Independent Greeks

Do the bridge-builders really believe that SYRIZA has rid itself of the odd alliance with its erstwhile partner, Panos Kammenos’  Independent Greeks party?

SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks party experienced their joint rule as a romance. Now, we are witnessing a rupture the characteristics of which transcend politics.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has declared that not even one iota of parliamentary rules should be changed.

According to Greek Parliamentary rules, for a political party to be recognised as a parliamentary group it must have five MPs elected on its ticket.

In his speech, Potami MP Yorgos Amyras in parliament declared “You will find the single vote needed in tonight’s confidence vote, but you willl not find 151 votes [to ratify] the Prespa Agreement.”

Independent Greeks MP Thanasis Papachristopoulos, Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura, and Deputy Agriculture Minister Vasilis Kokkalis will give the government their confidence.

The PM engaged in petty partisan bargaining with his former coalition partner in the hope of ensuring his own interests.

Kammenos has been replaced as defence minister by Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, until now Greece’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The climate that the PM and his junior coalition partner have cultivated is a far cry from political stability.

At a crucial meeting on 11 January, junior coalition partner Panos Kammenos will make clear whether he and his party will continue to be part of the government’s parliamentary majority

The Independent Greeks leader and the rest of the protagonists in the government’s drama forget that governments are elected to rule, not to preoccupy themselves with power plays.

Minority governments can function effectively in countries in which there is a climate of consensus and in which political culture is not betrayed by divisive rhetoric.

There are concerns in Greece that MPs who have declared their support may switch at the last moment, so as to ensure their political survival in the general election.

The SYRIZA-Independent Greeks coalition is rushing to make citizens believe that the country is returning to normalcy and that due to its goodness it is handing out money and hiring pledges right and left.

Those parties which were condemned by the government as constituting the “old” political system left their old bad habits behind, and the “new regime” copied all those habits in a bid to ensure its political survival.

On the crucial question, “Which party will bring economic growth?” New Democracy leads ruling SYRIZA by a whopping 30 percentage points.

The aim of the criminalisation of politics is obvious, to perpetuate suspicions about the activity of SYRIZA’s political opponents, and especially those who represent the centre-left.

The promised abolition of the bailout memorandum with one article in one law was nothing less than a promise that life would return to pre-crisis levels.

What would Greece receive in return by turning the country into a US military base? How would it be shielded in terms of defence?

A prime minister who veers between the role of a Machiavellian orchestrator, and of a passive observer who simply urges or allows ministers to engage in mutual political extermination, does not serve his office.

That reality of daily auctions of foreclosed properties was not what SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks were promising before they came to power.

Hostage to intra-party balances and a skewed perception of the meaning of renewal, the prime minister enhanced his government with the scraps of opposition parties.

The objective of the reshuffle was to give the government a new momentum and to broaden SYRIZA’s political base ahead of the next general elections.