MPs Who Get Out Of Line Will Be Expelled From ND, Warns Samaras

Apart from criticism the two-party government is bracing itself for discontent from its own MPs who feel they are being excluded from the decision-making process. But this might soon change. Conservative MPs who refuse to follow the party line on any draft bill fulfilling loan requirements ("prior actions") are going to be expelled from the Parliamentary group, New Democracy secretary Thanassis Bouras warned on Friday. The warning from Bouras, who was apparently speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, came after MPs Dimitris Kyriazidis and Nikitas Kaklamanis attested their presence without voting on an amendment by which teachers holding a post-graduate degree are now going to be suspended and placed in a "mobility pool" when their courses are abolished.

The amendment canceled an omnibus' bill regulation voted a week ago in Parliament that excluded teachers in secondary technological education from the mobility scheme if they held a post-graduate degree or doctorate and would have transferred them to the relevant Regional Education Authority.

Deputy Education Minister Symeon Kedikoglou later clarified in Parliament that those with postgraduate degrees placed in the mobility pool as a result of the amendment will be given "bonus points" to help offset the latest change and increase their chances of a transfer to another public-sector post.

The ND-PASOK coalition has 155 MPs in the 300-seat Parliament but the House is currently in its summer session, meaning that only a third of lawmakers are present. This brings the government’s majority down to just two.

This prompted Samaras to call ND’s parliamentary group secretary, Thanasis Bouras, after the vote and ask him to tell MPs that if in future they fail to support a bill relating to “prior actions” demanded by the troika, they will be expelled from the party.

Government sources insist that the amendment,which was demanded by the troika to release further bailout funding, is designed to speed up structural reforms that are aimed at improving the public sector’s efficiency.

On Friday, the government finalized its plan for finding 12,500 civil servants to place in the mobility scheme by September. Apart from 3,000 municipal police officers, the Education and Health ministries will contribute 1,500 employees each.

(Combined Reports)