It appears that PASOK, DIMAR and Agreement for New Greece have come to an agreement on the Ministry of Health’s regulation for the reduction of medicine costs, as well as the SYRIZA proposal for an inquiry into the Skaramangas and submarine scandal. The three parties are going to vote in favor of the Ministry of Health’s draft bill and against SYRIZA’s proposal, creating the foundations for a new center left front for the upcoming elections for European Parliament.
PASOK, which is in direct opposition to SYRIZA, is accusing the opposition leaders of serving ulterior interests in both cases. In a press statement issued yesterday, PASOK claimed that SYRIZA is colluding with multinational pharmaceutical companies against the interests of public health and accused the opposition leader Alexis Tsipras of resorting to demagogy and smear tactics.
On Tuesday DIMAR’s executive committee and parliamentary group convened to decide that they will vote against SYRIZA’s inquiry proposal and explained that they are “against artificial polarization and the criminalization of political debate”. SYRIZA’s Dimitris Papadimoulis wondered, via twitter, why DIMAR left the coalition government when it has consistently voted in line with government policies.
DIMAR secretary Spyros Lykoudis added further fuel to the flames by claiming that an electoral cooperation with SYRIZA inappropriate, dangerous and misleading and argued that it would ultimately be catastrophic for his party. Mr. Lykoudis instead was in favor of a coalition of center left parties.
The leader of the newly-nascent Agreement for New Greece Andreas Loverdos spoke to Real FM where he explained that while he will vote in favor of government policies, he has expressed his opposition to details. Mr. Loverdos further noted that SYRIZA’s goal is to “create a crack in the government” by targeting PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and estimated that the inquiry proposal will fail.
