–Requirement Means Early Elections In Greece Are Likely
BRUSSELS (MNI) – Greece’s Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said
tonight that any new Greek bailout plan emerging from the EU leaders’
summit on Wednesday will require a super-majority of 180 votes in order
to be approved by the national parliament in Athens.
This requirement puts Greece on a likely course to early national
elections, since the ruling Socialist party has only a slender majority
of 153 out of 300 seats in Parliament. In order to win the vote and
avoid dissolution of his government, Prime Minister George Papandreou
would need the support of opposition parties, which are already on the
record as saying they will not support him.
He could try to assemble a super-majority with the help of smaller
non-aligned parties, but the numbers do not appear to add up to 180. So,
unless he can persuade the opposition to join him in a kind of national
unity vote, it appears there will be early elections in Greece.
–Athens Bureau, a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MT$$$$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$,M$Y$$$]
