After the Deputy Minister of Agricultural Growth Maximos Harakopoulos announced that he would resign from his post should the coalition government deregulate the sale of milk as it agreed to with the troika, further MPs from both PASOK and New Democracy have vowed to oppose the controversial reform.
New Democracy’s Giorgos Vlachos appeared on ANT1’s morning chat show on Friday and stressed that he would await official confirmation regarding the matter, before deciding to vote in favor or against the proposed regulation. He added that he has informed the Minister of Growth of his reservations and claimed that there was an alternative.
Meanwhile, PASOK MP Michalis Kassis appeared more determined to vote against the proposed changes to the sale of milk and was highly critical of party leader Evangelos Venizelos. At last Tuesday’s meeting of PASOK’s division managers it was unanimously decided to vote against the proposed changes.
When asked if Mr. Venizelos was aware of this decision he responded “if he doesn’t then he ought to find out” and when told that this could cause the government to collapse he commented “good riddance”, while adding that he did not want to be a “puppet MP”.
PASOK MP Thanos Moraitis was less forgiving in his estimation of the deal, arguing that the coalition government’s negations were “fictitious”, especially regarding milk, since a decision had already been taken. To that he pointed out that the relevant Minister of Agricultural Growth Tsaftaris was never called to any discussion, as he had expressed serious scientific concerns about the proposed changes.
Crucially, however, Mr. Moraitis claimed that the “government’s arguments were lies; there will be no reduction in prices. The example of long life milk (which is primarily imported) is indicative: it is not cheaper” and spoke of “deceiving and misleading consumers”, while arguing that the coalition government’s decision was tailored to serve certain interests.
Government reactions to «apostates»
According to PASOK’s parliamentary spokesman Paris Koukoulopoulos, the Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras has arranged to meet with PASOK MP representatives to inform them of the details of the deal regarding milk. Mr. Koukoulopoulos however noted that “we will not do anything that would change the essence of the deal” while the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis and the Deputy Minister of Growth Athanasios Skordas both dubbed this discussion “a joke”.
