October 1995, Hotel Caravel, second basement, the PASOK Central Committee meets, in a heavy atmosphere, made even heavier by a state of illness Andreas Papandreou.
It is clear that the leader of the PASoK and the Prime Minister do not have the strength, the courage or the abilities to maintain the cohesion of the party and to make the government work properly. The “events” of Patmos also intervened a month before, when he left the events on the island after a heart attack, and everything reminds of decline.
It is the worst stage for him, because he looks very depressed, a shadow of himself. With many rumors about a behind-the-door conspiracy that aims to overthrow him, many people see that it is – and is – the step that will allow him to come clean at the Central Committee meeting.
The rumor that “One night last November at Vasso’s house (Vasso didn’t have a surname, like Andreas, she was Vasso…) at dinner with the participation of K. SimitisT. Pagalou and P. Avgerinou it was decided to promote Andreas Simitis as successor”.
Andreas informed – how else? – from the “conspiracy” of the four, with the legend “sprinkling” the dinner, that the decision had been made to “release him” at the first opportunity, he gathers the strength he has left and says almost in a room-shaking voice that anyone can hear another sound: “Those who are looking for prime minister Andreas Papandreou and the president of PASoK under restraint, commission, guardianship or I don’t know what else should look elsewhere. I’m not offering myself.”
Vaso Papandreou and Giorgos Gennimatas
The paper to Andreas
The room grows even colder and then a tall female figure rises from the third or fourth seat. She crosses with a steady step the distance that separates her from the presidential seat, which Andreas is in the middle of, and she leaves him a paper. As will be known later, it includes two phrases, which are as follows: “Indirectly but clearly you refer to me and convey to me secrets that have nothing to do with my mind. I am seeking personal advice.”
She is the Vaso Papandreou and for almost a year she has experienced the merciless bullying of her comrades in the Executive Office, which she announced at the forefront of the “conspirators” to overthrow the sacred totem that goes with the name Andreas. She is the one who organized the “dinner for four”… Andreas reads the paper, breathlessly replies “of course”, and the meeting continues for a long time. To finish without giving the floor – after all, it was decided in advance that there would be no other speakers, except Andreas. In the statements she makes after the end of the meeting, she will deny Andreas, her mentor in politics and beyond, that he made a “monologue” and that he refuses to “see the reality”. It is basically the paper he gave him at that historic meeting (after which Andreas will no longer be in the public eye – a few days later he will be introduced to Onassis, leaving him without status as a major attention…) ended a stormy 20-year relationship with the founder of PaSoK.
Vaso Papandreou, among others, established the 33% quota for women’s participation in Local Government ballots
The acquaintances in London
A strong personality, with ideas and a vision for the country and PASOK, he joined him from the time he was studying economics in London. She was a founding member of the Movement, having also signed this declaration on 3 September, and was an almost permanent member of the powerful Executive Office (the only woman in the EG for many years). He was elected as an MP for the first time in 1985, and at the same time he took over the position of deputy minister of Industry, Energy and Technology, to be promoted a year later to deputy minister of the same ministry. Her impressive rise within PaSoK and the government fueled rumors that her relationship with Andreas transcended politics, but these were never confirmed. Moreover, it was her work, and her general presence in politics, that left no less shadow than that caused by acts of charity.
Commissioner in Brussels
In 1989, she took the most important step, until then, moving to Brussels, as the country’s first commissioner in the EEC, with the “portfolio” of Employment, Labor Relations and Social Affairs, Human Resources, Education and Training, and Gender. Equality.
Her reputation quickly goes beyond the narrow borders of Brussels, as she is the commissioner who fights as an equal with Brussels. Margaret Thatcher on matters relating to the protection of workers’ rights. This is the time when Thatcher and her anti-strike policies in Britain are a global issue.
The return to Greece coincides with the great internal party struggle in PaSoK for the succession of Andreas, and she will side with K. Simitis, assuming that he is the politician who can respond to the new challenges that arise for the country , from what happened. in Brussels, and experienced them firsthand. The partnership with K. Simitis will allow her to take on a number of vital ministries, such as the Interior and Infrastructure. In the first, she will leave her mark, establishing the famous Citizen Service Centers (CSCs), which are considered to be a pioneering “invention” in the war against bureaucracy. And he will bring another, deeper change, this time to the political system, establishing the 33% quota for women’s participation in Local Government ballots. This will pave the way for better representation of women in politics. And in the second, Infrastructure, where it succeeds K. Laliotishe decisively contributes to the completion of the 2004 Olympic projects. He has a love-hate relationship with Laliotis, which the urban legend attributes to their competitive, personal relationship with Andreas, and to the fact that the “dinner” of four” a “dinner of five” was prearranged, but the fifth, Laliotis, did not come to him after all.
The disease
He withdrew from politics in 2012, when the crisis was on the rise, and PaSoK has bad respect for him with the first memorandum already on his back. He strongly disagreed with its handling George Papandreou and he doesn’t want to participate in anything anymore. The serious illness that affects her two years later “restricts” her to her home, where she is left in the care of her relatives. The following ten years are difficult years, until noon on Thursday when he will die at the age of 80.
The historian of the future will evaluate the 35 years of his presence in politics, with a definite positive sign. She fought for improving the position of women in Greece and Europe, she worked hard and with determination to modernize the old state apparatus, she deservedly represented the country in the European Union, she decisively contributed to the success of Simitis eight years and she won. , as is evident from the statements of politicians from all factions, the respect of their opponents and PaSoK. A unique, charismatic personality, with direct, unusual humor and critical analytical thinking, objectively Vasso Papandreou was a deep political figure.
Today, it will be difficult to match her with any of the politicians who play a dominant role in the political life of the country…