Interview: Time to unite, focus on reforms: former Greek PM

After five years of harsh austerity and remarkable adjustment achieved in fiscal balances, now is high time for Greeks to get united and focus on reforms, former Greek Prime Minister and Socialist International President George Papandreou told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Papandreou, who just assumed office when the Greek debt crisis broke out in late 2009, has argued right from the start that Greeks "should use the crisis as an opportunity to change the country."

His term -- and his reform efforts -- ended abruptly in 2011 when he called a referendum on the country's course. Four years later, Greece is still lagging on reforms and the new left-led government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pledges sweeping changes in exchange for further international financing under a third bailout program in order to keep the country afloat and in the euro zone.

"I believe that initially the government was focusing on the details of the memorandum (of understanding between the troika and the greek government) rather than looking in the deeper issues. Now that they have decided to further continue this program I hope they will focus on the reforms. Now is the time to do so," Papandreou told Xinhua on the sidelines of the 16th annual Symi Symposium hosted by the Andreas Papandreou Foundation on the island of Corfu this week.

"On whether they will be able to do this alone, I believe we need some form of a wider consensus," the former premier and leader of the newly founded Movement of Democratic Socialists said, stressing that "we certainly need to work together to carry out these deep reforms in our country."

Papandreou welcomed as "positive development" the recent voting in the parliament.

On July 16, the Greek parliament passed with a very wide support the debt deal reached three days earlier at the euro zone summit and the first prior actions requested by creditors to unlock aid. On Thursday, the second round of prior actions was also approved with the support of opposition parties.

"Although it is a difficult program, the voting shows that now in contrast with the past we have much wider cooperation and consensus amongst the different political parties, which I think is a positive sign," Papandreou said.

Papandreou does not consider the third bailout program under discussion as the solution to the crisis, but argued it will give "a sense of stability, a sense that we will be able to hopefully return to the markets soon, and one more opportunity to make major changes and reforms."

The third memorandum is not enough to turn Greece into a much more sustainable economy, he said.

"This is where we need to work together. It is important to allow Greece to move toward reforms and not ask the Greek people for more austerity but give some oxygen to the economy. That is why we are talking about some form of debt restructuring," the former prime minister said.

For Papandreou, cooperation is the key to moving forward at the regional and international levels.

One of the topics on the agenda of the five-day event that ended Thursday evening was the erosion of Europe's fundamental vision.

Europe's fundamental vision, according to the former prime minister, was "the belief in the necessity that we must bury our past conflicts."

"We do not forget about them, but we start cooperating together beyond borders. We respect our differences but have a common basis for values which unites us as Europeans and which allows us to work together to deal with major issues whether they are inside Europe or whether they are global issues," he said.

The financial crisis brought out tensions, which were imposed first on the economic policies and later moved to the political sphere and turned into populist, nationalistic or even racist narrative between Europeans, he said.

This blame game has reopened the past animosities, undermining the basic principles of what Europe stands for, Papandreou said.

"I hope we have the leadership in Europe to stop this narrative and show that instead of accusing Greeks or Germans, we can work together on how to deal with problems like the financial crisis, on how we can build better governance, how we represent out citizens' needs, how we empower our citizens, how we become more competitive, and how we invest in the future of our younger generations. These are issues that should be common to us rather than being divisive," he said.

The former premier praised the excellent cooperation between Greece and China and called for more foreign especially Chinese investment in Greece.

"Greece is an opportunity. We are going through a crisis, but if you look within the historical context this will be a short period. It is also an important opportunity for Greece and for investment. The country is ripe for investment," he said.

"The very close cooperation we already have with China I think is a proof of capacity for further cooperation. The investment in the Piraeus port has been a success and there is more to be done," Papandreou said.

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) has a concession to operate two of the three container terminals in Piraeus Port -- the chief exit point for destinations among the Aegean Islands and elsewhere in the east Mediterranean.

"Greeks and Chinese are linked with our belief and pride in our histories and traditions. I am very glad to see more and more Chinese visiting Greece either for business or pleasure and we welcome them," he said. Endi