On last Thursday evening all television stations focused on the Mrs. Merkel’s decision to “co-exist” with Mr. Gabriel. The Chancellor’s “matchmakers” and the representatives of the German social democrats came to an agreement and the former foes will govern Germany together, as the two main parties decided to unite their forces and cooperate, by setting their differences aside.
The big news, while important and with obvious consequences for the future of the European Union, caused little surprise. Since the days of Willy Brandt, Germans have valued sincere consent in politics…
The cooperation of the two opponents who decided to cooperate in the interest of their country will have repercussions on the European front. The new government’s policies will be of a huge interest to Greece, especially when the negotiations with the troika are touch and go!
One would expect that the attention of the government and opposition would –temporarily, at least– be focused on the political developments in Berlin. Instead the Parliament in Greece focused on the submarines. One again the discussion was about bribes and corruption – without any evidence or names. Furthermore, it was more or less said that SYRIZA and Dimitris Avramopoulos set up a makeshift “coalition” to target Mr. Evangelos Venizelos at first and the Prime Minister and his cabinet later.
The question now is whether Mr. Samaras has the necessary medicine!
Stavros P. Psycharis
– Originally published in the Sunday print edition
