Greece’s newly-elected Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said he would personally take charge of preparations for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games by heading the country’s Culture Ministry that oversees work for the event.
Karamanlis pledged in his first speech as Prime Minister-elect Sunday that the government would “give its best” for a successful Olympic Games. He said, “all together, united, we will give our best so that the Olympics will be the best and most secure ever”.
Conservative New Democracy party spokeswoman Fani Palli-Petralia was appointed alternate Minister for Culture and is expected to supervise the Olympic works on a daily basis.
And the party’s number two member Yiorgos Souflias is now in charge of the Environment and Public Works Ministry which oversees lagging key Olympic projects such as construction of a roof above the main Olympic Stadium and the marathon track.
According to analysts Karamanlis’ decision to take charge of the Games was a signal he was ready to take hard decisions to speed up preparations and the clearest sign yet that there were serious problems.
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, head of Athens 2004, will report to the Prime Minister directly. She has complained over the past years of rows with socialist ministers in charge of different parts of preparations who would not line up behind her priorities.
Thanos Veremis of the Hellenic Foundation for Defence and Foreign Policy said Karamanlis was willing to stake his own reputation on turning over the Games. “He wants to demonstrate his will and make clear he won’t shrink from confronting the issue”.
Financial analyst Jose Garcia Zarate said the fact that Karamanlis is keeping the culture ministry for himself is the most obvious indication yet that there are serious problems with Olympic preparations.
