George: "Account for your actions", Antonis: "Change the Memorandum"

During his meeting with New Democracy party president, Antonis Samaras, Prime Minister George Papandreou stated the need for all political forces to assume responsibility for their actions in view of the EU summit.

Mr. Papandreou called for the support of all national efforts. The Prime Minister also stressed that “We respect different approaches by all political forces. Today’s meetings are aimed towards the support of national efforts in view of the Summit. We need such forces to be accountable. On our part, we are prepared to support our view that the only solution is the economic package solution. Anything else is no solution at all.

On his part, Mr. Samaras insists on an anti-memorandum line, while he tries to cancel in advance the communication effort of the Prime Minister to hold any form of negotiations during the EU summit.

For the leadership of New Democracy, the time extension of the 110 billion euro loan payment is not a success on the part of the Greek government.

This statement, which was made two hours after his meeting with Mr. Papandreou, was put forward by Mr. Samaras: “ A drastic change in terms of the memorandum is needed as far as the only financial solution for the country is concerned”. Although Mr. Samaras did not want to be accused of refusing to consent, he ignores the support requested by the Greek Government for EU summit negotiations, bringing his own agenda into play.

“The problem today is caused by suffocation in the Greek economy due to the memorandum itself”, stated the New Democracy president, and proceeded to add that :even if a favorable decision for debt management is secured during the EU summit, such as an extension will not be enough to solve the problem”.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister informed him of his intention to bring forth debt management issues during the next summits. Mr. Samaras reiterated his own position, which he promoted at every opportunity: “The Eurobonds, development bonds,  the time extension for loan payment, the reduction of borrowing costs and the buy-back of Greek government bonds”.

Circles within the New Democracy party estimated that Mr. Papandreou will attempt to take communicational advantage of any loan extension decisions in order to cover up any imposition of additional measures in the Greek economy.

The same circles within the party state that that a reduction of loan interest rates is not certain and that it will be up to any parallel negotiations made by the Irish government. They noted, however, that no point about premature elections was made during the meeting.

After Mr. Samaras, Mr. Papandreou hosted the following meetings:
14:15 with the Secretary General of the Greek Communist Party Aleka Papariga
15:30 with LAOS President George Karatzaferis
16:45 with the Chairman of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras
18:00 with the President of Democratic Alliance, Dora Bakoyannis
19:00 with the President of the Democratic Left, Fotis Kouvelis

Mr. Papandreou has included these meetings in order to prepare for the European battle which begins tomorrow, with Mr. Papandreou’s visit to Paris for a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, while he will attend the emergency summit of the Eurozone on Friday. The main concern of the Prime Minister is to improve the political climate within the country, before it evolves into a heavy burden for the government effort.

Mr. Papandreou, in fact, hopes to reduce the intensity of the reactions and ensure an open or silent support and the tolerance of certain powers, in order to mitigate social protests. In any case, he wishes to show to the public that he is not alone and that his opponents are not within their rights when pursuing extreme policies.

He is expecting some words of support from Dora Bakoyannis or George Karatzaferis- they have supported ways to secure the memorandum policies- and Fotis Kouvelis’ moderate views in order to convince the audience that he is not alone or isolated in his attempts.

Mr. Papandreou is expected to be tougher with Aleka Papariga and Alexis Tsipras, warning that the tactic of escalating social tension can be fatal to the Greek effort, while leveling criticism pushes people outside the political system to which they all belong.