Papademos: Up to leaders on how to make written commitment - The Best from Greece

The prime minister said today that he will push party leaders for the written guarantees that eurozone leaders have requested that they agree to implement the decisions of October 27.

 

"This letter by the leaders of the parties supporting the government, as has been requested by the Eurogroup and the IMF ... is necessary in order to eliminate uncertainties and ambiguities concerning actions to be taken in the future, by parties that may be in power," Lucas Papademos said in Brussels on Monday.

 

Party leaders must send the requested written confirmations because the country's creditors need reassurance that the government will stick to reforms after the next elections, he added.

 

"But it's up to the leaders of the relevant parties to decide how this confirmation of the commitment will be made," he added.

 

Papademos was speaking after a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and before a meeting with European Council leader Herman Van Rompuy.

 

 

 

Earlier, European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly had underlined that written commitment is a precondition for the disbursement of the sixth tranche and expressed guarded optimism that the Greek authorities will provide the necessary commitments as soon as possible.

 

Papademos said eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund pledged to finance Greece for a long time, much longer than the expected life of his government, and needed commitment from Greece for the corresponding period.

 

The prime minister, however, also noted that the political party leaders in Greece, through their vote of confidence in the new government, "had honoured the government and their longterm commitments".

 

The demand that political party leaders provide written commitments was also reiterated on Monday in Brussels by the spokesman of the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.

 

During a scheduled press briefing, Amadeu Altafaj underlined that the goal of the written undertakings is to assure the Eurozone member states that Greece will adhere to its commitments regardless of developments in the coming weeks or months related with the imminent elections.

 

Altafaj stressed that Greece depends on the international economic assistance it receives and underlined that the sixth tranche of the aid will have be disbursed before the end of December for the country to meet its needs.

 

Samaras won't sign

 

However, New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras is refusing to provide such a written commitment, saying his vote in parliament is commitment enough.

 

“The leader of New Democracy will not sign, as requested by the Europeans,” party spokesman Yiannis Mihelakis reiterated on Monday.

 

“There is an issue of national dignity, because it does not concern Mr Samaras as an individual but as the leader of the main opposition party,” Mihelakis added.

 

This evenin, New Democracy publicised the letter addressed by Samaras to the president of the European People's Party (EPP) and the leaders of its member parties, including Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel. 

 

In the letter Samaras states that his party will observe the agreement reached in the meeting of the three party leaders under the auspices of President Karolos Papoulias, at which "it was agreed that the task of the new government is the implementation of the decisions of the European Union's summit of October 26 2011 and the implementation of the economic policy linked to these decisions."

 

 

 

Greek media were also divided over Samaras's stance, with the pro-New Democracy weekly Typos Tis Kyriakis on Sunday saying he would eventually win a compromise from Athens' lenders and would not have to back down.

 

 

"New Democracy officials are satisfied because Samaras is winning his fight with the Europeans regarding the written assurances," the paper wrote.

 

But the left-leaning Eleftherotypia said Samaras, in trying to appease a "populist faction" in his party that disagreed with his moves over the past two weeks to join the coalition, could endanger next month's aid payment.

 

"Samaras's refusal to sign this commitment is putting the ... instalment in danger and it might undermine all the moves he has made over the last 15 days," the paper wrote.

 

Today he warned party members to stop their bickering over "nonexistent" problems, stressing that he will not tolerate this situation to continue and threatened expulsions.

 

After a meeting with troika inspectors on Sunday, the leader of the Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos) said Greece's international lenders would not release the sixth tranche without the pledge.

 

"I believe there is no wiggle room at all and we have to find an arrangement so that the money can be released in time to cover the country's pressing needs," Yiorgos Karatzaferis told reporters, adding that he would sign the pledge. (AMNA, Reuters)