MPs threatening with resignations

Many PASOK MPs consider the layoffs in the public sector and the redundancies as a red line and are threatening to resign from office if the governmental commitments lead thousands of workers to poverty. The magnitude of the intraparty crisis that will occur is not yet known, as the troubled and dissenting MPs await the final decisions of the government. Several of them are allegedly determined to resign from their parliamentary office in the case of an extensive program of layoffs and redundancies, while a lot depends on how and when these will happen.

Some have expressed their intentions to Maximos Mansion, which is trying to change their mind, but there are others who have not spoken yet. PASOK MPs believe that neither the Greek society or the party can afford massive layoffs of public employees. "We have already done too much to bear the burden of such a decision", says one MP. Others stress that they prefer to go home alone, since their political future will be finished either way, rather than have to carry the onus of redundancies.

However, the most crucial thing at this stage is to keep MPs from going independent, which is something that will reduce the parliamentary strength of PASOK and thus weaken its parliamentary majority, or even eliminate it.