Despite what is being rumored, the negotiations with the troika are going along smoothly.

Reliable sources report that the troika’s experts are less pressing than expected.

It appears that a deal will soon be reached with our creditors and partners and when the bank tests conclude on the 26th of October, the troika report on Greece will be, based on all indications, liberating and supportive of a public debt resettlement.

The great extent and intensity of the Greek consolidation does not allow much doubt.

Anyone who is aware of the shift in the Greek economy over the past years must be lenient regarding the delays and foolishness in politics.

Truth be told, there is no precedent of a country implementing such extensive changes its economy in the postwar years.

On the contrary, the constant pressure and suspicion is problematic.

Other countries with a smaller scale of changes had a much better treatment from the international credit system.

Portugal, for example, enjoys much smaller interest rates than Greece, despite the reform program there being shorter.

The reason is simple. There the parties agreed on the recovery program and served its implementation without great tension. On the contrary, over here the tensions are strong and there is no shortage of political strife and doubt.

It seems though that we are near the end. It is a common belief that the government – yes, this weak and nervous government – will “enjoy” praise and positive comments in the next semester from everyone involved in the “rescue operation” of the Greek economy.

It is not unlikely that by the end of the year the government will have a rather beneficial debt settlement in its hands, with a 70-year extension and a steady, low interest rate, which will alleviate the pressure on public finances.

In this respect the rumors of early general elections are baseless.

If everything goes ahead as planned, at the end of the year, the Samaras-Venizelos government will have the opportunity to present a plan of progress and perspective to the Greek people.

Based on this Samaras and Venizelos will claim the necessary 180 votes in Parliament to elect a new President.

The MPs will be called to choose between a “guaranteed” and the “uncertain” future that the election cycle leads to.

If they deny this dilemma they will be passing it on to the Greek people, who will then be called upon to decide between the difficult stability of Samaras-Venizelos, and the utopian and doubtful change of Tsipras.

That is the basic plan that guides and motivates the government.

Everything else is simply baseless and void rumors.

Antonis Karakousis