Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday again stressed the government's determination to proceed steadfastly with its program and the reforms it has announced, as he emerged from the Aghios Demetrios (St. Demetrius) Cathedral in Thessaloniki after attending a mass for the feast day of the city's patron saint.

"Machinations of reaction and cries of conservatism neither dismay nor disorient us," he added in comments referring to the latest round of scandal-mongering dominating coverage in a portion of the mass media and newspapers' front pages.

"There are those who are adversely affected (by the government's reforms) but they are few compared to the many asking us to change things, to wipe out pathogeny and inflexibility and to deal with the real problems of the country and its citizens," Karamanlis said.

It is on these and only these that we direct our concern, our policies and our decisions, he added.

Noting that the government welcomed the democratic critique of its work as constructive, Karamanlis nevertheless criticized what he called a "morbid climate cultivated by certain parties" and said it would not interfere with the government's efforts.

"The citizens are more mature than some, who try to manipulate them…" he added.
The current political climate also earned the attention of main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou, who said citizens "feel that Greece has been mired in the logic of petty party-political interests, client-based relations, a lack of transparency as well as a lack of vision".

Source: Athens News Agency

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