Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has won an honor his critics find dubious: he was named Europe’s Politician of the Year by the German newspaper Handelslblatt, which praised him for guiding Greece through a crushing economic crisis, during which he has mostly followed the orders of international lenders and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The German leader has insisted that Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, stick to harsh austerity measures in return for her support for continued bailout loans keeping the Greek economy from collapsing, as did former Premier George Papandreou, the former PASOK Socialist leader and Samaras’ roommate at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Papandreou, however, resigned a year ago after relentless protests, strikes and riots against pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions.
Handleslblatt, in a piece written by former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, said that Samaras was stronger. “He realized what the interest of the country called for and responded to the challenge,” the paper explained. Samaras was lauded for what was called his courage and consistency in being unrelenting in ordering pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions in the face of social outrage.
“The challenge for Antonis Samaras was to speak of his own as well as the Greek mistakes of the past and to accept the necessary consequences. “The clarity of his positions and his ability to enforce them have laid the groundwork of trust that the decision by the European partners required for the bailout package, the extent of which no one could have thought of a few years ago,” wrote Genscher.
The distinction for Samaras comes just over a year after European leaders were worried over whether he would sign up to their demands, in late 2011. Samaras is overseeing an uneasy coalition that includes his otherwise rivals, the PASOK Socialists and the tiny Democratic Left.
Samaras earlier drew parallels between his role and that of Adenauer, Germany’s first post-WWII chancellor, and Gustav Stresemann, who served as chancellor and foreign minister after WWI. “Adenauer and Stresemann were criticized in Germany for accepting the terms of foreign powers, but it was proved they accepted them to change their country’s prospects, not to mortgage its future,” said Samaras.
The Premier has been accused by Alexis Tsipras, leader of the major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) of being Merkel’s puppet leader and doing all he could to satisfy the German leader, who came to Athens earlier this fall on his invitation and praised him.
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