Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomySamaras Says Crises Won't Derail Bailout

Samaras Says Crises Won't Derail Bailout

Greek PM Antonis Samaras (L) with his new left-hand man, PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (L) with his new left-hand man, PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos

Undeterred by the loss of one of his coalition partners, the tiny Democratic Left (DIMAR) which refused to back his closing of the national broadcaster ERT and the firing of all 2,656 workers, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said he will forge ahead in a new alliance with his remaining partner, PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos and keep implementing reforms demanded by international lenders.
Samaras told the newspaper To Vima in an interview that he wasn’t daunted by the ERT debacle that caused DIMAR leader Fotis Kouvelis to walk away from the tripartite coalition formed a year ago when the New Democracy leader needed Kouvelis and Venizelos’ party to have a majority of Parliament and form a government.
In the last few weeks, however – with envoys from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) in Athens checking the progress of lagging reforms, especially in privatization, Samaras’ drive to restore the economy to recovery has been undercut, particularly by the failure to gain even a single bidder for the national gas company DEPA.
That put a one billion euro ($1.31 billion) hole in budget plans and raised fears of new austerity measures although Samaras vowed he would not again impose pay cuts, tax hikes or slashed pensions on a beleaguered Greek society whose disposable income has been cut more than 46 percent in the last three years.
He said Greece will continue to abide by the orders of the Troika to keep bailout loans coming. “The government went through a rough patch over the last few days but it stood on its feet and continues with renewed determination and much better cooperation,” To Vima quoted him as saying.
“I don’t think there will be any problems (in the Troika talks),” Samaras said in the interview, pointing to mid-year deficit figures that are below interim targets.
“We are beating the (bailout plan’s) overall targets … everybody agrees that in terms of fiscal adjustment we are ahead of targets. There are some partial problems with partial targets but these are addressed and will be dealt with,” Samaras said.
Samaras said that with his alliance with PASOK giving his government a bare three-seat majority in the 300-member Parliament that his administration won’t have the same kind of occasional dissent that jarred his three-party coalition.
Venizelos and Kouvelis occasionally objected to some reforms but always relented until the ERT crisis made Kouvelis leave, but a compromise to rehire some workers until a new broadcaster was formed satisfied Venizelos.
There are also 14 Independent MP’s and the government expects some of them will side with the administration and even Kouvelis said he wouldn’t have blanket opposition, giving Samaras some breathing space that he can proceed to finish the rest of a three-year term with an obedient Venizelos by his side.
Samaras and Venizelos were expected to meet on June 23 to begin planning a new Cabinet in which PASOK is expected to be rewarded with a number of ministers and in which Venizelos could be named Deputy Prime Minister as well as Foreign Minister, replacing Dimitris Avramopoulos who had voiced some dissent over the way Samaras handled the closing of ERT, by ministerial decree.
The new government will have to conclude talks with the Troika when its envoys return to Athens later this month for a regular review of Greece’s compliance with the terms of their bailout.

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts