Word: papandreou
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...Papandreou is not to be under-estimated. A diplomat by nature, he has surprised many in Greece with his deft handling of the crisis. His experience as Foreign Minister has helped him in his effort to convince Europe that Athens is serious about cleaning up its finances. "What the markets were saying is that, 'We've heard this, we don't believe you,'" Papandreou told TIME. "Greece had lost credibility. What I was saying all along is we have to bring back our credibility." Importantly, he's also managed to keep his party largely in line. "There is this concept...
...father's PASOK was full of tough loyalists, but Papandreou's party is multi-lingual, urbane and filled with people like Tina Birbili, the new Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, who shows up to Cabinet meetings in jeans, hauling her papers in a backpack. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis...
...changing Greece will not be easy. Papandreou is pushing ahead with pension reforms and an overhaul that will see more Greeks pay tax. Some of his efforts to improve governance - he wants to put all government decisions and documents on the Internet, for instance - have already been resisted by Socialist colleagues. Change, he says, will be painful. "But if we do what is necessary, we'll come out of this stronger and much more viable." There's no intrinsic flaw in the Greek character, he argues. "It's not in our DNA, it's not even in our cultural...
...Papandreou says he wants Greece to become the Sweden of the Mediterranean - powered by green energy and boutique tourism - and says it is possible to have both a generous welfare system and a competitive economy. Despite the bumps of the past few months, he remains optimistic about the European project. "I think Europe is in a transition," he says. "I'd say it's gone from being a peace project to being a ... prototype for a globalized society." He would like to lead the way. But first, there's a crisis to deal with...
...Prime Minister George Papandreou, who is walking a delicate line between external demands and what Greeks will accept, the deepening gloom will make his job that much harder...