Greece's new finance minister faces unenviable task
Helena Smith www.theguardian.com
Evangelos Venizelos, the PM's rival, is seen as the only one who can persuade Greeks to accept austerity measures
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the Guardian
Evangelos Venizelos, Greece's new finance minister, has his work cut out for him. For any European politician it would be an unenviable post. But Venizelos, a 54-year-old constitutional law professor, wanted the job.

Venizelos is possessed of an intelligence that commands almost universal respect in Greece, and his appointment, though odd at first sight, could also be a stroke of ingenuity.

As a political heavyweight with a formidable grasp of economics, the telegenic former defence minister replaces Michalis Papakonstantinou, a suave operator in the corridors of power abroad but a poor communicator at home.

Venizelos, by contrast, is well connected to the country's powerful media and as one of Greece's most articulate politicians is viewed as the only man who can turn around public opinion – and get Greeks to swallow the bitter pill of more austerity.

"If he can't do it, no one can," said Giorgos Kyrtsos, a prominent political commentator. "Few others can present government policy or sell the measures that need to be sold as he can."

A prolific writer with a physically imposing presence and numerous government portfolios behind him, the French-trained legal expert also has good ties to trade unions affiliated with the ruling socialist Pasok party – organisations that in the fight to modernise Greece's sclerotic economy have often arrested reform.

"The economy needs deft political management," says Kyrtsos. "The finance ministry is run by a corrupt and expensive bureaucracy that is in charge of the tax collecting system and is Pasok-controlled. Venizelos will undoubtedly have more control over those mechanisms.

"Tax evasion, the failure to raise revenues, has been the main reason for the lack of progress that has been made and is precisely why Greece now needs more austerity in return for further international aid."

But Venizelos is as cunning as he is clever, and his appointment is also a political risk – not least for the prime minister, George Papandreou, with whom he openly clashed in a contest for the Pasok party leadership in 2007.

Venizelos has none of the cosmopolitan flare of the US-born premier, and though respected among academics abroad also lacks Papandreou's connections with the international community.

But the politician, who was born in Thessaloniki and is married to the daughter of a wealthy Greek entrepreneur from the northern capital, has not hidden his leadership ambitions. His hopes of being prime minister will depend to a great degree on how he heads the finance ministry in Greece's greatest hour of need. It is a risk that Papandreou is willing to take, to save his government and the country, from collapse.