Greek government between Troika and MPs

The Greek government is among the Troika demands and pressures of MPs, looking for a way to pass the new measures by the House.

Indicative of the difficult situation is that last night premier Samaras chaired a meeting at Maximos Mansion, in which it was decided to exempt from taxation sheepfolds, chicken coops and other auxiliary spaces in land parcels.

This was preceded by a question in the House to Yannis Stournaras yesterday by 22 New Democracy parliamentarians who disagree with the regulation of taxation and an article a few days ago by Vyron Polidoras that characterized the tax parcels as forfeiture.

But there are also problems from Troika’s pressure as shown by the slight delay in filing the insurance bill by Labour Minister Yannis Vroutsis as there was disagreement on crucial points.

Within this climate, Troika is expected to return early next week to complete the negotiation.

Messages from the European Union are disappointing for the Greek government. In its request for political negotiation, Brussels referred it to Troika saying stop talking and implement the agreed measures.'

Brussels and Berlin do not seem to be intimidated by the risk of political destabilization that might bring Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA in power, a possibility that had been thrown on the table by Samaras.

The Greek government will try to reduce the Troika demands from 2,5 billion euros to 1-1.5 billion, while hoping that a wider deal on the financing gap and overall debt arrangement will not come after the Eurso-elections. Not only because the outcome of the Eurso-elections will be a disaster for Greece but also because it is doubtful whether the Greek economy will last another year of insecurity, cuts and recession.