The Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Vice President Evangelos Venizelos met yesterday afternoon to discuss the latest developments ahead of the troika visit for negotiations next week and agreed to renew their rendezvous for Thursday to examine solutions for the shipyards and taking advantage of NSRF funds.
According to Mr. Venizelos the two leaders talked about the visit of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and the necessary preparations for the troika visit on Monday. Mr. Samaras’ associates noted that the two leaders agreed to adopt a common stance, in an effort to address the tension amongst MPs.
Regarding the new, controversial real estate tax, PASOK officers maintain that the constant discussion and revisions must not be attributed entirely to pressure from MPs, but the leaders themselves, since Samaras and Venizelos are aware of the hardships the Greek society is going through.
With the framework of negotiation already established, the overall feeling at PASOK is that the government will not impose any new measures that will affect wages and pensions but rather “structural changes”, which have yet to be determined, but this likely means more dismissals and suspensions.
Mr. Venizelos has also proposed that the Government Council of Administrative Reform reconvenes to examine the dismissals and suspensions, in response to the constant pressure from the troika. PASOK wants to establish mobility in the public sector as a tool of transparency, evaluation and improvement of public administration.
