–Seeks To Forge Broad Alliance Based On Continued Eurozone Membership

ATHENS (MNI) – Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece’s conservative
New Democracy party, said Wednesday that Greeks favor continued
membership in the Eurozone, and he urged the formation of a broader
pro-euro conservative alliance in which he would assume the leadership.

In a public statement, Samaras declared that Greeks want to stay in
the single currency area and that leftist party leader Alexis Tsipras,
whom he characterized as anti-euro, is therefore acting against the
wishes of the people.

New Democracy came in first in Sunday’s legislative elections but
fell far short of a majority, with the country’s 300 parliamentary seats
divided among seven parties ranging from radical left to extreme
nationalist right. Tsipras’ party, Syriza, came in second, outstripping
the former majority Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok).

Samaras, clearly targeting the surging lefist leader, reminded that
he favors revising some of the fiscal and economic conditions imposed on
Greece by its international lenders and re-orienting the bailout package
towards growth. But revising some terms of the agreement is entirely
different than nullifying the pact altogether, he noted.

On Tuesday, Tsipras urged that Greece’s new E130 billion bailout
agreement, plus what is left of the first one, be scrapped. And he
called for a moratorium on Greek debt payments. His comments have been
interpreted across the Eurozone, and particularly in financial markets,
as tantamount to calling for an exit from the Eurozone.

In unusually blunt terms, European Executive Board member Joerg
Asmussen said in a newspaper interview published late Tuesday that,
“Greece must know there is no alternative to the agreed consolidation
program if it wants to remain a member of the Eurozone.”

Samaras’ appeal for a broad alliance of center-right and smaller
conservative parties indicates that he believes new parliamentary
elections in June are now a foregone conclusion and he is preparing for
them.

His political strategy is to divide the political landscape into
two groups: those who are pro-Eurozone and those who are anti-euro. He
is positioning himself as the leader of all those who want to stay in
the euro area while casting Tsipras — a growing political threat — as
the anti-euro candidate.

Samaras tried and failed to form a government on Monday, and the
mandate was then passed to Tsipras, who is almost certain to fail as
well. Samaras, as expected, turned down an entirely symbolic offer from
Tsipras to join in a coalition government. Once Tsipras renounces his
mandate to form a government, which he is expected to do later today,
the prerogative would pass to the Pasok party, which got the third
largest number of votes.

According to Greek press reports, however, Pasok leader Evangelos
Venizelos is not planning even to accept the mandate to try and form a
coalition government. In that case, as prescribed by the country’s
constitution, Greek president Karolos Papoulias would gather the party
leaders and ask for a “unity” government. Such a government would
require only 120 votes in parliament, as opposed to an actual majority
of 151.

That means there is at least a chance that such an attempt could
succeed. But given the drastic political differences among the parties,
the tenure of such a government would be extremely short-lived.

–Athens bureau, a_papmiltiadou@hotmail.com

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