is going through a period of upheaval, in the face of indescribable loss of life and a natural disaster unique in time. The government constantly referred to “asymmetric” fires and the “invisible enemy”. However, in much of public opinion, two serious issues are being clarified. On the one hand, the lack of professionalism on the part of those responsible for the fires, despite the self-sacrifice of those leaders who were involved in extinguishing them, and, of course, the fact that climate change is now officially knocking on the country’s door with tangible results. The second will be discussed later. At first, the loss of so many people, as well as an indescribable natural disaster, left public opinion speechless and horrified.

The decision to hold elections is weighed down by the atmosphere left after the fire in Parnit (the fire in Elijah will follow), as well as a mild but clear demand from the EU. reduce social security spending, which went from 40 billion in 2005 to 47 billion in 2007, adding another 10 billion euros to the country’s deficit. Already in the spring, the issue of bonded loans and the involvement of state officials in it became even more urgent. The government may also have been under pressure from the ongoing pre-election fires, which may have been recorded in unpublished public opinion polls. This element obliged the Prime Minister and his officials to increase their pre-election appearances in public. Friendly match in N.D. The press is covering the faction’s victory as a triumph, content with the percentage despite a drop from 45.36% in 2004 to 41.84%, but at the same time making clear references to the reforms and changes the country needs, emphasizing the associated the commitments of Kostas Karamanlis, the commitments that the newspapers believe the victory of the ND is due to.

The press close to the wider PASOK faction highlights the issue of leadership within the movement more than the severity of the defeat. A significant percentage of these newspapers present PASOK as a politically volatile party with no political orientation. The drop in his stake from 40.55% in 2004 to 38.10% is frustrating to voters and registers domestic events at the expense of his president, prompting him to state that he will “ask to restore confidence in the base party”.

The emergence of Evangelos Venizelos as leader in Zappeio almost immediately after admitting defeat and George Papandreou’s announcement fuels tensions and seems to cast doubt on the faction’s rune and leadership. The split will be overcome, and in the intra-party elections (November 2007) the leadership of G. Papandreou will be established with 56% of the votes against his main opponent Ev. Venizelu with a share of 36%.

KKE is feeling strong with 8.15% up from 5.9% in 2004 and is planning more races. Another part of the left, the Coalition of Left Movements and Ecology, increased its share from 3.26% in 2004 to 5.04%. Despite all the improvements in the then small party of the left, Alekos Alavanos sets in motion his succession process, culminating five months later with the leadership of the party by Alexis Tsipras.

The country was going through a period of chaos, with the government constantly referring to “asymmetric” fires and an “invisible enemy”.

Intense debate within the Coalition was fueled by fluidity within PASOK, leading to proposals by senior officials to bridge the gap between the Coalition and PASOK due to the latter’s crisis. However, the voices suggesting that the parties of the left claim the centrist space are not heard, and this political space, especially with its new leadership, will chart a course with markedly greater political intensity and a different logic.

The 2007 elections seriously influenced a number of qualitative changes not only in the composition of the parliament, but also in the political arena. The entry of the People’s Orthodox Alarm (LAOS) with a clearly more right-wing rhetorical and political stance than N.D. it reappears, indirectly, of course, in a parliamentary context, traces of admiration for the officials of the dictatorship of 1967. Admiration that was openly expressed at public meetings of friends and followers of the party before it took seats in parliament. This presence to the right of New Democracy clearly pushes towards the centrist logic and perspective that Kostas Karamanlis and those close to him want to develop.

Management course N.D. after the victory in 2007, serious matters will shake it, like the case with the lands of the Vatopedi monastery. More will be added to this question, which will complicate the task for the government. About a year after the 2007 elections, Moody’s will officially blow the first bell of Greece’s gradual credit deterioration.

While not pretending to overlap, the 2007 elections, although they confirmed the predetermined close relationship between government practices and benefits as an instrument of re-election, and although this issue of political ethics dominated before the elections (again stalled), in retrospect they record evidence of great shocks that will follow three years from now in the economic, social and conflict context. They record, albeit vaguely, the beginning of great trials for the Greek center-left.

Device

The birth of a symbol

On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first Apple smartphone in San Francisco. With touch technology, an impressive aluminum and reinforced glass design, and a range of innovative features for the time, iPhone broke box office sales records. But above all, it is imposed on the international level as an absolute symbol of the status of a new technology from which, until today, billions of people were destined to be carried away.

Fact

“Eternal” and incorrigible

The feud between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos spirals out of control shortly before the women’s volleyball match: Olympiacos fans ambush Panathinaikos fans on Lavrio Avenue, killing 25-year-old Panathinaikos fan Michalis Philopoulos…

Catastrophe

Black day in Parnit

Something that has not happened for almost two centuries (some of the large spruces were 180-240 years old) happened in a few hours on that nightmarish day on June 28, 2007, when a seemingly harmless fire emanating from Dervenochoria in Boeotia crossed into the core of Parnita National Forest, burned 36,338 acres, of which 21,800 acres were Kefallin spruce forests.

What do I remember?

At Maximos Ranch

At the end of August 2007, at the height of the election campaign, more than 200 fronts of fire broke out daily, mainly in Ilya. The then Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis, asked me to forgo a personal campaign in my region and take over the coordination of the government’s response to the riots that claimed innocent lives and caused significant environmental damage. A state of siege. I only slept three hours each night at the ranch that I set up in the hallway of my office on the first floor of Maximos. Hundreds of phone calls every day, briefings for Greek and foreign journalists in Zappeion, visits to the wintering grounds, the Pentagon, the fire brigade. As soon as the fires were extinguished, the battle of the electoral standoff broke out. And the victory came unexpectedly for many, for me with confidence from the very beginning! A few days later I was again sworn in as Minister of State. In both 2004 and 2007, I arrived at the Presidential Palace with a 39-degree temperature, a small price to pay for exhaustion.

THEODORIS RUSSOPOULOS
MP for N.D.

Modernism

Are you on Facebook?

In 2004, a third-year Harvard student creates Facebook, an online network for communication between his fellow students. By 2006, Zuckerberg’s idea had spread to other US universities. In 2007, the first Greek users appeared. The highlight of Facebook’s first year in Greece? The age composition of its first users: more than two-thirds (71%) were teenagers or very young (under 25), while for those over 37, it is almost unknown (0.5%-2%).

Neighborhood

End of innocence

In May 2007, Line 3 was extended to Egaleo and three new stations were added to the Athens Metro network: Kerameikos, Elionas and Egaleo. The name of the station “Kerameikos” seems odd at first, as the escalators lead to Gazi, which still retains a distinctly alternative character with a few neo-taverns, a few newly built lofts, and a few gay bars. The arrival of the metro will significantly change the anthropogeography of the area, which will turn into one of the most popular places for nightlife.

Mr. Thassos Sakellaropoulos is the historian in charge of the Historical Archives of the Benaki Museum.

Editor: Dimitris Rigopoulos