“There has been no agreement,” between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis on the draft bill, the same sources added, but clarified that discussion on other issues on agenda was productive.

A date for a new meeting was not set, while the source reassured that there has not been a confidence issue toward minister of Justice Antonis Roupakiotis.

Deputy Interior Minister Haralambos Athanasiou yesterday said the government’s commitment to combat racism doesn’t require new legislation but amendments to existing laws, enet.gr writes. International human rights groups have expressed strong support for the proposed reform, alarmed at a surge in racially-motivated attacks against immigrants and the rise of the Golden Dawn party.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras expressed his optimism that “things are obviously better” and predicted that the country will recover by the end of the year or early 2014. He said that at the end of 2013 or early 2014 the first signs of recovery will show, but he called for caution about the pressures for easing the programme and the impact they can have in Greece’s efforts for a debt haircut in 2014.

“We are still at the beginning”, he said, “and I am worried because I feel the pressure to ease up. What do they want? To relinquish the perspective of achieving a primary surplus this years that will allow us to negotiate a debt haircut in 2014?” The greatest pressure regard exemption of specific categories of public sector employees from the government’s unified payroll.

Current government coalition has been a possibility even before the votes were counted on the night of June 17. And as most analysts admit, elections were won due to fear tactics explored by old politics. Samaras, Venizelos and Kouvelis, after failing to agree in May, they got a second chance in June to form a government that should be willing to sacrifice itself to save the country.

In troika’s mind, there was only one path: to follow the Papademos’ government way. However, this was something Greek voters pledged the new government to avoid. When they heard the right-wing rhetoric built around the ‘MoU re-negotiation’ concept, they thought they did it. When Antonis Samaras promised to renegotiate the infamous Memorandum, voters saw an opportunity to combine austerity relief with the conservative, safer approach of ND. So they ditched the radical vote, doing Alexis Tsipras a favor, who, in reality, hoped to spend sometime in the opposition before getting serious with the country’s core politics.

By voting for old politics, Greeks decided to stay in familiar waters and refrain from exploring the uncertainty of the new. Besides, a 3-year austerity made people weaker, placing them closer to the indifference threshold.

Unfortunately or not, voters were spared with the technicalities. Pre-election rhetoric was based on the magic word of ‘re-negotiation’; a handful of columnists and politicians who really explained the fallacy were swamped by partisan juxtaposition. On election night, the new Prime Minister already abandoned the strong campaign word and started talking about ‘amendments’ that would be put into effect sometime during the 4-year period of governance and, most importantly, they would be received as a ‘bonus’ for playing the predetermined austerity cards right.

This is how a government can screw up political communication strategy (if any) overnight. Hardcore Samaras’ associates will probably say that communication is not that important, since what matters is real structural changes. Wrong. In times of crisis, people are disoriented. If you do not package your politics right, you are finished, especially in Greece, and particularly when you are a conservative leader running a coalition scheme supported by the socialists and the left.

From the moment the coalition is once again messing around with pensions, salaries and social benefits (namely horizontal measures) the pistol is cocked and the trigger is about to be pressed. Is people’s new disappointment enough to break a government? Probably not, but if the opposition manages to give meaningful words to social discontent, then breaking a link would be enough to unlock the administration and take it down; not noisily on the streets of Athens, but in the chambers of strategic politics.

The survival of the government depends on a really weak link held by PASOK leadership and this weak link is about to crack for a variety of reasons.

First of all, despite all the laws and measures passed in the past, most people consider the attack on household income a fresh piece of government policy. Being under the bankruptcy threat is no longer a strong argument; it was burned out during the Papandreou years.

The government’s vagueness about the new austerity measures continues the fear tactics, making things even worse. This alienates voters even further from the old political system, whose leftovers were used to form today’s government coalition. In simple terms, those who initiated fear and presented themselves as citizens’ protectors quickly failed on their promises and once more engaged fear as a tool to bail themselves out of the pressure.

When you need cash fast, is there any other alternative than cut spending from the source? Probably not, but why lie to the people? Was it the result of amateur political spinning or a failure of leadership to assess reality?

And this brings us to coalition’s inner politics. Old PASOK and Venizelos are in a down slope (sources say that a new formation is under way by key PASOK people) and Kouvelis is already experiencing an identity crisis and is in no position to play a role without the intermediary socialist link. This could crack the government in no time.

