Renowned Austrian political and financial news magazine “Profil” has named the former Greek PM and current president of the PASOK party George Papandreou “Man of the Year” for 2011.
The 2nd January issue included an interview of Papandreou, in which the former Greek PM blames the EU for allowing the Greek debt crisis to reach its current state.
“Europe should have protected us better, even if that would be for the benefit of other countries” points out Mr. Papandreou, adding that country and government leaders of the EU should have made clear right from the beginning that Greece and every other Eurozone member would be protected from a possible default regardless of the costs.
Mr. Papandreou expressed his belief that the EU shares responsibility for the Greek debt, repeating how the conservative Karamanlis government of 2004 had passed a bill, according to which, the defense expenditures would not appear on the current budget but retrospectively on older budgets.
Mr. Papandreou underlines that at the time he had personally submitted a question to the European Committee on why it would accept such an alteration on behalf of the Greek state but has never received any answer.
In his interview to “Profil”, the PASOK president seems satisfied with his work while being PM, noting that Greece could have been bankrupt today but this scenario was avoided by his government and that is making him feel proud.
When asked about his future plans, Mr. Papandreou did not rule out the possibility of him claiming once again the PM office but promised that he would reveal his plans very soon.
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