Greek Opposition Turns Down Papandreou’s Call for Unity
By Maria Petrakis - May 24, 2011 4:13 PM GMT+0200 Tue May 24 14:13:35 GMT 2011
Greece’s biggest opposition party rejected Prime Minister
George Papandreou’s overture to build support for 78 billion euros ($110 billion) of new budget measures and state-asset sales, saying he is condemning Greeks to more austerity.
“
Papandreou is insisting on the same old failed recipe,” Antonis Samaras, leader of the New Democracy party, said in comments broadcast live today on state-run NET TV. “The government is subjecting the Greek people to new sacrifices as it regurgitates what’s been shown to have failed so far.”
Samaras, who spoke after meeting with Papandreou in Athens, said his party would support state-asset sales provided they led to growth and investment rather than being a “panicky move.”
European Union officials have stepped up pressure on Papandreou, whose term ends in 2013, to secure broad political backing for the spending cuts and asset sales that will run through to 2015, as the euro region and the
International Monetary Fund discuss additional financing needs to avert a default. Greece received a 110 billion-euro bailout last May in return for measures including wage and pension cuts.
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner
Olli Rehn said on May 11 that it was “absolutely necessary and urgent” for domestic disputes to be put aside and cross-party support achieved.
Budget Deficit
Papandreou said yesterday he’d step up plans to sell state assets including
Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (HTO) and
Public Power Corp SA (PPC) and pledged 6.4 billion euros of measures to bring the budget deficit down to 7.5 percent of gross domestic product this year. He met with political leaders today.
He got some support from George Karatzaferis, leader of the rightist Laos Party, which backed the original bailout, as well as Dora Bakogiannis, a former foreign minister who was expelled from New Democracy for breaking ranks and supporting Papandreou. She now heads her own party, Democratic Alliance, which has five seats in parliament.
“Samaras’s response was widely expected,” said Dimitris Drakopoulos, an economist at Nomura International Plc in
London.
“What is clearly positive is the support of the leaders of the two small right-wing parties. They have at least 20 MPs, which should provide enough of a buffer for the government to pass its medium-term fiscal strategy through parliament.”
Papandreou’s Pasok party has 156 seats in the 300-seat parliament, enough needed to pass the legislation, which is expected next month. He expelled three members of his party last year for defying him on the vote of the original rescue.
Communist Party of
Greece leader Aleka Papariga, with 21 seats, refused to meet with Papandreou. Leftist Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, whose party has nine seats, called for elections after seeing Papandreou.
“If what we’re being asked to do is to sell even the Acropolis, then the only people who can respond are the Greek people and not Papandreou,” Tsipras said.
(Bloomberg)
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Papandreou dovrebbe incassare il sostegno del partito della destra ortodossa/clericale "Laos" e del raggruppamento di centro di Dora Bakoyannis "Alleanza Democratica" composta da fuoriusciti da ND.