Possibility of post-election breakup dogs Greek coalition
PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos continues to maintain the stakes for the May 25 European Parliament elections high as he keeps coming back to the possibility that the coalition will not be able to survive the vote.
While Venizelos has backed away from setting the bar for the centre-left Olive Tree alliance - which PASOK leads - at 10 percent, he has insisted that the government will find it difficult to continue if the socialists emerge damaged from next week’s ballot.
Venizelos even went as far as suggesting that a poor showing for the Olive Tree would send him directly to President Karolos Papoulias to inform him that PASOK could no longer be part of the government.
This, reportedly, caused much consternation in the New Democracy camp as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his aides believe that if there are any concerns about the coalition’s sustainability Venizelos should first discuss the issue with them.
The latest opinion polls continue to show the Olive Tree getting anywhere near the 10-percent mark and most likely falling behind SYRIZA, New Democracy, To Potami and Golden Dawn at least.
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