The revision of the multi-bill by the parliamentary Finance Committee revealed disagreements between MPs from the coalition parties, which, if not dealt with corrections in certain Articles, are able to rock the fragile government majority of 155 MPs.

ND ministers are in consultations with ND and PASOK MPs, to agree on improvements and corrections to bend any objections that might arise on the multi-bill. They expect to include adjustments that may be voted by DIMAR MPs as well, tovima.gr writes.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with government vice-president and PASOK president Evangelos Venizelos, and agreed on a series of specific corrections in the multi-bill. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Interior Minister Yiannis Michelakis were present at the meeting.

Among others, the bill contains public administration ministry amendments introducing sweeping public sector reforms, such as the ‘mobility’ scheme that will see thousands of public-sector workers suspended on reduced pay, until they are either transferred to another position or laid off. There are also drastic changes relating to tax law and new mechanisms for deciding the minimum wage, AMNA informs.

Meanwhile, a group of SYRIZA MPs yesterday hung a banner over the parapet above the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament, which wrote: “Fire the government. ‘No’ to sackings in the private and public sector,” Kathimerini informs.

The banner was hung as thousands of Greeks marched on Syntagma Square to protest a multi-bill that is currently under debate in Parliament and which foresees, among other measures, the streamlining of the public sector. The SYRIZA MPs’ move was met by applause and cheers from the protesters, whom they went on to join the rally.

“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.

In the meeting, the government’s general secretary Panagiotis Baltakos, the PM’s associate advisor Chrysanthos Lazaridis, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Charalambos Athanasiou, former Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the secretary of New Democracy’s Parliamentary Group Athanasios Bouras and the President of Parliament’s Ethics and Transparency Committee Anastasios Neratzis were present, who, after extensive discussion on the controversial bill, they decided that the current legislation (Law 927/79, article 79, paragraph 3 of the penal code) is adequate to deal with racism and that New Democracy will not vote  statutory offense “which would violate the constitutionally protected principle of freedom of expression”.

They concluded that “any potential improvements are possible and desirable” and claimed that a great proportion of scientists have been skeptical about Minister of Justice Antonis Roupakiotis’ bill.

According to media reports, the bill would outlaw incitement against people because of their race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation, and impose jail sentences of up to six years on offenders, according to reports.

MPs would not be excluded and parties that receive public funding would see it suspended if their leaders publicly denied the Holocaust, took part in racist attacks or used Nazi salutes or symbols in parliament.

43% of respondents believe that SYRIZA would be the winner if elections were imminent, as against 38.4% who believe the same thing for ND. 46.6% say Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is best for the job, while 31.8% say Alexis Tsipras could do it better.

In terms of the popularity of political leaders, Antonis Samaras leads with 42.3%, followed by Fotis Kouvelis (42.1%), Alexis Tsipras (37.3%), Panos Kammenos (29.4 %), Aleka Papariga (26.3%), Evangelos Venizelos (19.5%) and Nikos Michaloliakos (16.6%).

Previous weekend, a survey by company Metrisi for Parapolitika newspaper presents SYRIZA leading in terms of voting intention with a narrow 0.4 percentage points.

A survey of Pulse RC for 6-Days weekly, suggests SYRIZA gathers 20% as against 19.5% of ND. Golden Dawn comes third with 12%, followed by PASOK 7%, Communist Party and Independent Greeks both 5% respectively and DIMAR 3.5%. 5.5% of respondents say they would vote for “another party”, while obscure vote reaches 10%. Neutral vote and abstinence reach 12.5%.

According to protothema.gr, yesterday evening, and after many consultations on Greek Constitution and parliamentary Standing Orders, the majority (ND, PASOK, DIMAR) decided that the process be done in one sitting with 3 separate votes -one for each proposal- and a total of 7 polls.

The coalition has proposed that only former Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou be probed in connection with the handling of the Lagarde list following the revelation by prosecutors last month that the names of three of his relatives were removed from the list, Kathimerini writes.

