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"Political commitment issues have been clarified - the leaders of political parties participating in the government have sent their letters. The Greek parliament voted with an overwhelming majority of 2/3 "for" the programme and for all serious measures to change the labour market," said the Greek Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos after the video conference of the eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday evening. He stressed that, 199 votes "for" the second memorandum ensure a reliable response to all those in Europe, who doubt the programme implementation after the elections in April.

Political infighting and lack of broad public support from the people make Europeans doubt the success of the second bailout programme. The issue of written commitment of all political parties and public organizations in support of the measures of the programme was raised at the video conference. This condition is difficult to be met, because the extreme left flank of the present Greek parliament (KKE, SYRIZA and the Democratic Left) are firmly against the memorandum. The far-right party LAOS, which participated in the interim coalition government of Lucas Papademos with four ministers, has also made a 180-degrees turn. The far right leader George Karatzaferis decided at the last moment he did not want to vote "for" the reduction of wages in the private sector and withdrew from the government. Two of his ministers, however, did not follow him.

The shift in layers in the political situation in Greece suggests uncertainty about the future. Although today about 70% of parliament supports the introduction of the new austerity measures, tomorrow (after the elections), the parties that are against the financial aid may be a majority. This could ruin the whole plan for the salvation of Greece within the euro. According to recent polls, the second most powerful party in the Greek parliament after New Democracy may be the Democratic Left. Its leader is, disaffiliated with SYRIZA, Fotis Kouvelis who has won over opponents to the memorandum from the PASOK parliamentary group.

The prospect of one or more parties that are against the economic programme of the memorandum having a strong voice in the Greek Parliament raises serious concerns. Together with this, the long denial by the leader of New Democracy Antonis Samaras to underwrite that the party will comply with the new agreement has hampered the approval of the financial support by the eurozone finance ministers. As the final decision of the Europeans has been postponed again and left for Monday, 20 February, Antonis Samaras quickly sent a letter to institutional lenders. In it, he copmmits to taking measures to increase competitiveness and economic growth. He expresses his support to radical structural changes in the country and the labour market. He pledges that he will implement the ambitious privatization plan, which provides for revenue of 19 billion euro by 2015 and 50 billion euro by 2020.

"The agreed adjustment of labour market parameters, will hopefully give a strong upfront impetus to promote employment and economic activity," reads Samaras’ letter. He stated that the immediate implementation of structural cuts is a top priority for New Democracy as well as the completion of the PSI procedure to reduce the Greek debt and the recapitalization of banks.

Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker is clear that Greece should be subjected to more stringent controls in implementing its obligations under the second memorandum. He insists that the proper implementation of commitments is a prerequisite for granting the bailout - criteria which applied to the first memorandum, but were not observed. Minister of Finance of Germany Wolfgang Schäuble supports the idea of giving Greece 30 billion euro in order to meet the needs for recapitalization of banks within the PSI. After the parliamentary elections, the country could get the other 100 billion euro, as planned. The Netherlands is also against the granting of the aid before the elections in Greece.

Along with financial institutions, Greek public enterprises, which invested assets in government bonds, will receive money from the 30 billion euro. The assistance to them amounts to 11 billion euro. The extension of the programme of financial support after the reduction of the nominal value of Greek government bonds has made other organizations seek exclusion from the PSI process. The association of pharmaceutical companies has required the companies operating in the sector and holding Greek government bonds not to get involved in the PSI. Lucas Papademos sent to the association a letter of polite denial, saying, "We believe that the real benefit from being involved in the PSI may be significantly greater for the Greek state than the economic benefits from the exclusion of these companies from the process."