“I will speak later about these issues, because it is my obligation to explain directly the situation to Greek people, to all citizens, regardless of their party preferences and regardless of their attitude to the crisis and the Memorandum, of how the country stood up and now is a member of the European Union and a member of the Eurozone,” Deputy Prime Minister stated from Brussels adding that “None of this is self-evident”.Also, Mr Venizelos implied that Mr Papandreou had initiated the transfer of the leadership in June 2011, when he discussed with Mr Samaras on forming a coalition government.
“He had been discussing on the possible participation of New Democracy in government scheme since June 2011, before appointing me as Finance Minister,” Mr Venizelos reminded.The Deputy Prime Minister spoke of a “confusion” created due to the events described in the article of Financial Times, noting that all these did not occur in the presence of the U.S. President, who was in Cannes, but he was not present in the dinner at which Europeans put pressure on Papandreou to change its decision on the referendum so as to avoid possible collapse of Eurozone.
He also stressed that “the protagonist of the debate and the process” was not Mr Barroso, who was present but as one of the three representatives of the EU, along with European Council President Van Rompuy and Vice President of the European Commission Olli Rehn. “We will talk about these when it is time to do so”, he said. But when he was asked about some comments which mention that the Portuguese President of the European Commission behaves like the … Queen Frederica who used to appoint Prime Ministers whenever she wanted and whoever she liked, Mr Venizelos reacted strongly.
“Whoever says these has no sense of international power relations and the role that people have within the EU. This is not Mr Barroso’s role” he said and added: “Haven’t you understood who participated in this process and how the correlation of forces is formed? Anyway, did anyone want to face the collapse of banks and Greek bankruptcy the next day?”
Later on in the evening and specifically in an interview to Star Channel on Thursday, Venizelos stressed the importance f the upcoming elections, particularly for European Parliament.
He said that the country’s stability is at stake and that the Greek people will be who decides. The PASOK leader remarked that “we say ‘vote for us’ so that you do not destabilize the country” and explained that if there is a “negative result”, then all parties must accept their responsibilities.
He stated the he is going to “bestow the responsibility for the country in the hands of the Greek people”.
But Venizelos' remarks were not received well by some other prominent MPs. For example, the Minister of Administrative Reform Kyriakos Mitsotakis was asked to comment on Mr. Venizelos’ assessment of the situation and responded that Greece “is the only country in Europe to associate the outcome of the European election with domestic political developments” and stressed that such a “discussion subverts the very stability we all want to secure”.
Mitsotakis also estimated that the coalition government could maintain stability even if New Democracy and the Olive Tree do not excel in the European elections. The Minister added that the government must continue after the elections, since polls show that the Greek people do not want early elections.
(Combined Reports - To Vima, ProtoThema)
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