Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Vice President Evangelos Venizelos are scheduled to meet this afternoon, where they are expected to formally approve of the coalition government’s new strategy, with the 2014 European elections being the first major event. The main points of the updated plan are to finish the bailout agreements, to settle the debt and not impose any new fiscal measures.
The new government agreement, which took about four months of planning after DIMAR left the coalition, has a huge symbolic value, as the government is set to resume negotiations with the troika representatives. The agreement of two leaders was heralded by the support offered to Mr. Venizelos in his recent clash with the Minister of National Defense and New Democracy Vice President Dimitris Avramopoulos.
At today’s meeting, the coalition government leaders will focus this discussion on establishing a strategy for the upcoming talks with the troika, with an emphasis on the need to support growth initiatives, as well as the limits they intend to pose in the negotiations. Both Mr. Samaras and Mr. Venizelos know full well that Greece society and the political system cannot endure any further fiscal measures.
The two men will want to stress the importance of achieving a primary surplus as well as introducing a series of necessary structural changes and reforms in an effort to negotiate better terms for the debt. Above all though, the two leaders want their new government agreement to reflect their optimism about the end to austerity being nearby, on top of the assurances of understanding, concurrence and long-lasting alliance.
Senior government officers have hinted that the new agreement will include commitments for political stability and the need to exit the crisis. The agreement will also make provisions for measures to support social cohesion and increase job positions, as well as radical changes to taxation, elections and the political system.
