The crucial meetings of Papademos

The first trip to Brussels in his new capacity is a crucial "bet" for PM Lucas Papademos, who must win it under really difficult conditions.

Papademos will meet with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at midday today, and in the afternoon with the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. On Tuesday he will visit Luxembourg for talks with the head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker.

The 6th tranche will be at the centre of these talks, while German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble made ​​it clear that the written consent of ND is necessary for the implementation of the agreements of October 26.

In the meeting last Saturday between the Troika representatives and ND president Antonis Samaras with his economic team, they brought back the issue of signing the agreement only to receive the reply that the decision to support the coalition government, the speech of the ND president during the programmatic statements in parliament and the vote of confidence in Papademos’ government are adequate and non-negotiable commitments.

Characteristic of the persistence of the Europeans is that the issue of signatures was mentioned again by the Troika representatives who met with LAOS president George Karatzaferis this Sunday in parliament; the latter said he will do whatever needs to be done so that Greece receives the 6th tranche.

This issue was raised on Sunday by the Dutch finmin Jan Kees de Jager, who said to the Reuters agency that "Greek parties must make a clear written choice, by signing a commitment. Are they with us or not? We no longer have the luxury of patience"…