All of the remaining “prior actions” demanded by creditors in order to conclude the fourth and last review of the current bailout – which itself ends on Aug. 20 – will be included in one draft law that will be tabled in Parliament in a fast-track procedure.
Parliament President Nikos Voutsis, speaking on Tuesday, said the goal of the coalition government is to ratify the bill by June 14, ahead of a June 21 Eurogroup meeting – the last scheduled such meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in the summer season.
In continuing to “toe the party line”, Voutsis, a veteran leftist lawmaker, also precluded the possibility of snap elections being held in 2018, merely repeating that they will take place as scheduled in 2019.
He cited constitutional revision as one of the reasons for insisting on a 2019 date.
Press speculation is rife in the Greek capital over the prospect of early elections, given that the leftist-rightist Tsipras government has passed a 2016 law that implements another round of social security cuts as of Jan. 1, 2019, with the possibility of other austerity measures also “being bumped” up a year earlier than scheduled in 2020.
Conversely, all mainstream opinion polls have ruling SYRIZA trailing main opposition New Democracy by between five and 10 percentage points, while the right-wing AN.EL party, the junior coalition partner, is forecast to miss entering Parliament – or so poll results convey in the present.
