Meanwhile, further independent MPs openly considered the possibility of voting for a President in the upcoming election. MPs Katerina Markou and Konstantinos Giovanopoulos were the most vocal, with the later telling SYRIZA to “not curse me because I may be a Presidential candidate”.
In response SYRIZA’s Nikos Voutsis spoke of “self-ridicule” regarding those MPs who intend to give the government a “kiss of life” by voting for a President and stressed that a vote against the budget was the “responsible” thing to do. Panagiotis Lafazanis referred to the violent clashes in Athens on Saturday as “phenomena of induced tension” and “systematic creation of artificial tension” and accused the government of violent and suppression.
New Democracy’s spokesman in Parliament Adonis Georgiadis defended the police stating that 12 officers were injured in the clashes and accused the opposition of hypocrisy.
The Prime Minister’s speech on Sunday focused on criticizing SYRIZA for opposing the Presidential election, while claiming that the bailout will soon end. Mr. Samaras said that “we are negotiating a budget with a 3% surplus which will eliminate the deficit, so that we do not need to borrow for expenses or interest rates”. Mr. Samaras was scathing in his criticism of the opposition, which he called “the accident that will not happen to this country” and “underminer of every effort to exit the crisis”.
Earlier, Alexis Tsipras claimed that the 2015 budget enforces five more years of austerity and repeated his call for early elections, arguing that unless the government receives 180 votes for the budget, the same number it needs for to elect a President, it should call elections. Mr. Tsipras questioned the point of the troika negotiations when the government claims that the debt is sustainable. He also accused the Prime Minister of accepting austerity programs that would be rejected by every other European democracy.
In his speech, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos echoed the Prime Minister and underlined that the negotiations with the troika would soon conclude with the imposition of new measures and cuts in wages and pensions. He also denounced the opposition regarding the Presidential election and stressed the need for a “political coordination and national consensus”.
ANEL president Panos Kammenos urged MPs considering voting for a President to reconsider as their vote will go against the will of the Greek people. Mr. Kammenos expressed his belief that the budget “results in nothing, other than more unemployment” and repeated his call for erasing the debt.
Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis was more moderate in his approach, noting that “elections are not a bad thing”, although he made no reference to the Presidential elections. Mr. Kouvelis maintained that his party “is struggling for a political change with security, stability and modern progressive solutions”.
ANA - MPA
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