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Greek president to meet political leaders sunday in last-ditchcoalition effort by 123wert sdfsf
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Greek president to meet political leaders sunday in last-ditchcoalition effort by 123WERT SDFSF
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| Article Posted: 11/11/2012 |
| Article Views: 102 |
| Articles Written: 2217 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
| Word Count: 758 |
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Greek president to meet political leaders sunday in last-ditchcoalition effort |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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ATHENS, Greece – Greek President Karolos Papoulias called for the leaders ofGreece's political parties to meet on Sunday, in a last-ditcheffort to broker a deal for a coalition government and avoidanother general election. Papoulias took the step Saturday after Greece's socialist leaderEvangelos Venizelos officially gave up the mandate to form acoalition government after three rounds of negotiations provedfruitless Papoulias' office announced that the president would meet initiallywith the heads of the three parties that won the most votes in lastSunday's inconclusive elections — the conservative NewDemocracy, radical left-wing Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) andsocialist PASOK. He will then meet individually with the leaders ofthe other four parties that won enough votes for parliamentaryseats — the right-wing nationalist Independent Greeks, theCommunists, the extreme-right Golden Dawn and the moderate leftDemocratic Left. The format was designed to bring everyone to the table, as Syrizaleader Alexis Tsipras had threatened to boycott the talks ratherthan sit at the same table with Golden Dawn leader NikosMichaloliakos.
In theory, the president's talks with the party leaders could draguntil the scheduled date for the opening of the new parliament, onMay 17th. In practice, precedent shows that talks could take two orthree days, George Katrougalos, a professor of constitutional law,told the Associated Press. It is also possible that an impassecould be reached Sunday. If Papoulias fails to broker a coalition agreement, Greece willhave to hold new elections next month, most likely on June 10th or17th, prolonging the political uncertainty and bringing Greece'seuro membership into question.
Venizelos was the third party leader to try to cobble together agoverning coalition after elections last Sunday gave no partyenough parliamentary seats to form a government. Voters furious attwo years of harsh austerity measures taken in return forinternational bailouts worth 240 billion ($310 billion) rejectedGreece's two formerly dominant parties, Venizelos' socialist PASOKand the conservative New Democracy, in favor of smaller parties onthe left and right. The turmoil has alarmed Greece's international creditors, who havestressed that the country must stick to the terms of its rescuedeals if it hopes to continue receiving the funds that have beenkeeping it afloat since May 2010. Whether Greece should adhere to the strict austerity measuresrequired for the bailout loans or pull out of the deal has been atthe heart of the wrangling over creating a coalition government. Syriza leader Tsipras, whose party made massive gains to comesecond in Sunday's election, campaigned on an anti-bailout platformand insists any new government must cancel the austerity measures.He argues the terms are so onerous that they are giving thecountry's battered economy no chance of recovery.
But both Venizelos and Antonis Samaras, head of New Democracy, haveslammed Tsipras' position as irresponsible. They say his policieswould lead to disaster and force Greece out of the European Union'sjoint currency — something that none of the political leaderssay they want. Hopes had been raised that a solution could be found in the form ofa partnership between New Democracy, PASOK and the smallerDemocratic Left party of Fotis Kouvelis, whose 19 seats put it in apotential kingmaker position. But all three parties have insistedthey cannot join forces without the support of Syriza, given itsstrong performance in the elections.
Handing back the mandate to the president, Venizelos said that,while there had been a meeting of minds between his party,Democratic Left and New Democracy, Tsipras was sticking to hisposition. The latest opinion poll, published Saturday in weekly financialpaper "O Kosmos tou Ependyti" (Investor's World) confirms therecent trend showing Syriza overtaking New Democracy. The pollestimates — by excluding declared don't knows and those whorefuse to answer — that Syriza will win 25.5 percent in a newelection, up from 16.8 percent it actually polled on May 6. NewDemocracy follows with 21.7 percent, up from 18.9 percent, and thesocialists would gain 14.6 percent, up from 13.2 percent. TheIndependent Greeks would get 10.5 percent, marginally lower thanthe 10.6 percent they got at the election.
The poll projectedlosses for the Communists (5.3 percent from 8.5 percent) and GoldenDawn (4.8 percent from 7 percent). Even if the results of the poll were to be confirmed, Syriza doesnot get enough votes to form a government on its own, although itwould benefit from regulations that give the first party a bonus of50 seats in the 300-member parliament, putting it in the dominantposition to seek coalition partners among other anti-bailoutparties. I am a professional writer from Home Supplies, which contains a great deal of information about refillable butane lighter , baby feeding pillow, welcome to visit!
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