November 8, 2011
As EU and IMF inspectors held talks in February on Greece's failure to meet targets on reforms, Prime Minister George Papandreou summoned his cabinet to an urgent meeting.
The meeting was not on the deepening financial mess or on lenders' demand the country pony up its family silver in return for bailout money. Instead, it was on Papandreou's pet project -- eco-friendly development.
While the inspectors debated whether Athens had done enough to merit another infusion of funds, Papandreou's entire cabinet heard a two-hour presentation on environmentally friendly housing by architect Alexandros Tombazis and a speech by former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on "green growth."
It was not the first time -- or the last -- that Papandreou would appear to be cut off from reality as he led a nation stumbling through its worst crisis since World War Two.
A third-generation scion of Greece's leading political dynasty, Papandreou is almost universally described by those who know him as a "nice guy" -- affable and polished, a diplomat who seeks consensus and offers a cosmopolitan perspective in the provincial world of Greek politics.
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