Samaras' telephone conversations with Barroso- Hollande

PM Antonis Samaras had a telephone conversation with EC president Jose Manuel Barroso at noon on Wednesday, while he also spoke with French President Francois Hollande in view of the critical summit in Brussels.

Mr. Samaras is coordinating the government activity from his house in Kifissia, due to his surgery in the right eye. According to reports, he will be reexamined on Saturday in order to see if he is able to travel.

However, the PM is already dealing with the policy statements of the government. It is estimated that the debate in the House will begin next Thursday in order to be completed on Saturday evening. That will be been fifteen days since his surgery and he is expected to be able to make a political speech before the vote of confidence in the government.

As to the substantive part of the programmatic statements, he will take into account both the proclamations of the other leaders and the conclusions drawn about our country from the summit. Already there are indications that our partners believe the text of the Heads is “ambitious” and difficult to follow, while they are pushing for compliance with the commitments of the country.

The PM made a first round of telephone contacts with EU leaders and agents to prepare the climate for the presence of the President of the Republic and his Greek delegation at the EU Summit.

The head of the Permanent Greek Representation in Brussels will deliver a letter from Mr. Samaras to the leaders, which will present the political framework of the government and will include three points: It will describe the country’s problems, note that the Greeks voted for the Euro and the EU and stress that Europe should respond to the Greek citizens. Mr. Samaras will not speak in detail about his economic policy.

Mr. Samaras has to face the negative climate created after Vassilis Rapanos’ resignation and Mr. Vernikos’ stepping down. He plans to announce the first actions to catch up.

Mr. Samaras has to deal with issues of coordination with his two other government partners and his own staff.

In a meeting with Venizelos and Kouvelis, however, there was an initial discussion on the messages coming from Europe and the need to promote the Greek positions, and also to coordinate the government and the priorities of the economy, but also on the first bills to be tabled in parliament. Much will depend on the PM’s health being restored. It is yet unclear if he will be in a position to travel and attend the next EU Summit on July 7th.

A coordination problem resulted after some leaks to the Media which created confusion. The leaks are charged to Mr. Lazaridis Chrysanthos, who attended all the meetings with Mr. Samaras and provoked the displeasure of other members of the Cabinet staff.

In this context there are thoughts of having a meeting of the leading staff to resolve similar issues. One of them stated that “Samaras cannot tell his ministers that the communication of the government’s work will be centralized, and we can’t in essence control any leaks”.