Samaras in the European Parliament: I'll do everything for elections in 2016

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras passed the test before the European Parliament, won the support he wanted by the institutional factors of the Union and sent the messages to Greece.

He repeated the referendum nature of the European elections, identifying himself and the government "with the defenders of Europe" against the opposition which he described as a "power that oscillates between populism and disguised extremism."

Samaras talked about national elections in 2016 and maintained that he will surpass even the election of the President of the Republic with a bi-partisan candidacy. He appeared optimistic that ND will not be second party and thus there won’t be an issue of disharmony between the government and the electorate and a need for a national ballot.

Samaras is trying to build the contrast between the government which he paints as a power of responsibility that set the country on its feet on one side and the opposition on the other, which he accuses for not being an option, nor having any solutions to the country's problems.

On the issue of national elections there is a slight variation after the visits from Barroso and Steinmeier in Greece last week. Until then, while Samaras avoided a placement the communicative staff spoke about the possibility of a triple ballot box.

He clarified, however, that while everything has been discussed with the Troika, there are some limits, now he will not negotiate on further reductions in wages and increases of tax hikes and also that the 70% of the primary surplus will be returned to the weaker social classes.
 

He also said a few things about IMF too and the continuance of its presence in Europe. He said that when he was opposition he had opposed the first stabilization program, mainly because of financial multipliers that lead to the escalation of the recession, but as a government they rectified the situation and now the economy enters a recovery phase.
 
Samaras reiterated that the goal of his presidency is for a greater and better Europe and the deepening of the integration, argued that the EU overcomes the crisis as does Greece with her and presented the four priorities: banking union, growth and employment by enhancing the liquidity of SMEs, addressing illegal immigration and maritime policy.

European Commission President Barroso and European Parliament President Schulz lent their support to the country and Samaras’ government.

 

Criticism from MEPs

British MEP Nigel Farage was tougher saying the control of the country has been passed on to its lenders and proposed to rename the party of New Democracy to No Democracy, with Samaras saying that some were disappointed that Greece stayed in the euro.

MEPs criticized the Greek PM depending on their origin. The People's Party and the Socialists representatives were positive for the Greek government. The Liberals were severely critical because "no important steps were taken towards reforms and privatizations in Greece." Environmentalists even mentioned the issue with Skouries in Halkidiki. Leftist MEPs said the stabilization program - for some extreme neoliberalism - has exhausted the socially weak and degraded Democracy.