Goodbye Again

"Everybody wanted to cut my wings," protested ex-Premier Constantine Karamanlis. "I refused to stay and let them use their scissors." With this bitter farewell hurled at King Paul, and at Greek voters who had ended his eight-year administration, Karamanlis abruptly exiled himself to Paris.

No Watchdog. Though Conservative Karamanlis was the ablest Premier in recent Greek history, King Paul and Queen Frederika considered him highhanded (he thought the same of the Queen); they also opposed his ideas of reforming the constitution to give the Premier stronger executive powers. In June, when they rejected Karamanlis' advice to call off a scheduled state visit to Britain because of possible leftist demonstrations, he resigned and spent three months in a Swiss villa. Returning to run for reelection, he was narrowly defeated by wily, middle-of-the-road George Papandreou, 75. Karamanlis wanted to quit then, but was dissuaded by his political allies and the King, who convinced him that as leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition he would be democracy's watchdog.

But Karamanlis wanted to be top dog, and he growled at each new move that boosted Papandreou's popularity. The new Premier froze rents, lavishly promised all Greeks a free education, declared a moratorium on farmers' debts, offered wage boosts to just about everybody. He gave up the Premier's limousine ("We can build four village schools with the money"), opened his office once a week to petitioners who swamped him with gripes, job requests, even demands to speed up their divorces. Though antiCommunist, Papandreou also managed to please leftists. He promised to free most of the 1,000 political prisoners, in jail since the end of the Communist civil war in 1949. He also complained, accurately, that the Greek defense budget, amounting to 5% of its gross national income, is higher than that of other small nations in NATO, called for more foreign aid (actually, the U.S. is planning cutbacks).

Triumphal Return? Though some economists hopefully predicted that Papandreou's spending spree will be covered by rising national income, Greek businessmen were uneasy. When King Paul, siding with the new Premier, agreed to postpone a parliamentary vote of confidence, Karamanlis fumed; he charged that in delaying the early test of strength, the King was submitting to "blackmail" by Papandreou, who implicitly threatened that his defeat might cause political disorder and help the left.

Finally, Karamanlis summoned his closest political aide and told him: "I'm retiring and leaving Greece--tomorrow." He booked space under a false name on a flight to Paris. Only after Karamanlis and his wife had departed did his National Radical Union get the word. Stunned, they elected a new party chairman and took whatever comfort they could from a letter their leader had left behind: "When a statesman knows what is best for his country but cannot carry it out, he must, instead of compromising with his conscience, retire."

Karamanlis apparently hopes that if Papandreou makes a mess of things he can return from exile in triumph. In the event of new elections, his supporters are ready to campaign under the slogan "Bring Karamanlis Back." As for Papandreou, he claims to be looking forward to a new vote, confident of an easy victory.

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