But still, a triggering event is required to make things roll that should be about the people (and not about partisan relations) and would put the coalition in a real unity test. In my view, this grassroots event is already scheduled in the political agenda for late August or early September and has nothing to do with troika’s wises.

It will be genuinely about the people and for the people.

This is the new draft bill for the relief of over-indebted households from loan obligations, tabled by SYRIZA to be discussed when the Parliament returns from the summer break.

Tsipras’ political argument is simple and involves hundreds of thousands of households that saw their budgets flattened by the crisis, due to unemployment or massive reduction of income. This policy was included in Antonis Samaras’ speeches during the pre-election period, but nothing is heard ever since.

The technical argument is that the banks are making up the losses from bad loans through their recapitalization from the Credit Stability Fund. At the same time, the banks continue to demand the repayment of the delayed installments, regardless of the fact that those loans have been classified as bad debts and are taken into account by the recapitalization.

In plain talk, those who will disagree with the bill would sound like asking Greek people to pay the banks twice for financial management failures of the past: first, via national borrowing for recapitalization, and second, from their own pockets for bad personal loans.

So, who is going to disagree with Tsipras’ proposal and on what grounds? In terms of political communication, this move is an absolute winner. It could rule the agenda and meddle beautifully with the new austerity measures the coalition government is about to announce; furthermore, it corners the coalition government politically, and challenges MPs (through a catalogue name vote) on an individual as well as collective level.

Conspiracy advocates could say that this is planned between the Premier and the main opposition. If this is not the case, New Democracy will have to react, PASOK and Democratic Left will have to take sides; MPs individually will have to do the same. This could prove to be a unique moment in Greek politics, gathering an across the board agreement, or the trigger in question, ending up being a win-win for the centre left.

It could also make Antonis Samaras the Prime Minister serving the shortest term in modern Greek history and turn Alexis Tsipras into the youngest one, ever.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of Alyunaniya.com

According to Kathimerini, Samaras insisted that Greece should only begin the process of asking for better terms after the cuts have been agreed and once Athens has shown that it is picking up the pace of structural reforms. The prime minister told his coalition partners that following discussions with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who visited Athens last week, and with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who Samaras spoke to on the phone on Wednesday, he was left in doubt that this was the right strategy. Following a heated discussion, during which Venizelos and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras exchanged angry words, Samaras’s position won out.

Stournaras said: “The prime minister recommended that we should accept the reduction of public spending by EUR 11.5 billion as a necessary prerequisite for Greece remaining in the Eurozone and being able to negotiate further,” said Stournaras after leaving the meeting. “This recommendation was accepted.”

Greek media wrote that PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos indicated that he had reluctantly given his support to the position adopted by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister. “If the Prime Minister believes that immediately making EUR 11.5 billion in savings is the only way to secure the country’s position in the Eurozone, I am obliged to support him,” he said, adding there was no point in sticking to his strategy anymore. “When we cannot agree on a domestic level, it is futile to pursue something on the international level.”

He added that the new savings must not be “unfair” or include “horizontal measures” and said that a new round of cuts to wages, pensions and benefits would worsen the recession, making demands for new cuts inevitable. Privately, Venizelos admitted that it was unlikely these cuts would be avoided.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras announced the opening of negotiations with the Troika, after yesterday’s agreement of the coalition leaders. First appointment is set for today, at 14.00.

Meanwhile, after meeting yesterday afternoon, Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis – who lead the two smaller parties in the government – have stated that they will not attend the summit. According to media reports, Kouvelis said the coalition party leaders will go to Brussels to try to win concessions from European partners over a bailout package as soon as Samaras recovers from eye surgery. “We have agreed, as soon as the prime minister has recovered, to go together to Brussels… in order to negotiate and fight for everything that is related to the implementation of what has been agreed,” the Democratic Left leader told reporters, according to Kathimerini.

Meanwhile, Prime minister’s office announced that National Bank of Greece chief Vasilis Rapanos would not be assuming the position of Finance Minister. In a letter to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Rapanos has turned down the position of finance minister in the new coalition government, citing health reasons. “The recent incident that led me to being hospitalized indicated that my health problem has not been overcome,” Rapanos said in his letter, ANA writes. “Following discussions that I had with my doctors, I have concluded that the condition of my health, for the time being, is not what it should be in order to fulfil my duties adequately.” Samaras responded by accepting Rapanos’s decision and wishing him a quick recovery.

