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Greece closer to early elections

21 October 2011 / 21:10:55  GRReporter
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The Greek government managed to pass the bill of the Ministry of Finance, but after the vote, the PASOK parliamentary group lost one of its members. Although the former Minister of Employment Louka Katseli was disaffiliated, she refused to resign and will stay in Parliament as an independent deputy, thereby depriving the party of the opportunity to replace her with another deputy and keep the majority of 154 deputies. The Greek Cabinet is aware that in these circumstances, the vote on next bills will be extremely difficult.

At the same time, more deputies from the ruling party are calling the government to take political initiatives for the day after the crucial negotiations with the European Union to solve the Greek problem.

Vasso Papandreou, a longtime minister in the governments of the father of today's Prime Minister, stressed that the government should take actions, although George Papandreou persuaded her to vote for the bill because of the danger of not receiving the sixth tranche of the bailout. "Society is in a state of hopelessness and the country is falling apart," she said and urged lawmakers to "stand on the level of events, beyond any interim partisan dividends," reminding them that "society has condemned the entire political system." Asked what she meant by political initiatives, Vasso Papandreou replied that there were two roads: national consensus or elections.

Earlier, deputy Tonya Andoniou had called for "national cooperation and engagement," stressing that "the political system refuses to play its part." "In democracy, there are options and institutions: a government of national salvation or elections. That is enough. The message comes from all parts of Greece," she said.

Deputy Dimitris Lindzeris also called for joint actions, saying that making a government of national consensus was the only way ahead. This opinion is shared by Nikos Salagiannis, who stressed the need of a government of national salvation. "I am convinced that no single-party government is unable to cope with the situation. On Monday, the Prime Minister will invite the leaders of all parties. If the political system fails to reach the level of facts, then Greek people will say their word." Similar opinions were expressed by other lawmakers, apparently convinced that the government is unable to cope with the difficult situation in Greece.

A while ago, 28 lawmakers sent a letter to Prime Minister George Papandreou, suggesting a national consensus-based plan for ending the crisis.

Despite the strong calls, government spokesman Ilias Mossialos said that the negotiations in the coming days were crucial. In an interview with Sky Radio, he said the government would examine the political issues that arise based on the results of the negotiations. He said that the proposal to New Democracy for joint participation in the negotiations in Brussels was still open and stressed that the Greek presence there would be strong.

Right LAOS party welcomes the fact that in PASOK there are more votes, "moving around the axis of our proposal for ending the crisis, but the premise for this is the start of a process for the resignation of the Prime Minister," said the party spokesman, Costas Ayvaliotis.

Democratic Alliance leader Dora Bakoyannis expressed her hope that "even at the last moment, prudence will prevail and the two leaders will support the position of Greece with identical arguments," at the negotiating table. She recalled her proposal to form an emergency government, noting that it was required by the times as well as by the Greek citizens.

 

Tags: PoliticsEarly electionsNegotiationsGovernment of national consensusDeputiesPolitical initiatives
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