PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos receives the third exploratory mandate by President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias to form a coalition government.
(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, MAY 10 - With the international pressure on Greece rising, the country is taking small steps towards the formation of a new coalition government. Today the first possibility emerged after the meeting between Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the Democratic Left party, and the leader of the Pasok party, Evangelos Venizelos. Venizelos was asked this morning by President Karolos Papoulias to explore the possibilities of forming a new government. After the meeting, Kouvelis (who could be a decisive element for the formation of a majority with Pasok and New Democracy with his 19 seats) said that he had proposed in the talks to ''form a government including all parties, with a concrete programme aimed at keeping Greece in Europe and in the eurozone." ''Considering the European economy that favours development and recovery,'' Kouvelis continued, ''this government should stay in office at least until the next European elections scheduled in 2014. As party and on personal level we don't lay down conditions for the formation of this government'', the leader of the Democratic Left concluded. However, he repeated his No to the memorandum (the loan to Greece in exchange for austerity measures). Venizelos said that the ''proposal made by Kouvelis is very close to the one presented by us, so this seems to be a first important step in my consultations." The two parties may agree, the former finance minister continued, on the need to keep Greece in the euro and to break with the Memorandum within three years at most. Earlier a warning arrived from Brussels, issued by European Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso: ''If a member of the club fails to respect the rules, it is better that he leaves the club." Referring to Greece, Barroso said in an interview with Sky Tg24 that ''I have much respect for the Greek democracy and the Greek parliament. But I must also respect the other 16 national parliaments that have approved the programme for Greece." Barroso underlined that ''everybody must respect agreements." If not, he concluded, ''the conditions to continue'' to be part of the eurozone ''are no longer there." Today Greece received news from two sides, one good and one bad.
The good news: the European bailout fund (EFSF) has paid the much-awaited 4.2 billion euros to cover the immediate financial requirements of the Greek state. The bad news: employment reached a record 21.7% in February, meaning that almost 1 million 100 thousand people in Greece are jobless, most of them young people. The good news creates some space for the Greek government, the bad news only confirms the damage done by more than four years of recession. The crisis has led Greek citizens to vote for the anti-bailout parties in last Sunday's elections, that way pushing the country into an even deeper depression and instability. ''Greece's financial situation is well covered. We are not concerned: the Greek state can continue to function adequately,'' said EU Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly from Brussels, adding that the Commission believes that the one billion the EFSF has decided to ''freeze'' (the full tranche is 5.2 billion) ''will not be needed before June." EFSF president Klaus Regling also spoke reassuring words, saying that the eurozone ''is determined to continue to help Greece as long as Greece continues to take the agreed measures." The leader of the Pasok party, who this morning was not optimistic about his chance to succeed, continues his consultations tomorrow in a meeting with Antonis Samaras (New Democracy) at 10 am, followed by talks with Alexis Tsipras (Syriza), for which no time has been announced yet. (ANSAmed).
