Evangelos
Meimarakis, leader of the opposition New Democracy party, said he’ll invite his
rival Alexis Tsipras to form a coalition to safeguard Greece’s place in the
euro area, no matter the outcome of this month’s vote.
Opinion polls over the weekend showed the
third ballot in Greece this year is too close to call as Tsipras’ Syriza party
is tied with New Democracy. No party is projected to gain enough votes for an
outright parliamentary majority, signaling coalition talks may be needed. The
prospect of messy negotiations could further complicate the implementation of
conditions set out for the third bailout to stave off the crisis and the
recapitalization of banks.
Tsipras stepped down on Aug. 20 just after
relying on opposition votes to gain parliamentary backing of the country’s
third bailout. His resignation was a bid to recoup a majority with snap
elections as his party fell into disarray and dissidents formed a splinter
group. Tsipras last month said that his choice to opt for a compromise with
creditors in the face of internal dissent was necessary to avert the “national
disaster” of expulsion from the euro. Stocks have plunged since markets
reopened in August.
Every poll over the past week has Syriza and
New Democracy within the margin of error, including an MRB survey on Saturday
in Parapolitika newspaper that gave New Democracy a 0.6 percentage point lead,
and a Marc poll published the next day in To Ethnos daily that had Syriza ahead
by 0.4 percentage point.
Meimarakis said European leaders are wrong
if they are betting that Tsipras offers the best hope of keeping the region’s
common currency area together.
Government officials in Paris and Berlin
last week said the Syriza leader has built up trust with President Francois
Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel over months of late-night sessions as
they worked on a deal to secure Greece’s future in the euro.
“Even if Tsipras wins the election, which he
will not, he will face similar internal dissent problems each time he brings a
law implementing the bailout agreement,” Meimarakis said. “The danger of Grexit
hasn’t passed, and if we end up in an unstable situation, this danger will
become more imminent.”
New Democracy would instead safeguard the
implementation of the bailout agreement and pass needed reforms, Meimarakis,
who succeeded Antonis Samaras, said from his office on Syggrou Avenue, in
Athens.
New Democracy, along with the Pasok and
River parties, backed Tsipras’ 86 billion euros ($96 billion) bailout deal,
after about a quarter of Syriza’s lawmakers staged a mutiny against its terms.
The country has had seven prime ministers in the past six years.
“There was no need to hold snap elections
and Mr. Tsipras owes an explanation for putting the country into this
adventure, and bringing uncertainty and instability during the most crucial
moment in the implementation of the program,” said Meimarakis. “It’s disastrous
to hold elections every six months.”
Tsipras is Europe’s “pampered kid” after he
went “crying” to seek the bailout,” Meimarakis said. “It’s one thing to be a
good kid, and quite another to be a statesman.” So strong is his belief in
Europe that Meimarakis said he would forgo any leaderships claims, even if he
wins the elections, if that’s seen as needed to form a credible coalition.
“Tsipras has called us assassins of society, traitors; he used derogatory
expressions against us,” Meimarakis said. “Despite this, we backed him when we
thought the country’s European prospect was at stake.”
Πηγή: bloomberg.com
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