Elections towards the end of April, according to the new scenario

This Friday, Antonis Samaras and Lucas Papademos will discuss the possibility of transferring the election date in order for the government to finish its work.

The issue is not about time, as it is related to the mission of Papademos’ government. Samaras might be officially declaring that the role of the government will stop upon completion of the PSI, but the measures of the new loan agreement have not yet been decided. Until now he has been saying that they should be discussed between the government that will come out of the elections and the lenders of our country.

In any case this is not about a long postponement of the elections, but one of a mere few weeks. Besides, according to the loan obligations the country must receive the next big tranche of 90 billion euros by mid-March and the elections can be launched after that.

The pensions issue is a hot one

Samaras and Papademos will discuss the issue of supplementary pensions as well. It might be that ND achieved a political victory in yesterday's cabinet meeting by forcing Koutroumanis to withdraw it, but the issue is not done with yet.

ND acknowledges that there is reference in the fifth update of the memorandum on the need to further reduce the number of funds and stabilize spending to sustainable levels, but without quantitative determinations.

Thus, the issue will return during the first half of January, in the new economic program that will be based on the fifth update.

ND says they might accept a new mutual Guarantee Fund after the relevant preparation.

However, when Capsis returned with a suggestion to approve Koutroumanis' proposal, Dimas explained that: "We made a decision to consult and inform the parties, not one about cuts. If the proposal focuses on the nature of cuts, we will disagree." Dimas also intervened when Miltiades Papaioannou congratulated Koutroumanis on the work done in the previous biennium. "What are these congratulations for? Because after two years he is suggesting even more pension cuts? Better to be more careful with such expressions of approval", said the foreign minister.
 
Nevertheless, the issue is difficult for Samaras. If he does accept cuts in supplementary pensions along with the merger of the funds, yesterday's success will become a failure with a higher political cost. If he insists on not voting for it, he is likely to have PASOK members on his side and cause a political crisis with unknown consequences.