The rough German stance discourages Athens

Maximos Mansion learned with embarrassment on Monday evening about German Foreign minister Guido Westerwelle’s position - after meeting with Avramopoulos - that there is no room for renegotiation. It was preceded by similar statements by Finance minister W. Schäuble and parliamentary leader of the Christian Democrat party Volker Kauder.

 

Faced with this German attitude, Samaras will redefine his tactics. Maximos Mansion already leaked that no decisions will be made in the meeting and that the issue of extension will be officially raised with the European institutions during the upcoming summit in October.

 

Naturally, Samaras will set forth the situation in the country, emphasize that the recession is larger than estimated also due to the memorandums, and will defend the need for changes to the agreed framework for the country to be able to meet its obligations and debts.

 

Until the extension issue is officially raised in the summit, Samaras wants to avoid negative statements by Merkel and the German political elite. He will seek to get Merkel's declaration that Germany is in favor of Greece’s stay in the Eurozone. He will also try to convince the German leadership to base its stance concerning the extension on the Troika report, the package of 11.5 billion euros and its adoption by the Greek parliament, which will be a testament of determination by the Greek government.

 

Thus, the prime minister and the economic team are completing the package of 11.5 billion euros, which will be extremely hard as it will include cuts in pensions over 700 euros, reduction and elimination of benefits, which the prime minister and political leaders had pledged not to touch before the elections, significant cuts in SOE payrolls and a new type of redundancy in the public sector as well as significant reductions in welfare, health, education etc.

 

This was the subject of yesterday's meeting at Maximos Mansion. And since the argument of hardline European and German elites against our country is that there can be no new funding, the Greek leadership has to develop proposals that the extension cost be restricted to the minimum to avoid having to pass it through the parliaments of member countries, and it will be covered by the Greek economy when it enters a development phase. The prime minister will argue that Greece must remain in the euro at all costs and that it should take all necessary steps, as hard as they might seem, to restore its credibility.

 

Samaras will attempt to postpone the critical decisions so that when the package of measures is brought to parliament, MPs of the three parties that support the government will find themselves faced with the dilemma of either voting in its favor or paving the way for the fall of the government and the country’s exit from the euro.