ND wants a new government before Easter

Elections as soon as possible and in any event before Easter, according to the message of the ND leadership, who do not hide their dissatisfaction with government and PASOK “leaks” that refer to a great extension of the Papademos government.

According to the party, during the recent meeting between Samaras and Papademos, a date for elections was not discussed and most certainly, talk of elections at the end of April never took place. The only agreement which the ND leadership has come to concerns elections on February 19, which had been initially agreed upon, and stipulates that the elections should mark the date of the completion of PSI and the new loan agreement.

In this particular framework, the party’s officials “see” a possible election day on March 18th. This argument rests on the fact that the PSI should be completed as soon as possible. The more it is delayed the harder it gets, since it is involved in European and international economic developments and the risk of failure and bankruptcy is increased.

Of course, Mr. Papademos would prefer that his CV includes pulling the country out of the impasse of securing the loan and staying in the Eurozone, than going down in history as the PM who led the country to bankruptcy. He has therefore every reason to expedite PSI procedures. If this happens, then the loan agreement will follow in one or two weeks, according to ND officials, and thus there is no reason to postpone elections until the end of April.

Moreover, they add that the moment that the PSI is agreed upon and the new loan agreement is approved, the reason that Papademos is in power is forfeit, as well as ND’s participation in such a government. They also made it known that the party would therefore pull its support from the coalition.

In ND, they estimate that talk of postponing the elections is connected to PASOK’s aim to buy themselves more time in order to sort out their party. PASOK, according to this opinion, has hit rock bottom and can no longer lose anything by the postponement of elections, but would rather profit from such an occurrence. On the other hand, ND will be fighting against time. Its only hope to stem any voting losses is to make it apparent to society that the party interceded during a critical juncture and kept the country in the Eurozone. Of course, there is always the possibility that ND will be burdened with the political cost of the new measures to be taken along with the new loan agreement. The more days pass though, the more accountable ND is held, along with PASOK.