5 Ways Samaras Is Completely Different To Papandreou

It seems that every Greek I speak to says Samaras is the same as Papandreou, all politicians are looking out for number one, the only thing they are interested in is power, they don’t care about the people, all politicians are liars etc etc……

And all the mainstream media outlets seem to be haranguing Samaras for not forming a coalition with Papandreou.

And yet despite all this Samaras is sticking to his guns, he is sticking to his principles against the enormous propaganda machine that Papandreou has at his disposal.

Greece could be worse, it could be like the UK parliament where all politicians really are all the same.

Whenever there is a really “big” issue in British politics, there are no dissenting voices and yet in Greece, when the biggest issues in generations are being discussed you have a man putting his reputation and his future on the line by openly going against the might of the EU, you have a man going against the might of the World Bank, you have a man going against the might of the European Central Bank and you have a man going against the expressed wishes of the European Union.

You have a man in Samaras who is saying no, Greece has the right to be treated equally amongst all the members of the EU and Greece should not be treated and should not accept being treated as the leper of European politics and yet despite all this the Greek people are still questioning him.

Personally when I see a man going against the establishment (and what establishment is bigger than the Troika) I see a man of principle and man of character which is a lot more than I can say about a man who appears to fold like a handkerchief in the face of these European bureaucrats

And still the Greek people seem to be in two minds about Samaras.

Is the mainstream media in Greece so powerful that the general population have lost the ability to asses the government propaganda critically.

Probably the main thing behind this apathy is Papandreou himself.

His whole campaign to become prime minster of Greece was based on the phrase “The money exists” and as soon as he won the election he said actually do not have the money.

His actions made the population of Greece even more apathetic than they already were and the Greek are probably thee most cynical people you could ever hope to meet to begin with.

But there are 7 crucial reasons which separate the puppet Papandreou and the man who is Samaras

1. Vote for no vat rises – from the start of the PASOK regime Samaras has been saying that raising VAT was the completely wrong thing to do and that raising the VAT would have the exact opposite of its intended effect. He even claimed he would reduce VAT not increase it – He has been proved correct, increasing the VAT has reduced tax revenues

2. That everything is re-negotiable (just ask Steve Jobs and Disney) – Unlike Papandreou who states he is the victim of the Troika, Samaras states quite correctly that everything is renegotiable and there is no reason for Greece to be a victim of the Troika, Greece holds the power, not the EU.

3. That Greece has a bad deal from the Troika – Is there a single Greek that would disagree with this statement?

4. Has voted no to the bail out – In the face of an international audience in the UK, in the USA and in Europe, Samaras has stood strong in the face of massive criticism and has stuck top his principles, this is even when the BBC has labelled his actions a suicide vote. This is more strength than I have ever seen from the handkerchief that is Papandreou.

5. And perhaps the most critical difference between Samaras and Papandreou. Samaras is not claiming miracles like the PASOK government is constantly doing. Samaras is not claiming he can find the money like a spoilt schoolboy. Samaras is simply stating his strategy to getting Greece out of the hole it is in. He is not saying Greece will get this and Greece will get that. He is simply stating “this is what I am going to do here and this is what I am going to do there and I believe it will have this effect”.

You cannot criticise the man for having this approach. He is treating the Greek people like adults. Instead of selling some unrealistic, fantastical results which are unachievable like Papandreou, Samaras is saying “these will be my methods and this is why I think they will be the best thing”.He leaves it to the Greek as intelligent people whether they believe it will have the effects he claims.

The Greeks can write Samaras off and say “I do not think his ideas are correct” but they cannot say he is a liar, at least not yet. He is putting his cards on the table, he is saying what he is going to do, if you believe what he says Greek have to support him, if you believe his ideas will not work then vote for  someone that has better plan.

Whatever the Greek feel about Samaras as a politician and as a man, Greeks need to realise one thing, the worst that Samaras could do is to continue in the exact way that Papandreou is, leading to a slow, painful death. The worst that can happen with Samaras in charge is that the decline will continue, that the freedoms of Greeks will continue to be taken away and the sovereignty of Greece will continue to be given up to foreigners.

The worst Samaras can do is to continue this source of action, if he does something different at least he will make the death a bit quicker or he may turn the situation around.

I do not want to sound like too much of a fan boy for Samaras (too late I hear you say) but when I hear someone making so much sense against a regime talking so much nonsense, Samaras looks like JFK lined up to next to Papandreou.