According to Kathimerini, Samaras is due to meet the leaders of the other two parties in his coalition government later today to discuss who could fill the role of finance minister. Since last night, the names of ND VP and former EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas and Former PASOK Minister Alekos Papadopoulos are under discussion for the job, according to the media.

Let’s try out the accomplishments: first, in last Sunday’s run-off poll, Samaras, Venizelos & Kouvelis gained a satisfactory number of seats that will allow them to start talking about amending the constitution, second, spinning fear dilemmas on Greeks offered the new scheme a -previously non existent- grace period and third, they turned Alexis Tsipras’s SYRIZA into a major political power. These made things fall into place, since, despite its incoherent radicalism, Tsipras’ party is useful to Greek politics as useful wolves are to a flock of deer; they keep them alive and kicking.

Samaras and his associates, Venizelos and Kouvelis, have a good chance to prove that Tsipras’ angry and un-systemic approach is not really needed in Greek politics. Certainly, Greek citizens who did vote or were willing to support Alexis -for a variety of reasons- will remain angry and faithless towards a pro-MoU government that will have, eventually to collect a number of tax hikes and further suppress household wealth, or what’s left of it.

So, what should be done? Could Samaras avoid collecting revenues and stop the bleeding of Greek households? Probably not, since previous years’ phobias have left a series of bills unsettled; for instance real estate property taxes for the period 2009-2011 will start arriving en mass to households, plus last year’s tax bill that has already surged.

Despite the pre-election rhetoric, pressure on salaries and pensions will continue, perhaps not directly, but due to increases in utilities or through the new reduced tax-free threshold. What Samaras can do is to state emphatically that there will be no new taxes. This is the easy part. A tougher call would be to cancel pension cuts already announced and overdue, or order citizens to ignore Tax Bureau notes arriving by mail.

Policy directions agreed with our lenders cannot be avoided; troika people need results; they do not necessarily promote the ways to reach them. Therefore, the answer will not be found in the hype of “MoU renegotiation”; this will probably end up into merely prolonging the implementation of the country’s obligation timeline.

The real political challenge is to act radically and change things in three fronts: 1) quality of applied politics, 2) the citizens’ well-being and 3) creation of new GDP.

Referring to the quality of politics, Samaras government has an unexpected chance to act as the driving force for the restructuring of the Greek political system; the only -although the hardest- thing they have to do is to be innovative; escape political stiffness and rebrand Greek politics. The effort could excel if a twist is added through the adoption of some of Tsipras’ proposals, especially those that have to do with cutting down the salaries of ministers, ministry advisors and MPs.

Citizens’ well-being such as security, environment, health, implementation of the law and accountability of local government remain key policy areas that could offset cruel income cuts and household tax hikes. Improving public sentiment is possible through precise strategic planning and close monitoring of implementation. A great list of interventions could secure immediate and spectacular results with zero cost.

Finally, they need to create new GDP, not only through public works and privatisations, but also through the exploration of competitive advantages of Greece, such as agro-business, holistic tourism, transports, education and renewable energy sources. To manage that, you need to cut down red tape, integrate processes, embrace new ideas, advance innovative entrepreneurship and mobilise a huge amount of national product that remains unexploited.

Making these happen requires a new style in politics, out of the box thinking and new brainpower. Samaras and associates have to prove they are willing to foster all three of them.

Wednesday’s swearing-in took place just minutes after Greece’s socialist PASOK party announced that the country has a new government, ending nearly 2 months of political uncertainty which threatened to plunge the country in deeper recession.

“With God’s help, we’ll do everything we can to pull the country out of the crisis as soon as possible,” Samaras said after the swearing in ceremony at the Presidential palace in Athens.

“I will ask the new government to work hard and offer the Greek people tangible hope,” he added.

During the handover outgoing caretaker Premier Panayiotis Pikrammenos,wished Samaras good luck and told him: ”You have many battles ahead of you, inside Greece and abroad.”

Samaras has vowed to revise the EU-IMF bailout deal and rid the country of undocumented migrants.

Samaras, Venizelos and Kouvelis decided that the new government would comprise 15 ministers and about 20 deputy ministers, according to Kathimerini. This represents a significant reduction from the 49 ministers and deputies that served in the interim cabinet under Lucas Papademos.

