After the courts declared the GENOP DEI strike illegal and abusive and the coalition government immediately issuing civil mobilization orders to quell the “resistance”, the main opposition party SYRIZA has changed its tactics in order to develop alliances with the other parties of the opposition.
SYRIZA’s goal of forcing a referendum on a critical matter like the privatization of DEI still remains, with the opposition needing a minimum of 120 votes in Parliament. Party leader Alexis Tsipras has come to an agreement with the Independent Greeks (ANEL) and a number of DIMAR and independent MPs, however he still needs full backing from DIMAR and the Communist Party (KKE), which has resisted any alliances.
KKE has announced that it intends on submitting its own proposal for a referendum, as it is entirely against the liberalization and deregulation of the energy market, with DIMAR and Golden Dawn making similar announcements later.
The New Democracy / PASOK coalition wants to avert the possibility of a referendum, in order to weaken the opposition ahead of the presidential election that must take place by spring 2015. SYRIZA’s aim is to trigger general elections by making it impossible for the coalition government to amass the 180 necessary votes.
While the various opposition party announcements regarding separate referendums may have pleased the government, on Monday, the President of Parliament Evangelos Meimarakis commented in private that although the opposition parties may submit different applications for a plebiscite, if they have a similar goal they may be counted as one.
With legislation being unclear on the matter, Meimarakis has stated that he will consult Parliament’s Scientific Council. Should the separate motions be counted as one though, the opposition parties seemingly have more than enough votes to have Parliament’s plenary session convene and discuss the controversial privatization.
