New strategy of "soft tones" by Samaras

The absence of the president from the frontline of internal developments and his general stand-by stance as an oppositional strategy, have caused surprise and nervousness to some members of New Democracy.

Antonis Samaras is anxiously monitoring the current situation, but avoids to raising the tones of political confrontation. Even his close supporters say that "Antonis Samaras is the ace up the sleeve of the party and he should be ahead at this juncture to build upon the collapse of the government and the disappearance of Papandreou, who has left Venizelos in his shoes".

Samaras’ change has shown since his presence at the TIF, which coincided with the Ecofin in Poland and his dramatic tones, both in public and in the phone call with Venizelos, concernong the dire situation of the country that resulted from the government’s inability to respond to its commitments.

Remaining outside the "picture"

Since then Samaras has chosen a low profile even if negotiations on the management of the Greek debt are still ongoing. This behavior is interpreted as an attempt to stay out of the picture of negative developments for the country. The agreement of July 21 is uncertain while the plan B scenarios, mainly from Germany and with a larger cut of the Greek debt that translates into bankruptcy, are gaining ground.

And they are strengthened even more by recent developments in the Eurogroup and the delay in the payment of the 6th tranche. While the circle of his associates say that "following the postponement of the sixth tranche, the government should have already resigned", Samaras, as well as the representative of the party, officially declined even to comment on these developments.

Samaras does not want to be accused, inside and outside of the country, of undermining the government and seeking simply to come to power. He might have raised the issue of elections since last June but is not pushing the government in this direction. So, he did not protest the collection of the fee from PPC while he could have simply said that "the PPC is not a box office mechanism."

However ND does not clarify, for example, if it accepts the abolition of the collective labor agreement required by the Troika. But while it has voted for all the structural changes brought by the government, this stance makes one wonder about the differences between the opposition and the government and what is left of the rejection of the memorandum.

Moreover, Samaras is running the risk of finding himself faced with an irreversible situation and receiving a bankrupt country after the elections.
 
"We will not undersign bankruptsy"

"We will not put our signature on the bankruptcy of the country", say ND members close to Samaras, suggesting that the government is alone on this one to the end. Samaras’ advisor and party spokesman Dimitris Stamatis reiterated that "Samaras does not understand pressure and will not redefine himself", thus responding to the recent cycle of pressure for a coalition or a government of national unity, aiming not so much against political figures but at a known publishing group.

While the basic stance is renegotiation, the essentiak proposals, both on tax reforms and redundancy, have been rejected by the Troika. But to those who doubt that Samaras will force partners and lenders to accept a different economic policy, Syggrou Avenue formally says it is not the opposition doing the negotiations, but the government, and that the ND will have other capabilities after the elections.