GREEK party leaders will meet again today for last-chance talks on providing the country with a government that could result in the creation of an administration with the participation of unelected prominent personalities.
The decision to hold another round of talks was made at a meeting, chaired by the country’s president, and attended by Antonis Samaras, the leader of conservative New Democracy, Evangelos Venizelos of socialist Pasok and Fotis Kouvelis of the moderate Democratic Left.
The mood before last night’s meeting was far from optimistic after Alexis Tsipras of the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza), which became the country’s second largest party at the elections, said he would not attend.
However, Mr Tsipras called for a meeting of all political leaders, with the exception of the head of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
In a desperate attempt to stave off fresh elections, which could be held as early as June 17th, the three leaders at last night’s meeting appeared to adopt Mr Tsipras’s proposal.
Many have questioned the relevance of inviting the remaining two parties to the negotiating table as one, the orthodox Communist Party (KKE), flatly rejects all coalition scenarios, while the other, the Independent Greeks party, has said that it would only participate in a coalition that rejected the terms of the bailout memorandum.
There was considerable speculation last night that a technocratic administration might emerge from today’s meeting.
“We may see the formation of an extra-parliamentary government, enjoying the confidence of Pasok, New Democracy, the Democratic Left and, possibly, some individual MPs,” said analyst Ilias Nikolakopoulos.
“The cabinet would be comprised mainly of technocrats, with limited participation by elected politicians.” However, the Pasok leader said he was not optimistic that elections could be avoided.
“Things are very difficult. I’m not optimistic,” Mr Venizelos said.
The main sticking point in the talks has been the insistence by Pasok, New Democracy and the Democratic Left that Syriza be part of any coalition government.
However, Syriza, which is likely to emerge as the leading party in any new election, insists it cannot support a government that will administer the country’s bailout agreements with the troika.
A cartoon published on the front page of Monday’s Ta Nea, one the country’s largest circulation newspapers, went so far as to suggest that Mr Tsipras’s stance was suicidal. The sketch, by Dimitris Hantzopoulos, showed the silhouette of a man shooting himself in the head, with blood splattering behind, in the shape of Greece.
The accompanying headline in the pro-Pasok daily suggested that Syriza had brought the country to the brink. “At the edge of the cliff: full speed ahead for new elections” it declared.
The decision to exclude Golden Dawn, which has 21 MPs in parliament, from any further talks on forming a government came after comments made by its leader, Nikos Michaloliakos. He said that, while there were crimes committed in Nazi concentration camps, “there were no ovens, this is a lie”, before adding that “there were no gas chambers either”.