SYRIZA wants Papaconstantinou’s successor Evangelos Venizelos, who leads PASOK, to be investigated along with the former. And the two smaller opposition parties, Independent Greeks and the Golden Dawn want former premiers George Papandreou and Lucas Papademos to be probed too. It is expected that, for each of the votes, MPs will be given ballot papers with the names of all four politicians and the charges they would face.

The participation of MPs in all 3 votes is not mandatory, but New Democracy says “we will participate to the end. There is no question of withdrawal.”

The process is expected to will begin at 10 am and the voting is expected at 6 pm.

The political frenzy surrounding the Lagarde list affair has resulted in limiting the parliamentary discussion to the process, to increasing or decreasing the number of ballot boxes and votes and losing the actual substance which is placing the blame where blame is due, political analysts have suggested.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said that “it is inconceivable that this was decided in the meeting of the three political leaders. The smooth functioning of parliament is being undermined and essentially we have a procedure that removes the secrecy of the vote. This has never happened before in the Greek parliament and reveals panic. Venizelos is self-incriminating himself by asking Samaras for protection. But at the same time he becomes his hostage.” Venizelos, on the other hand insists that “the perpetrator of this conspiracy against PASOK” is the main opposition party.

Finally, late yesterday tovima.gr wrote that SYRIZA is examining the possibility of withdrawing from the voting process if the majority insisted on its proposal for setting up seven polls.

This tactic, SYRIZA people maintain, waves the secrecy of the vote, in a way ‘protecting Mr. Venizelos, who main opposition would like to see investigated about his responsibility regarding the Lagarde list affair.

“You can shoot a person, like the building that they shot,” Samaras told reporters yesterday evening outside ND’s offices. “You cannot shoot democracy though. Let this be heard by those who need to hear it: Democracy will not be terrorised.”

According to the police, shots were fired early Monday at the headquarters of New Democracy party, with one of the bullets penetrating the office of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Two men fired two guns at the building at around 2:30 am (0030 GMT), police said. No one was injured.

A window was pierced on the side of the building and a bullet was found in Samaras’ office, according to government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou.

“A symbolic bullet for the prime minister, this is unheard of,” Kedikoglou told state television NET. “We will not let them terrorise us,” he said. “The government will do what is required to protect democracy.”

According to protothema.gr, security cameras show two hooded men armed with Kalashnikovs getting off a car and after walking 50 meters, stopping and from a 70-meter distance shooting at the neon sign of the ND offices.

Meanwhile, the burnt car found in Paleo Faliro is being thoroughly examined. While the inside of the vehicle is completely destroyed by the fire, police are trying to locate fingerprints or DNA from the offenders.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis meet today at 1 p.m. Samaras is to seek to forge a common line with his coalition partners on the measures before traveling to Rome for a three-day official visit. FinMin Stournaras, who is to stay in Athens and continue talks with the troika, has said he hopes for a final agreement on the measures by Sunday.

Yesterday, the tension was evident in the coalition, when PASOK and Democratic Left leaders complained that they have never been informed about the government’s package of measures in detail by anyone in the economic team. PASOK said that they have been informed in detail only for the measures of EUR 5 billion. Democratic Left admitted that they were asked to participate in the troika negotiations but refused, adding that they have made a number of proposals over the summer achieving the equivalent measures.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras met again yesterday afternoon with the troika head representatives in an on-going effort to finalise the EUR 11.5-billion austerity package. According to NET state television, a list of harsh measures “were back on the table” including reductions to low-level pensions, raising of the retirement age and further cutbacks to state administrative costs.

Finance ministry sources told protothema.gr the measures for EUR 2 billion that have been finalised and covered a part of the financial gap of EUR 4 billion, came from cuts in Health, Defense and local authorities. “There is still the tough core”, sources he told reporters, meaning the extra measures of EUR 2 billion that are being examined and will be for salaries and pensions.

According to Protothem.gr, troika is now pressing so the EUR 9.5 billion from the EUR 11.5 billion be saved from cuts in wages and pensions, instead of the EUR 7 billion in the original plan. Officials are also discussing horizontal wage cuts to public administration, at the rate of 5%.

