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The danger of hundreds of thousands of Greeks remaining without salaries and pensions in December and during the Christmas and New Year holidays is more than real. The payment of the sixth tranche of the bailout to Greece is still hanging in the balance due to the refusal of the New Democracy leader to sign the written assurances that his party will abide by all the agreements reached at the last summit of the European Union.

Antonis Samaras continues to insist that he has expressed his support for the specific agreements in many ways: by participating in the transitional cabinet as he persistently calls it, voting confidence in it; by signing the document after the meeting of political leaders under the auspices of President Carlos Papoulias; by the letter to the President of the European People's Party he sent yesterday.

New Democracy's press office has provided the media with the letter, the recipient of which is not only Wilfred Martens, but also the leaders of the European parties involved, i.e. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In it, Antonis Samaras informs his counterparts in the European People's Party about the political developments in Greece following George Papandreou's decision to call a referendum and the subsequent formation of the new coalition government. Then, he states that New Democracy will abide by the agreements reached at the meeting of the three political leaders, where "we have agreed that the aim of the new government is to implement the decisions of the European Union Summit of 26 October 2011 and pursue the associated economic policy."

Antonis Samaras also states that early elections will calm down the tension in Greek society, and that his party fully supports the objectives of fiscal adjustment in order to achieve deficit reduction and changes in the public debt dynamics. "New Democracy supports the "tools" that are already being used (without much effect) like cuts in government spending, fighting tax evasion, structural changes, the privatization programme and the utilization of unused state property," reads the letter of the "blue" leader.

The party argues that these guarantees should be sufficient to European leaders, and even more so since the above-mentioned letter bears the signature of Antonis Samaras.

Europe, however, has responded that the letter is not enough and indicated the changeable position of New Democracy's leader as the reason for its mistrust. In Brussels, they have tried to collect all his statements about the agreement reached in October, the political events in Greece and the new coalition government, which they identify as contradictory.

To pay the sixth tranche, Europeans require that Antonis Samaras declares in the clearest way that the commitments he undertakes will apply after the government of Lucas Papademos, i.e. after the elections. They believe that in his letter to the European People's Party, Antonis Samaras avoids committing to the performance of the new Greek loan until 2015. In particular, Antonis Samaras states in the letter that when the "transitional government of Lucas Papademos" does its job, it should be followed by "corrections in certain policies" to ensure the success of the programme.

They also state from Brussels that the leader of New Democracy will have to send a letter to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Eurozone President, Jean-Claude Juncker.

According to journalistic sources, yesterday's meeting of Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos with Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy took place in a good atmosphere. At the same time, however, they argue that the senior representatives of the European Union are adamant on the issue of Antonis Samaras' signature. Today's meeting of Lucas Papademos with Jean-Claude Juncker is considered particularly important. According to some sources, after the meeting the Greek Prime Minister will travel to Frankfurt and the headquarters of the European Central Bank, where he will meet President Mario Draghi.

Greek media report that the situation about the Greek question is more than critical now. "Developments in European capitals show that if Antonis Samaras does not put his signature in the remaining 5-6 days, the entire plan for the payment of the sixth tranche from the bailout to Greece, according to the decisions of the summit of October 26-27, and the formation of a coalition government with the participation of three parties, will explode and the consequences for the Greek economy and society just days before Christmas will be dramatic."