1. Keeping the plaster on Greece The colonels' constitution
M. LLEWELLYN-SMITH
Athens—Mr Papadopoulos released the new draft constitution of Greece last Thursday to an audience made lethargic by a heat wave in which the temperature reached 104 degrees.
is difficult to raise much enthusiasm for .
anything in such a heat; but Papadopoulos b.,. ked out the good news without showing ‘isible signs of distress. The Prime Minister did not actually say much. He evaded some awkward questions, such as whether the clause excluding politicians from election to parlia- ment for more than three successive terms was retrospective (in which case about 140 members of the deposed chamber will be excluded), by saying that he was not a constitutional expert and would have to consult those who were. He refused to predict the date of general elections, or to say how and when the constitution would come into force. And he succeeded in con- fining himself on this occasion to only one reference to surgery—when asked whether martial law would be lifted for the referendum, which is to be held on 29 September: once again I will venture a reference to the doctors. We have a patient. We have put him in plaster. We are giving him a trial to see if he can walk without plaster. We break the first plaster, and if necessary. put on a new one where it is needed. The referendum will be a general review of the capabilities of the patient. Let us hope that he will not need to be put in plaster again.'
The constitution is a curious, in some ways, a mixed-up, document, based both on general principles (nationalism, anti-communism) and on particular cases (exclusion of Andreas Papandreou from all further participation in Greek politics, and of the royal family from more than the nominal presidency of charitable foundations). The constitution is thus national- istic and authoritarian in its assumptions and definitions, and at the same time proposes structural changes, some of which are radical, others piecemeal attempts to stop the leaks in the old constitution.
A few quotations convey the tone of the docu- ment. 'Everybody has the right to free develop- ment of his personality provided he does not infringe the rights of others and does not violate constitutional order and the moral code' (Article 9—my italics). 'Education shall . . . aim at the
ethical and intellectual training as well as the development of the national conscience of youth on the basis of the values of Greek and Christian civilization' (Article 17). The official language of the State and the Schools is that in which the texts of the Constitution and Greek legislation are composed. Any intervention to alter the language is prohibited' (Article ti- the official language is thus a fairly elevated
purist Katharevousa). 'The mission of a military
man is absolutely opposed to ideologies aiming at the overthrow or the undermining of the existing political or social regime or the cor- rupting of the national conscience of the Greeks. . . (Article 130). The Constitutional Court continuously supervises the operation of political parties, and dissolves and outlaws those whose 'aims and activities are manifestly or covertly opposed to the fundamental principles of the form of government or tend to overthrow the existing social system or endanger the territorial integrity of the country or its public security' (Article 58). Nobody knows exactly what the fundamental principles of the form of government are—that is one of the problems with this regime. But everyone knows what they are not. They are not com- munism or anything which the unwary might confuse with communism.
The executive is separated from the legisla- ture to the extent that no deputy may be a member of the government (except as prime minister or deputy prime minister) even if he resigns his seat. The powers of the Prime Minister are increased; in appointing ministers he will no longer have to satisfy the claims to portfolios of deputies with large sources of influence in the party or in the country. The present regime will have nothing to fear if it puts the constitution into force and holds elec- tions, since it will fix the electoral law and run the elections itself—caretaker governments are abolished—while the first members of the Constitutional Court, which rules on the regu- larity of elections and legislation, will in- directly be regime nominees.
The next elected government will have to fear not the new institutions foreseen by this constitution but the army. The most interesting article of the draft is number 131, which assigns promotions, retirements, assignments and trans- fers within the armed forces to service councils of senior officers. The Minister of National Defence, if he disagrees with a decision of such a council, may submit it to an appellate council of more senior officers. The constitution of these councils is to be fixed by law, so it re- mains to be seen whether the minister will have a hand in appointing their members. In any
case their decisions are ultimately binding on him, and not subject to review by the Council of State.
Thus the army becomes, for the first time, a separate and uncontrolled estate, owing allegiance to 'the country, the national ideals and national traditions'—an ironical issue to the old cry of the politicians that the army should be taken out of the political arena. The security forces, coastguards and fire services also become autonomous. It is hard to envisage the coastguards blockading Piraeus and the fire brigade occupying Athens radio station except in a comic opera. But the army is another matter. Here perhaps Papadopoulos has been forced to concede to the army more than he, as the future Prime Minister of a 'constitutional' government, would wish.
For the moment the patient's legs are still in plaster. The last month has seen a new wave of arrests—of journalists, students, underground resistance workers, and men close to the old politicians, Papandreou and Kanellopoulos, who are still under house arrest. It has also seen the significant resignation of the Minister of Justice, one of the younger men appointed in the government reshuffle of 20 June, which was designed to involve the 'new generation' whom Papadopoulos is anxious to attract. Triandaphyllopoulos, a respected professor of Athens University, was by all accounts the best of the bunch of new ministers, and just the sort of man the government needs. His departure shows that the regime is as far as ever from establishing an intellectual base except among the old.
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