Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras swiftly ejected New Democracy lawmaker Vyron Polydoras from the party on Dec. 21 after his deputy, defying orders to vote for a unified property tax bill that puts new assessments on farmers, opposed it.
The move leaves Samaras’ already shaky coalition, that includes the PASOK Socialists, with only a three-vote majority in the 300-member Parliament and came as others in the ruling party were said to be uneasy about supporting the measures that have widespread opposition among Greeks weary of austerity measures.
Before the vote, Polydoras warned he wouldn’t support it. “What sort of policy is this when you step on homeowner’s throats?” he said. “Do you expect me to vote for this?”
Samaras’ office hit back. “At a time when the government is successfully trying to get Greece out of the economic crisis, Mr Polydoras has consciously chosen to oppose these efforts and his party and to identify with the anti-Europeans, the populists, the supporters of the drachma and those who deny the national effort to save the country,” the conservative party said in a statement
The new tax, which unites previous levies and seeks to raise more than 2.5 billion euros ($3.41 billion next year, was approved by the Parliament with a 152-vote majority. PASOK’s Apostolos Kaklamanis was absent. The ejection made big Greek news.
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