The next days will be dramatic for the Greek government as 16 PASOK deputies express concern about the Mid-Term “Rescue” Package imposed by the IMF/EU/ECB Troika. Furthermore, quite some government ministers allegedly oppose the bright spectrum of privatizations and assets sales. Others oppose the idea of having ‘Troika-Commissioners” overlooking their jobs. Prime Minister George Papandreou can relative easily get rid of ‘oppontent’ ministers through a cabinet reshuffle. But what if he can’t convince all his deputies to cast a “YES” vote to the Additional Austerity Package? What if he can’t fulfill the demands of main opposition party, centre-right Nea Dimokratia, and fails to get its support?
The condition of the Troika is clear: Yes to 5th loan tranche, yes to 2nd bailout, only if the Package is approved by the Parliament , main opposition party included.
“Papandreou will go for early elections”, claims Sunday newspaper ETHNOS, citing government sources.
“Everything is open. The game has now turned into a one-way street,” reportedly said Papandreou. According to the same anonymous government sources, a date for early elections will be set for the 24th of July.
The elections dilemma will be “Bankruptcy or Stable Government”. Although the Prime Minister has taken a opposite course, early polls would be inevitable, should PASOK MPs fail to vote for the 3-year budget, or Austerity Package II, concludes the newspaper.
On May 27, Papandreou said he would “continue alone until the elections of 2013”. His statement came after the failure to reach consensus among opposition party leaders.
The alleged date for the early elections has a strong symbolism. The 24th of July is officially celebrated as the end of the Junta, marks the political changeover and the restore of Democracy after seven years of military dictatorship.
One thing is wrong with this scenario: on June 24/25 the summit of European leaders on which this ‘new’ package has to be approved. Without this approval the infamous 5th tranche will not be paid and Greece will run out of money in July. Going Bankrupt. Does anybody here in Greece truly believe that these heads of governments will approve this new deal when Greece is going to the polls one month later? No way.
So, parliament has to vote and approve the mid-term before the EU-summit. But, to quote the EKathimerini from last Friday (http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_03/06/2011_393541), “No parliamentarian, or Greek citizen for that matter, will be ready to support a new bailout agreement unless they first hear what went wrong the first time around and what will be done this time in order to be convinced that the way financial policy is imposed and implemented will change dramatically.”
And IMHO: neither will the parliamentarians and citizens of many other European country.
as someone said: applying the same wrong medication will not heal your wound – Greek citizens won’t support for one more reason: the new 25 austerity measures will beat the last euro drop out of their pockets. I don’t know what they’ve been thinking, where the people will find the money to pay their tribute to tthe new package. The whole EU/IMF-experiment is deadlocked and died a year ago.
can you e-mail me so I can contact you?
Ok, have send it through the ‘Contact Us’
No, I think it died during this year. But the result is the same. RIP…
We were just checking our tax-returns for this year. And then you see all kind of strange things. Like a figure that the DOY fills in: it’s the money they say you should have earned as a company this year?! And then they go on calculating your taxes with this total fictitious amount as their base! Totally crazy! We would have jumped for joy if we would have made that amount of money… 🙁