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The European economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia announced on a press conference in Brussels that all political leaders in Greece are very familiar with the economy of the country. He reminded that independently of the upcoming elections in Greece on October 4, at the end of the month the Greek government will have to inform the European Commission about the measures, which it has planned for balancing the budget and most importantly for lowering the internal debt to 3.7% from the GDP until the end of 2009.

The statement from the commissioner acted as a cold shower to PASOK leader Georgios Papandreou, because only a day before, at a press conference in Thessaloniki, he announced the economic program of his party, which has a budget that exceeds €65 billion. "At the end of October we will find out the measures of the Greek government for stabilizing the budget and we will establish whether the plans are effective. Keeping in mind the updated evaluations for the Greek and European economies, in November we will make a decision," warned Almunia.

"By the end of the year we will have to decide whether the necessary measures are being taken, not only in Greece but in other countries with big internal debt as well. After that we will decide how to continue controlling those economies according to the Stability Pact and to our evaluations," said the commissioner. The statements by Papandreou for stopping the privatization of Thessaloniki Water Supply and increasing the government control over OTE, caused shakes. The stock index "dove in" with 2.34% for one day and closed with 2 468 points.

The stock index was going down but the sociological surveys were flying up in the sky and started registering a lead for the socialistic opposition, which is reaching a two digit value. For the first time, all agencies tracking the election attitude are showing a sure support for the leadership qualities of Georgios Papandreou at the expense of the decreased trust in the skills of PM Kostas Karamanlis.