GREECE’ Prime Minister George Papandreou had meetings with all the country’s party leaders, apart from the Communist Party’s, ahead of yesterday’s start of discussions with the representatives of the Troika (IMF, EU, European Central Bank). The discussions, which are expected to last more than a week, would examine the proposed government measures aimed at reducing Greece’s budget deficit to 7.5 per cent of GDP by the end of this year.
Papandreou wanted to secure the support of the majority of the political parties for his new package of measures but failed. Only the leader of the populist party LAOS, did not rule out the possibility of an agreement. He also made a valid point in saying that a vague consensus was not enough and that there should be collective responsibility, all parties taking a share of the burden. He also said that without the backing of the main opposition New Democracy Party, the government would not be able to see its proposals through.
The problem, however, is that the New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras does not agree with the memorandum prepared by the government because it envisaged more ‘tax raids’ which would put the country deeper into recession. A similar view was expressed by the leader of the Democratic Alliance, Dora Bakoyiannis, who backed all other measures including the privatisation of state organisations and the reduction of the size of the state. She argued that lowering tax coefficients would not only boost the economy, but also increase tax revenues.
These are cheap excuses by leaders who are unwilling to take any responsibility for measures that are certain to spark new bouts of social unrest and violent protests. Does Samaras and Ms Bakoyiannis seriously believe that the deficit target for 2011 – on which the continued financial assistance depends – could be met without additional taxation? Do they think Papandreou wants to further increase taxation for a laugh? If there was a viable alternative, the PM would have opted for it, but there is not. And the Troika needs to be satisfied before the fifth instalment of financial aid – €12 billion – is paid to Greece.
It is unbelievable that all the parties except LAOS have left the government to handle the economic crisis on its own, especially when we consider that New Democracy has a big share of the responsibility for the current chaos. Greece is facing an economic crisis of monumental proportions but instead of standing by the government the opposition parties have washed their hands of situation. What a shame.
