Tremors and wounds in the coalition government

The government comes out badly injured but safe and sound from the most difficult test of its short time in office, having had its solidity tested during yesterday's vote in parliament on the multi-bill for privatizations.

 

The controversial article on the abolition of the minimum percentage of Greek public utilities might have been approved by a majority of 148 MPs, but the tri-party coalition counts significant losses, as almost none of the critical articles approached a total of 176 members of the parliamentary groups of the coalition. Also, the article on the inclusion of the so-called noble Funds in EOPPY was voted against, and the one regarding engineers did not obtain the required majority of the present members.

 

Maximos Mansion is afraid that the wounds left behind by these votes might cause irreparable harm to the government, which has even more critical parliamentary tests in the next ten days.

 

They begin with the planned vote on the agreement with the Troika next Wednesday, followed by a vote to approve the 2013 state budget scheduled for the weekend after, just hours before the Eurogoup of November 12, on the disbursement of the tranche of 31.5 billion euros.

  

 

This turmoil caused to the co-rulling parties, fueled by the surprise announcement by prime minister Antonis Samaras about the end of negotiations with the the Troika, is attributed to this suffocating atmosphere. PASOK and DIMAR insist that the PM's statement was unfortunate, at least in terms of timing, as there were ongoing internal party meetings convened with the logic that negotiations were continuing.

 

Fotis Kouvelis’ partners are taking advantage of a statement made yesterday by a Eurogroup representative about ongoing issues with Greece to demonstrate that Samaras wrongly rushed to talk about an end to the negotiations.

 

The destabilization observed in PASOK, the distances still kept by DIMAR and the abstention of the leaders of the two parties from the vote yesterday, concerns the government and highlights the problem of the coherence of the tripartite coalition, creating the impression that its political horizon is dangerously diminished.

 

What preceded the votes and what took place during their course bear witness to the fact that there is no strong connective tissue among the governing parties. There are inconsistencies within each one, more intense in PASOK, where nearly half the parliamentary group did not follow the official line in yesterday's vote; some members, possibly ten of them, are skeptical about the passing of the measures.

  

 

They estimate as positive the fact that the leaks did not infect ND, as all its 127 MPs voted "yes to all". This is what MPs who had journalism as their main professional status did, voting for the amendment of the inclusion of all Funds in EOPYY, which was voted against by PASOK.

 

In their numerical mapping, they conclude that even if DIMAR persists to the end in just being "present" in the votes, the measures will pass with at least 151 votes in favor, if PASOK leaks get limited to single digits and at least 24 of its 33 MPs vote in favour.

 

It is worth noting that 9 PASOK members diverged from the party line despite Finance minister Yannis Stournaras backing off on Article 2 relating to privatizations. Markos Bolaris, Yannis Drivelegkas, Michalis Kassis and Theodora Tzakri said 'no', while Kostas Skandalidis, Theodoros Parastatidis, Kostas Triantafyllos, Thanos Moraitis and Ahmet Chatziosman chose to declare themselves "present."