The government aims to save EUR 8.5 billion euros from cuts to salaries, pensions and benefits. And if they add another EUR 1 billion, expected to be collected from the increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67 years, then imposed cuts will reach EUR 9.5 billion.Reductions to pensions will start much lower, perhaps from EUR 600 in total, rather than EUR 1,000. Officials are also thinking of cutting the minimum IKA pension close to EUR 400, and re-thinking of cutting the minimum OGA pension from EUR 360 to EUR 330. It is now almost certain that the already agreed measures include the elimination of the remainder of the 13th and 14th salaries in the public sector and the elimination of the 13th and 14th pensions for all pensioners.

On the other hand, it seems that today’s coalition is -as everybody says- Greece’s last chance to stay in the Eurozone. The fear factor, which was dominant throughout the pre election period and immediately after, worked well with citizens who voted as expected, marginally avoiding the experiment with political radicalism (‘call me Alexis’), and on the other hand giving a weak victory to ND party to force it to cooperate with what is left from the old centre-left.

Later on, government spin efforts replaced fear with hope, with FinMin arguing that we need to try a little bit harder to stay under the Eurozone umbrella, at a time when Europe is about to change. True, but again, not ours. Just like Mario Draghi’s recent intervention: Europe marked it as a new starting point, markets were somehow relieved and Greeks kept trying to figure out how, and if, they were benefited. Greeks know well deep inside that a pathetic -wait and see- stance will bring the country nowhere. Salvation -or, what foreign media keep calling bailout- strategy will depend on initiatives taken from within. So, the motto we should, perhaps, stick to is that the solution “is in our hands”.

Alexis Tsipras knows well that Antonis Samaras will play the troika game, take the heat and hope for some positive results when the boat starts turning, to feed new political talk towards re-election. To reach that, Samaras’ led coalition will have to go through hell; opinion polls will make things even worse.

Alexis Tsipras knows that when the slow Greek boat starts turning, his chances to attack will be numbered. By then he hopes to have a decent political rhetoric, along with the necessary professionalism to turn a wave into government.

Tsipras also knows that Samaras’ staffers are average, cabinet members are of the past, whilst the quotas the Premier had to take in from his coalition partners seem politically helpless. However, the Premier seems determined to save face, along with the reputation of his generation.

Things do not come easy though. Nearly 100 days after the elections, the government continues to staff key positions and is still trying to figure out “equivalent measures” to avoid horizontal cuts, a political bubble that troika wishes to put to rest next to the “renegotiation” rhetoric.

For those who can view Greece from a distance, what they see is from one hand troika (EC-ECB-IMF) people moving in high gear, pushing for the only thing Greeks can accomplish (namely withhold people’s money in the source) and from the other, the leftovers of the previous political system dragged in a battle 2 out of 3 of them appear unwilling to fight. Hence the differences: Antonis seems determined to fire at the enemy before dying in the barracks, Evangelos may eventually save his life as a disgraced HQ clerk, while Fotis is about to catch a stray bullet, while wandering disoriented in no man’s land.

Despite all, the future has presented itself. After the old generation manages to reach its redemption, new politicians (of a different sort) should come forward to take it from there. And here is the most important thing Tsipras knows. If his new competition is once again old school, he will prevail; big time.

Thus, for people to gain from political competition, common sense dictates that new ‘Tsiprases’ should appear to reposition Greek politics (hopefully closer to Europe) and move the country forward. But the process is going to be bloody.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com

According to Kathimerini, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, who also attended the meeting, told reporters that the “basic scenario” for the measures had been finallized but that further talks would be held on issues of “minor significance”, including on proposals for additional wage cuts for certain categories of civil servants such as military and judicial staff and priests.

The package is to be presented to troika envoys, due in Athens next week, for approval. Senior government officials have made clear that the new measures will include across-the-board cuts in pension benefits as well as wage reductions and layoffs in the broader public sector, Capital.gr writes.

“We did not go into details about the measures. This will happen in the coming days and we will meet again,” Venizelos said. “The treatment of measures is incomplete,” Kouvelis said, and took the chance to reiterate that he is categorically opposed to the horizontal cuts, protothema.gr reports.

Venizelos said the party leaders would continue talks to ensure the cuts were “balanced and just” and did not “destroy the middle class”, according to Reuters.

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