PASOK will propose candidates for four ministers and as many deputy ministers while Democratic Left two for ministerial posts and two deputy ministers.

The new prime minister wants to create separate tourism and merchant marine ministries. These departments had been absorbed into the Development Ministry. The re-establishment of the Macedonia-Thrace Ministry is also on the cards, according to Kathimerini.

Samaras, Venizelos and Kouvelis held talks on Wednesday night with caretaker Finance Minister Giorgos Zannias and National Bank President Vassilis Rapanos, candidate for the post. Zannias will represent Greece at Thursday’s Eurogroup meeting and it was decided The Eurogroup is due to meet in Brussels on Thursday, where Greece’s situation is to be discussed.

New Democracy , PASOK and Democratic Left are hovering on the formation of coalition government Tuesday after holding talks yesterday, To Vima reports. Anti-bailout SYRIZA and Independent Greeks have rejected the posibility to join a coalition government as both insist they will not collaborate with ND and PASOK or any party that is willing to implement the harsh austerity measures taken in return for Greece’s bailout loans.

Samaras received a mandate to form a coalition government from the president on Monday,and met with the leaders of all the potential coalition partners.

In a statement after his meeting with Samaras, Democratic Left leader Kouvelis hinted that his party might be ready to join the coalition.

However, Venizelos proposed that SYRIZA should be brought into the coalition talks but his insistence that a government must be formed by Tuesday evening suggests he recognises that that’s not possible, according to ANA. 

Evangelos Venizelos, PASOK head and a former finance minister, finished in the election third behind Syriza. His 33 seats in the 300-member parliament mean he could form a government with New Democracy, which gained 129 seats. 


Venizelos, however, insisted on a broad coalition.

The addition of the leftists in the coalition would give a slightly wider public appeal and who also send away some of the criticism that the new government would simply be more of the same, as PASOK and ND have governed Greece almost exclusively since 1974, Kathimerini writes.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking at a meeting of G20 leaders in Mexico, said any loosening of Greece’s agreed reforms would be unacceptable and repeated that Athens had to stick to its bailout commitments.

Obviously, Samaras, Venizelos and Kouvelis needed no fortunetellers to forecast the glorious years Tsipras would have in front of him being in the main opposition, while the aforementioned trio would be consumed by the additional measures included in the second MoU. There would be no political peace, the left reaction would surge and soon the country would found itself once again in a dead-end.

Bottom line this is politics in Greece, especially when a weak 3-party coalition in the MoU years equals to almost the same (or less) power a strong party used to have in the years of prosperity.

So, what is going to be? Which approach is more suitable to describe the future of local politics? Is Greek electorate following the canoe paradigm, or we are in front of a SYRIZA sailboat effect, as a diplomat put in a recent gathering. Will things balance again after a strong sideward movement or Tsipras will become the youngest prime minister in Europe?

I used to argue that current gen of politicians is equally problematic as the one their mentors belonged to. So, a new leader in his thirties could make a difference. But again, in the case of Greece, new leadership should not emerge from the left. Not at the moment. The country cannot afford sailing the Left boat in unmarked waters. We need a coalition of the willing and a period of careful planning and courageous implementation of structural changes and wider modernisation moves to put our house in order.

All these are at stake once again in June 17. My view is that given the circumstances and the severe damages PASOK has suffered in May, the only anti-SYRIZA force could emerge from the centre-right that would cooperate with Venizelos’ party (a new name and branding strategy remain a possibility), use a new liberal centrist force as a glue (Drasi with Re-Create Greece) and keep Democratic Left as a backup plan for the future. Moreover, some Kammenos’ MPs could possibly return to ND nest, offering their support in a coalition, or as soon as the government puzzle is solved.

However, for the time being, the call for unity in the centre-right lacks the required dynamism as well as touch to society, since it focuses on Dora Bakoyannis’ and some LAOS’ MPs return, two moves that symbolically are reciprocally neutralized. Uniting the centre-right per se does not seem relevant to Greek people; especially when the country’s obligations to the MoU will lead to the introduction of 6 more tax hikes in the next few months, some of them -regrettably- arriving through the post before June 17.

What perhaps would be relevant to Greeks is a constructive approach to their problems, old and new, an ability SYRIZA lacks by default.

The majority of Greek citizens are looking for a rationale to avoid voting for Alexis; but old leaderships do almost nothing to give them a reason not to.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com

A caretaker government to lead the country to new election polls will be appointed on Wednesday, according to the Presidency spokesman. “We’re heading to elections,” the spokesman told reporters.

