International Monetary Fund Director of External Relations Gerry Rice sparked up a lot of controversy on Thursday saying that Greece's upcoming elections created "uncertainty related to policy implementation". So far only the main opposition New Democracy party has reacted to the direct intervention by the IMF on Greece's internal affairs through its spokesman Yiannis Michelakis. In a statement, issued late on Thursday evening, Michelakis said that "Greece is a Republic and elections are a fundamental element of parliamentarism. The elections were already decided on with the formation of the Papademos government. The people want and need to express themselves politically and this will happen immediately." PASOK, on the other hand has yet to respond and when asked its leader Evangelos Venizelos just refused to comment.
In fact, PASOK's stance is very suspicious. Minister of the Interior Tassos Giannitis (a prominent PASOK member) began hinting that Greece should postpone the elections for now or "be held on May 6 or later if needed".
Similar interpretations were given in a report by interim prime minister Lucas Papademos, while speaking in Cyprus. The recapitalization issue is perhaps the last major issue which is still not completed by the present government and some pro-PASOK newspapers are saying that this is why Papademos’ statements might have been interpreted as hinting towards a delay.
When Greek citizens heard the news from the IMF spokesman the only thing that was expressed was even more anger. Let us face it... the news by itself is insulting not only at a state level, but also throughout the masses. It was the center focus of many discussions on the social networks, as well as in cafes and talk shows. People want and need to express themselves politically, and the IMF and every organization such as the IMF has no business telling us when and when we cannot hold elections.
Period.
Posts
