Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomyGeorgiadis Warns: Pass Bill or Euro Exit

Georgiadis Warns: Pass Bill or Euro Exit

Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis played the Euro Card
Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis played the Euro Card

Resorting to the government’s trump card when it needs lawmakers to go along with tough measures, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said unless the Parliament passes a multi-bill agreed with international lenders that Greece could be pushed out of the Eurozone.
“Anyone who votes against (the multi-bill) in Parliament will be held accountable for the country’s euro exit,” Georgiadis told Mega TV. “We are not kids, we are deputies… we are exiting the memorandum, everyone must live up to their responsibilities,” he said.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has often left it up to Georgiadis to be the point man for the coalition government of the Premier’s New Democracy Conservatives and their partner, the PASOK Socialists, to defend unpopular measures.
In this case, eight lawmakers from the ruling parties said they plan to vote against the bill because it allows extending the shelf life of fresh milk from five to 11 days, which would bring in foreign competitors. The government is trying to mollify them with amendments.
“The vote is a historic moment. The question is, who wants this land to move forward and who wants to take this land back to the nightmare,” he said. The government previously used the same warning to get lawmakers to drop opposition to harsh austerity measures and it has worked every time.
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias jumped into the fray, joining Georgiadis in declaring that unless the bill is passed that Greece faces chaos.
“We have to choose between the painful path of reforms and (the path of) disaster. There is no other path,” Dendias told SKAI radio.
“It is us who will lose out if small vested interests are able to survive. It would put to question everything that we have achieved, the country would be thrown into turmoil,” said Dendias, who’s from New Democracy. “We must stop thinking of our own narrow interests and act like a developed society,” he said.
Lawmakers were due to be briefed on the provisions of the government’s multi-bill containing the reforms, with changes to the rules on fresh milk and pharmacy ownership being two of the most contentious issues. Pharmacists want to keep their monopoly on guaranteed profits and the sale of non-prescription medicines.
Greece’s international lenders, the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) wants the milk provision and for supermarkets to be able to sell items like aspirin, which pharmacists say only they are qualified to sell.
There is also discontent in Parliament that the legislation is due to be submitted March 28 with the aim of holding a vote on a Sunday, March 30, giving lawmakers little time to study the measures although large bills are often voted on unread.

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