Another rift has developed in the Greek coalition government with PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left (DIMAR) chief Fotis Kouvelis trying to delay a bill that would let Greeks buried under pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions have more time to pay back their loans as Prime Minister and New Democracy (ND) Conservative leader Antonis Samaras wants, to provide debtors some help.
That comes as PASOK and ND aren’t paying 250 million euros ($327.7 million) the parties owe banks and have granted immunity to bank officers who gave them the bad loans. At the same time, the government has done almost nothing to help Greeks repay their loans, which most banks are trying to collect in full, even as a 50 billion euros ($64.45 billion) injection of recapitalization cash is being readied for the financial institutions. That money will come from international loans and diverted from assisting Greeks crushed by austerity.
Samaras and his aides had hoped for a swift conclusion to the protracted discussions over the bill as they want to ensure there will be no snags with regard to Greece receiving its next loan tranche. New Democracy sources told the newspaper Kathimerini that the objections voiced by the coalition partners had more to do with PASOK’s efforts to put Samaras in his place rather than any genuine concerns about the would-be legislation.
The two smaller coalition partners refused to allow the express procedure, which would have allowed the draft law, which had been agreed with the Troika, to be passed through Parliament on June 5. Instead, there will be a longer debate and the measure is likely to be put to a vote on June 10, although it’s not certain there couldn’t be further delays if Venizelos and Kouvelis keep up their opposition to helping workers, pensioners and the poor, the constituency they said they wanted to protect.
The bill allows financially troubled households a moratorium of up to 48 months on their loan or mortgage repayments. There are certain criteria that the bank customers have to fill and their loan must be secured against a property that has a taxable value of no more than 180,000 euros ($235,600).
In another tiff, Kouvelis and Venizelos are pushing an anti-racism bill aimed at the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party but are in a feud with Samaras, who opposes it. He, like Golden Dawn, is anti-immigrant.
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