A spokesman for the small right-wing Independent Greeks (AN.EL) party on Friday reiterated that its MPs will leave the current coalition with leftist SYRIZA when the provisional Prespa agreement comes before Parliament for ratification.
The right-of-center party, billed as “national conservative”, is the junior coalition partner in the current Tsipras government, with its founder and president, Panos Kammenos, firmly holding on to the defense ministry portfolio since late January 2015. However, Kammenos has attempted to walk a “political tightrope” since last June, opposing the agreement between Athens and Skopje at every turn and alternately threatening to resign from the Cabinet and even withhold his support for the government, which signed the pact to resolve the fYRoM “name issue”.
Speaking on an Athens television station, party spokesman Theodoros Tosounidis said, “I can verify that we will not support this agreement.” However, as with previous such high-profile statements by Kammenos and his remaining cadres, he avoided clarifying whether the six AN.EL deputies – excluding Kammenos – still in Parliament will support the Tsipras government if a “no confidence” vote is tabled by the opposition.
He also warned any AN.EL MP voting in favor of the Prespa agreement will be thrown out of the party. At least two MPs, Zouraris and Papachristopoulos, are reportedly “warm” to the prospect of ratifying the bilateral agreement, whereas current Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura has remained silent on her intentions.
The AN.EL party is now viewed as a distinct long-shot for re-entering Parliament in a 2019 general election, with all mainstream opinion polls showing that it will not surpass a 3-percent figure in terms of the nationwide vote (of valid ballots).
