The renegotiation will judge the fate of the government

The first serious government crisis has been averted, but doubts about the future and sustainability of the coalition have already begun to be expressed openly. 

They are mainly ​​estimates that government partners are beginning to have second thoughts or intentions, if the social reactions are not controlled. And that PASOK, and perhaps the Democratic Left too, are devising an alternative strategy of distances from the government, so as not to be charged with the cost of ND’s incorrect operating tactics.

 

On Wednesday evening the 3 leaders agreed on a common way for the renegotiation of the memorandum, but doubts still linger.

 

Samaras accepted Venizelos and Kouveli's’ pressure to abandon the stance of "first we implement and then we renegotiate." Their meeting reached a partial change of doctrine, as they agreed to accelerate their efforts to renegotiate and request an extension from implementing the program from our European partners as soon as possible. Especially the PASOK leadership begins to further understand the perception that the implementation of the memorandum within the agreed timetable brings a new package of tough measures, which will hardly be endured by the Greek economy and society and hence the extension is necessary to prevent the collapse of the whole effort.

 

The leaders agreed that to promote this request they would have to have a common presence at the Summits and proceed to meetings with European leaders, namely Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande. They also agreed on the direct activation of the national negotiating team consisting of four levels: political leaders, involved ministers, representatives of the institutions of the country in Greece and abroad and a number of persons that dealt with scientific or administrative matters in the past.

 

However, 20 days after the agreement of the three parties, significant differences or concerns have been identified about the progress and sustainability of the government. Indicative of this situation is that Venizelos is questioning the implementation agreement, which means that he already sees deviations from the agreed framework and keeps his distances. Moreover, he finds problems in the decision-making procedures of the government.

 

But members and MPs of the Democratic Left face the moves by Maximus Mansion with prejudice and suspicion, as the latter are not proceeding to renegotiation in a dynamic way. The former have set the completion of the first three months as the time limit for judging the government.

 

Another point which is expected to bring intense debate is the content of the measures to be taken in order to address the fiscal derailment.

 

The Democratic Left raises the issue of equivalent measures to avoid horizontal cuts in the special payrolls and pensions, but ND and PASOK expressed fear that there are no such limits. "If there were equivalent measures, we would have found them already," said a government agent.

 

However, last night's meeting resulted in the need to look for equivalent measures, as well as measures to relieve the weak, such as heating allowance based on social criteria.

 

Now the critical dates are July 20 with the meeting of the Eurogroup and July 24, which is the day of the Troika’s return to Athens.