The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
56°F
Current Conditions
Few clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Ailing Prime Minister Of Greece Resigns, Signaling End Of An Era

New York Times

Greece’s prime minister, Andreas Papandreou, a towering political figure whose two-month hospitalization has paralyzed both his government and his ruling Socialist party, resigned Monday night.

“It is obvious that the country cannot remain incapacitated by my illness,” wrote Papandreou, 76, from his hospital bed at the Onassis Heart Center outside Athens.

The letter marked the end of a long struggle to persuade the ailing leader to relinquish his grip on power; it was addressed to the Central Committee of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, the party Papandreou founded in 1974 and first led to power in 1981.

His formal resignation clears the way for the party’s 170-man parliamentary majority to elect a successor within three days. The behind-the-scenes battle for succession is said to have narrowed to former Industry Minister Costas Simitis and Defense Minister Gerassimos Arsenis.

In his letter, Papandreou said his party should “proceed immediately with the election of a prime minister because the country’s problems cannot wait.”

Even if, as some expect, the still-ailing Papandreou stays on as leader of the party, his resignation signals the end of an era in Greek politics. A former American citizen who spent 20 years in the United States, Papandreou was a compelling, if often self-contradictory, maverick who, during his early years in power, fought U.S. policies despite Greece’s continuing membership in NATO.

His election in 1981 was a watershed for the left wing in Greece, paving the way for reforms including broader rights for women and an array of generous welfare programs. But his economic policy widely was regarded as a failure which continues to cripple Greece’s growth.

The son of a former prime minister, Papandreou returned to Greece in 1961 from the United States, where he had served as chairman of the department of economics at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1967, when a military junta took power in Greece, he was put in prison for eight months.