Samaras: Now we must hurry to win over the citizens

 

This is why he will visit President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias today to inform him and earn his positive attitude. Samaras focuses on government function to remedy the deficiencies it has recorded and accelerate its work. "The government is credible abroad, and we will correct any mistakes in our operation. I will not allow anyone to injure the credibility of Greece. I want you all to be in solidarity, strong and coordinated", he told the ministers.

 

Samaras wants to resolve all pending issues and implement the prerequisite actions by the end of December, thus he intends to increase the supervision of ministers by monitoring their activities. Of course there will be supervision in compliance with the budgets of ministries through an automatic control mechanism provided for in the memorandum and together with deputy minister Christos Staikouras, they will cover the outstanding debts to private citizens.

 

Meanwhile, Samaras will redefine his relationship with the two political leaders who support the government. It is indicative of his intentions that twice he publicly praised their role and support they have provided to the government during the last difficult three months. Yesterday they had the first joint meeting after the passing of the multi-bill, where they detected DIMAR'S different opinion.

 

They discussed how to improve government performance and the possibility of a reshuffle, which is set for after the tranche disbursement on December 13. While the scheme change in the government is certain, the participation of the two leaders in positions of deputy prime ministers is not. Kouvelis stressed the need to ensure the development prospects of Greece in consultation with Europe as well, while expressing reservations about the provisions of the new tax system, asking not to repeal tax breaks for children and about replacing the revenue with taxation on large real estate property.

 

Samaras will also start his attack against the main opposition party today, on the occasion of SYRIZA’s proposal to establish a Committee on the memorandum, which is currently being debated in parliament. During the previous days he avoided any objections against the opposition so as not to tarnish the "success" of the Eurogroup with partisan controversy. ND, PASOK and DIMAR will of course vote against the SYRIZA proposal. ND rapporteur Kostas Tasoulas says that "the decision is not difficult for us because SYRIZA has been unrestrained for the last three years and wants control of all the governments since our entry in the Eurozone. It goes without saying that we cannot agree."

 

The investigation issue for the Lagarde list, which includes Venizelos, is more delicate and ND will determine its position in consultation with the PASOK president. The government is not worried either about the other initiative by SYRIZA to request a parliamentary discussion on the Eurogroup results, since they consider that SYRIZA is offering an opportunity to promote their own political moves “against a dead end proposal by the opposition.”