THE GREEK Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, long an out spoken rebel in the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), has cemented his grip on power and now must deliver on his pledge to push Greece on a pro-European, modernising course.
A day after a narrow win in a bruising party leadership battle, Mr Simitis (60) paid a symbolic visit yesterday to the grave of his one time mentor and the founder of Pasok, Andreas Papandreou.
In recent years, Mr Simitis had become well known for challenging Papandreou's autocratic rule and habit of forging policy at his villa rather than at cabinet meetings or at the parliament.
A loner who has called for more party democracy, Mr Simitis won slightly more than half the votes of some 5,200 delegates on Sunday at the Pasok congress. His election as party leader, replacing Papandreou, who died on June 23rd, was a call for change and a defeat for the Papandreou clique which has ruled Pasok since its founding in 1974.
It gives Mr Simitis a lock on the government and the Pasok party machine, as well as a mandate to implement change. It was the second time this year he has proved himself a solid political tactician.
He won the post of Prime Minister in another neck and neck vote against the socialist old guard when the Pasok parliamentary group elected him to replace the ailing Papandreou in January.
His first boast after winning the leadership contest was that despite angry often rude televised exchanges during the congress, Pasok had defied those who expected it to break apart.
"It is a big moment for all us. It was difficult but we proved we can turn the page", Mr Simitis said after his victory. "The post Papandreou era will not be the post Pasok era."
So far, Mr Simitis has made no clear statement on his priorities or whether any dramatic changes are in the offing. His win also cemented the power of lieutenants such as the Development Minister, Dr Vasso Papandreou, who has been heavily criticised by the business community.
Mr Simitis's own record is mixed. As National Economy Minister in 1987 he devalued the drachma and as Industry Minister in 1995 he bungled the privatisation of a shipyard. He resigned both times.
Delegates, Pasok officials and political commentators said on Sunday that at the very least a radical cabinet reshuffle was in the offing, and perhaps even early elections.
But the message from Mr Simitis's camp yesterday was "business as usual" and the steady application of a stabilisation plan aimed at meeting EU targets for economic convergence targets.
"The Prime Minister is not concerned at the moment with changes in the government. This is the last thing concerning him," the government spokesman, Mr Dimitris Reppas, said yesterday. I would not be drawn on what was concerning Mr Simitis but said the government's strong view was that elections should be held on schedule in October 1997.
"The election is very positive as Simitis will carry on the same stabilisation policy, keep the same economics team, and is now free to act", Mr Michael Papparis, treasury and capital markets manager at Midland Plc in Athens, said.