Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party reacted angrily to the latest urgings, as uttered by both the French and German finance ministers, that the party back a looming agreement over fiscal measures and targets that will be in effect in Greece after 2019 – a period when scheduled elections will have occurred and with a new government possibly in power.
In fact, ND charged what it called a “behind-the-scenes intervention” by the current leftist Greek government to generate the statements by French FinMin Michel Sapin, and hours later, by his German counterpart, the even more powerful Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Sapin maintained that the IMF wanted the Greek opposition to back any new agreement with creditors in a Parliament ratification vote, something that was subsequently denied by an unnamed Fund official, according to a dispatch circulated by Bloomberg.
Nevertheless, the center-right opposition party flatly rejected the prospect, saying ND’s deputies will not vote in favor of any new austerity measures brought to Parliament by the increasingly embattled leftist-rightist government, which enjoys a slim 153-MP majority in Greece’s 300-deputy legislature and collapsing popularity in all mainstream opinion polls.
“The (Tsipras) government must declare its position over what’s going on behind the scenes, and explain why it’s seeking support from abroad in order to pass the measures, which due to the incompetence and ideological obsessions of (Greek PM) Mr. (Alexis) Tsipras, are being demanded from the country … (Tsipras) may not feel too comfortable with his majority,” a party source said on Tuesday evening.
A day later, PASOK deputy and former minister Evi Christofilopoulou charged that the leftist government was attempting to “bring forth a fourth memorandum bailout without any guaranteed financing.”
The demand for opposition support of austerity measures in Greece isn’t unprecedented, as European creditors in the former “troika” of creditors in 2011 demanded that New Democracy – which was again in the main opposition with a social PASOK government in power – affirm, in writing no less, that the party accept an agreement for a PSI “haircut” (late October 2011).