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos put the blame on “those who coldly put their narrow partisan interests above national interest.” “Greek people on May 6, told us that they do not want elections again, they want a coalition government,” said Venizelos. He added: “PASOK lost the elections on 6 May. This meant that could influence things less than before the election. But since the day after, we had a responsible attitude. We asked to undertake a common national endeavor. Unfortunately this was not accepted.”

Venizelos noted that PASOK adopted Democratic Left leader Kouvelis’ proposal for a national unity government for a 2-year duration with the participation of SYRIZA. “We believed that there was a basis for a consensus”, he said. “The country will find its way. We will struggle from a basis, which is unfavorable for PASOK. This will happen if Greek citizens make a right choice. Let’s move towards a better situation; for God’s sake let’s not do worse. ”

“Some people, in reality, are struggling to lead the country out of Europe,” ND leader Antonis Samaras stated, underlining that he agreed to have a government without the New Democracy party “as long as we remain in the Eurozone”. In his speech after the meeting of political leaders, Samaras mentioned the turning point at which our country finds itself. “The country is going through its most critical moments after the junta. Greece is isolated” he said, underlining that “the fate of our children” is being determined in the elections.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras accused Samaras and Venizelos that they remain faithful to their commitments to Merkel and thereby made the formation of a government impossible. “Samaras and Venizelos, faithful to their signatures denied adopting our proposals and in substance posed a dilemma: Memorandum or elections” stated Tsipras. “They did not simply ask for our agreement but invited us to put our signature on measures of poverty and destitution. We resisted with all our strength and soul”, he stated and underlined that SYRIZA took the decision not to betray the hopes of the people. “The forces of yesterday which demolished society are looking for a second chance of survival, threaten and harass”, Tsipras said and added that they must be put into history’s limbo. “Now is the time to complete the great advance which took place on May 6th, to form a government of the Left, with enhanced strength”.

“My fellow Greeks, I did what I could,” said Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis to reporters after the meeting. “Some are leading the country to elections, based on partisan interests”.

According to media reports, the political leaders’ meeting was quite intense. Later on, ND cadres associated failure of talks with the ambition of Independent Greeks’ leader Panos Kammenos to take over the Premiership. Sources said there were strong words between PASOK and SYRIZA leaders.

Yesterday, a Hellenic Presidency announcement said that during yesterday’s meeting between President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, the latter handed a series of scenarios to the President, amongst which demands were expressed in order Kammenos to participate in a national unity government.

Political leaders meet again Wednesday, 13.00 to discuss the formation of a caretaker government that will lead the country to elections.

According to protothema.gr, ND leader Antonis Samaras agreed, stating that the “personalities” must be politicians. Evangelos Venizelos also agreed while Fotis Kouvelis once more argued that the participation of SYRIZA should be considered a condition for any further move. Thus it was agreed a new meeting to be held, involving other leftist parties.

The President of the Republic called all leaders, except Golden Dawn’s, to a new meeting today at 14:00 at the Presidential mansion with SYRIZA leader accepting the invitation.

Shortly after yesterday’s meeting, ND leader Antonis Samaras stated that he asked President Papoulias the proposal submitted by the leader of Independent Greeks Panos Kammenos be explored, which was based on a coalition government with seven priorities, ANA reported.

On his part, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos stated: “we support, as a last resort, a government of personalities”.  He identified a minimum government support of such an effort by ND, SYRIZA, PASOK and Democratic Left. He said that he is not optimistic and underlined that there must be a new meeting today since all parties are responsible, according to Ta Nea.

Finally, Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis was the least enthusiastic about the prospect of such a government being formed, insisting that an administration made up of as many parties as possible was a better option. “This is a defeat for politics,” he said.

Meanwhile a new poll by Rass for Eleftheros Typos newspaper, showed SYRIZA to have inched forward to 20.5 percent, pushing New Democracy into second place at 19.4 percent. PASOK, which gathered 13 percent in the elections, is down to 11.8%. Independent Greeks follows with 7.8%, Democratic Left 6.2%, Communist Party (KKE) 4.8%, Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) 3.8%. According to the poll, 81.4% said they want Greece to stay in the euro area. A similar percentage (80.1 percent) of SYRIZA voters thought the same.