Greek "thriller" reaching its zenith at the Presidential Mansion

The Greek drama is nearing its peak and most probably instead of a new government, the country will go to new polls. Based on estimations, and after the third recipient of the exploratory mandate, Evangelos Venizelos of PASOK, had an inconclusive meeting with Alexis Tsipras of SYRIZA, returning the mandate to the President of the country, the most possible election dates are the 10th or the 17th of June, something which will be announced before next Friday.

In this context and according to the Constitution, Karolos Papoulias will meet all party leaders in order to make a last effort to try and find a viable and realistic solution for the country so that it is, somehow, governed. A more or less similar thing had happened last October, when it was decided that Papademos will take the reins of Greece.

The first crucial get together is arranged for Sunday noon when Papoulias will meet Samaras, Venizelos and Tsipras while Kammenos, Papariga, Michaloliakos and Kouvelis talks are to follow later.

Perhaps the outcome of the first discussion process will judge the order in which the President will meet the rest of the leaders.

It is expected that the aforementioned process will not exceed a two-day span.

“If the formation of government is not thus attained, the President of the Republic shall give the leader of the second party an exploratory mandate. If even this mandate is without results, he shall give the leader of the third party an exploratory mandate. Every mandate is given for a period of three days. If all mandates fail, the President of the Republic shall convene the leaders of all parties and, if the impossibility of formation of government enjoying the confidence of Parliament is reconfirmed, then he shall try to achieve the formation of a Government that shall proceed to elections. Should this fail, he shall give to the President of the Council of the State or of the Supreme Court or of the Council of Comptrollers the mandate of formation of a Government enjoying the widest possible acceptance, in order to dissolve the Parliament and proceed to elections” Article 37, (3) of the Greek Constitution. Nevertheless, everything is not in proportion and many from the judicial circles argue on who should be the most appropriate person to receive this mandate, with many suggesting it should be given to Rena Asimakopoulou of the High Court and others saying to it should go to Panayotis Pikramenos of the Council of State since he is the senior in the field.

Convening of the new Parliament and immediate dissolution without writing off offences

No matter what will happen within the next few days, the new Parliament of May 6 must convene on Thursday, May 17, so that the new MPs can take an oath and the new presidency members can be elected. But, things may also turn out differently, as this procedure might need to be curtailed in case of new elections.

At the same time, again according to the Greek Constitution, “The duration of the regular session shall be not less than five months…”, Article 64, (2) meaning what will soon happen cannot be written down as a new session. Most importantly, many constitutional experts are saying that the aforementioned problematic reading of the Constitution could be used by the next Parliament as a compass which could help the ones in charge trace the wrong handlings that have led the country to the Memorandum.