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GREECE’S VOTERS will be asked to return to the ballot boxes next month to elect a new parliament after political leaders abandoned talks to try and break common ground to share power.
A final two-hour meeting of the leaders from five of the seven parties represented in the last parliament, elected nine days ago, ended this afternoon with no deal on forming a permanent government.
Another meeting is due tomorrow, but a statement from the President said that meeting would only arrange the details of a caretaker government to succeed that of Lucas Papademos, the outgoing technocratic prime minister who is reportedly unwilling to remain in power for another month.
It is likely that the vote will be held on June 17, in just under five weeks’ time.
The possibility of finding a power-sharing coalition was always considered unlikely given the hardline stance taken by Syriza, the coalition of radical left-wing parties led by Alexis Tsipras, who had steadfastly refused to follow any policy which involved Greece having to remain within its EU-IMF bailout programmes.
The two parties which formed the previous technocrat government, led by Papademos – the centre-right New Democracy and the socialist PASOK party – had won a combined 149 seats in the election, two short of a majority.
The anti-bailout parties with the other 151 seats were unable to share power given the wider range of ideological differences between them.
The smallest party with 21 seats, Democratic Left – whose MPs include many who were previously members of PASOK – had been approached by New Democracy and PASOK to share power, but refused to participate in any government that did not include Syriza.
The far-left Communist Party refused to participate in the talks today, while the far-right Golden Dawn party were reportedly not invited to take part.
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Can we have another go (election) too. Don’t think much of our muppets.
I get the feeling we won’t have to wait till 2016.Labour will get cold feet about becoming the new “Greens”.
I think they’re there already Norman…
Well said James
I’m delighted that the people of greece are standing up and giving a clear NO to brussels….
Yeah,and feck the consequences.
Greece has nothing to loose.
Here come the army to ‘stabilise’ the situation me thinks. Very unlikely it would accept communists in government.
Yeah, that’s what I was wondering about? Is that a possibility?
Up till the mid 70′s it was the case.Hopefully the politicians will see sense and work for the Greek people,instead of grandstanding.
The last government of Greece made a big investment in materials for the army and a number of senior officers were retired late last year. I guess though it will depend on the result of the election in June. Greeks are being asked to vote for austerity or against it with the danger of possible been ejected from the Euro zone. Interesting times ahead…..
The Greek army took power in 1967 ostensibly due to concerns about communists. Military rule lasted 7 years. Even recently only around 50% of Greeks said they thought it was a bad thing. Some rumours that over 50% of the police force voted for the facist party could indicate a worrying swing to the hard right in the police and army.
Which would be worse? An EU state that defaults on its euro repayments or an EU state governed by military rule? I’m not 100% sure but I think military rule is a breach of all existing EU Treaties, which would threaten to throw Greece out of the EU never mind the euro.
Greeks present a peace offering to ECB.
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/greeks-apologise-with-huge-horse-2012051527146
This is very worrying for Greece. Their far left party is now expected to win that election but they probably won’t have enough seats to govern on their own. They’ll need to form a coalition with other radical parties to govern. I don’t see New Democracy and PASOK getting the rise in seats they need to rule either.
They might need a third election :O
David very worrying for Greece and Europe.
Obviously the Greeks don’t know what they’re doing or what they want.
Isn’t it time that Angela Merkel/the EU stepped in and just appointed a government so the euro can last another couple of weeks?
The major problem I can see with that solution is that it would breech EU law. The politics of all EU states must be clear, open and transparent and all state governments must be democratically elected. Aside from the legalities of such a move, can you imagine the backlash? The Greeks were rioting on the streets when their own elected governments started implementing Franco-German austerity measures. Now, on top of foreign intervention in the economic and budgetary affairs of an EU state, you would like to see full German (yes, you did say Merkel) control of the Greek economy, it’s political system and its internal affairs, including those not related to the economy? Couple that with the sudden rapid rise in preference for extreme right and left wing groupings within the Greek political system and there would only be one outcome – Civil War and more than likely a coup d’état.
The problem in Greece is that the majority of Greeks do know what they want – they just don’t know which party is more likely to work for them in attaining their goals. Vote for PASOK and New Democracy and they get access to bailout funds and remain within the Euro, but their economy will probably take 60 or 70 years to recover. Go with one of the anti-austerity parties and at least they can control their own currency, inflation (to a certain extent), budgetary measures, etc. but will suffer a cut in living standards of about 80% as well as being cut off from the (somewhat) stabilising effects of being part of the Eurozone. A friend of mine from Piraeus put it quite well I thought – it’s like choosing between having your legs amputated but gaining the independence to try and build some sort of life (SYRIZA et al) or having you and most of your friends locked up in straight jackets with no freedom for the rest of your lives while those you know that aren’t restrained in straight jackets are forced to leave (PASOK, New Democracy, etc.)
Yup, clearly this solution is clearly illegal and uneuropean! Thankfully the appointed but unelected prime minister of Italy among others would certainly not stand for it.
Paul, it would help if you knew something about the situation in Italy. There is a massive difference between what Damocles proposed above and what occurred in Italy. In Italy, the democratically elected President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, invited Monti to form a government after the resignation of Berlusconi. Monti accepted with consultation from the main political parties in the Italian parliament. On 17/18 November 2011 all representatives of the Italian parliament, except those from Lega Nord, voted in favour of Monti’s Premiership and Cabinet of Ministers. This was all done in Italy (albeit perhaps with a little nudge from the Eurocore) by Italian politicians, who were elected by the Italian people. It was entirely democratic, if perhaps a little indirect, and entirely legal under both Italian and EU law.
What Damocles is advocating for Greece is that the German government, Merkel in particular, simply steps in, ignores all current Greek politicians who were elected by the Greek population and install a puppet regime. Considering the Greek president, the only person who could have done something similar to what happened in Italy, has dictated that a new election must be held, any attempt at this stage by Brussels, Paris or Berlin to subvert Greek democracy and it’s entire political system (which is exactly what that would amount to) to do appoint a government would be considered a hostile attack on a foreign sovereign nation. That, my friend, is illegal under Greek, EU law and International law.
Yeah, Brian, I wasn’t being entirely serious.
Paraphrasing what a politician said recently on the Week in Politics… “the far right and the far left in Europe enjoy times of crisis because it is when they do well in elections.”
I read earlier in the Irish Times that the Syriza party wants to restore public sector pay levels to what they were pre-crisis and re-hire many of those let go in recent years. They also favour staying in the euro, however the reject the current bailout (renegotiated earlier this year) yet want the Troika to continue bailing out Greece. Painting Syriza as the saviour of Greece is incorrect.
Greece appears to be on a slippery slope,
The problem is that if they want to stay in the euro then they’ll have to do as Brussels says.
“The immediate consequences of Greece leaving or being forced out of the eurozone would certainly be devastating. Capital flight would intensify, fuelling depreciation and inflation. All existing contracts would need to be redenominated and renegotiated, creating financial chaos. Perhaps most politically devastating, fiscal *austerity might actually need to intensify*, since Greece still runs a primary deficit, which it would have to correct if EU and International Monetary Fund financing vanished.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4bdda8a0-9dad-11e1-9a9e-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1uy7lR64C
I’m living in Denmark and heard on the news that all Danish companies dealing with Greece were advised weeks ago to insist on cash in advance for any orders from companies there.
have your say