Greece selects in the shadow of high debt

A week after the German elections to choose the Greeks today its new parliament. And the problems are daunting: The coffers are empty and the debt high. "With at least 260 until 280 billion euros in debt, we Greeks are" appreciated financial experts. In Greece, where the Herod Atticus Theater, under the Acropolis in Athens, is chosen. Photo: Orestis Panagiotou / dpa In Greece, where the Herod Atticus Theater, under the Acropolis in Athens, is chosen. Photo: Orestis Panagiotou / dpa 00 Photo gallery Images on For each of the approximately eleven million inhabitants of 25 000 euro means debt. Thus have the Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and his conservative challenger, socialist Giorgos Papandreou is no room for big promises. A cumbersome bureaucratic state apparatus and everywhere-present cronyism curb any attempt to reform and enlarge the daily deficits. The largest pension fund IKA, the country with more than 1.3 million pensioners need till November, around 530 million euros to pay the pensions of the last two months of the year. "We are still ahead two difficult years," said Karamanlis (53). He will "fix responsibility" all the mistakes of the past years. And he promises a half years after his first election victory in March 2004 to combat nepotism. "Now I have more experience," Karamanlis said during an interview with public television. His political opponents he accuses only making "empty promises" to. Opposition leader Papandreou (counters 57): The country needs a new vision and transparency everywhere. Greece wants to lead it with state investment from the economic crisis and the large capital and taxing the rich more. "There is not a pleasant or unpleasant taxes. There's only fair tax, "Papandreou said again and again called on the electorate:" Give me the chance to prove that I can lead the country out of crisis. " Polls indicate a clear victory of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) by Papandreou. For Karamanlis and his conservative party New Democracy (ND) have implemented some of its earlier announcements. Karamanlis wanted to renew the state from the ground up, root out corruption and nepotism. It won the elections in 2004 and 2007. Meanwhile, Greece slipped on the list of countries with the highest corruption at the rearmost seats, together with African and Central Asian states. A Labor of the Karamanlis government employed illegal immigrants without reporting it. One of the closest aides of Karamanlis was convicted because he had tried to save one of his core constituencies a process for participation in a drug deal. Under pressure from these and other scandals and the bad poll numbers in early September Karamanlis was forced to announce early elections. Economic experts are certain that the Greeks need to save. "We will have to close the belt buckle," says the expert Nikolaos Wroussis. EU member country that is threatening punitive measures from Brussels because Athens) with an estimated seven percent deficit as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP massively violated the Stability Pact. "The (in Brussels) will make us easily under surveillance. Then the economy will practically controlled from Brussels, "continued Wroussis. The campaign against Papandreou, Karamanlis is a remake of the classic Greek Political duel. The feud between the two families for power going on for almost 50 years. Already in 1961 stood Konstantinos Karamanlis, the uncle of the current prime minister, George Papandreou, the grandfather of the current Socialist leader, and in practice, alternately ruled against Greece. Karamanlis, the uncle again ruled Greece from 1974 to 1981, Andreas Papandreou's father from 1981 to 1989 and again between 1993 and 1996. For the 300 seats in parliament to apply and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the ultra-Orthodox movement as a whole VB (LAOS) and the alliance of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). The Greek Greens have to tremble because of the three-percent hurdle for representation in parliament. Despite the precarious situation for the Conservatives, it is not clear whether the Socialists get the necessary majority of 151 seats in parliament. And here in Greece coalition governments with the political parties are very unpopular, the country could face a long period of political uncertainty.