Former Socialist Ministers Form New Party Ahead of General Election

Two of Greece’s former Socialist ministers have announced the formation of a breakaway party as the debt-stricken country gears up for general elections in which the majority Socialists are expected to take a severe drubbing.
Former development minister Louka Katseli was expelled from the Socialist PASOK party in February after refusing to vote in favor of painful austerity reforms demanded by Greece’s creditors in return for continued funding from international bailouts.
Katseli will head the new Social Contract party. Former justice and interior minister Haris Kastanidis joined her ranks and was given a senior position, while five former PASOK parliament members have also declared their support for the new party.
Katseli promised to ease the austerity that has plunged Greece’s economy into a fifth year of recession and seen unemployment hit 21 percent.
“We are listening to you … We are responding to your demands to create a new political alliance,” Katseli, 59, said at a launch event in Athens.
Katseli, a U.S.-trained professor of economics, argued that policies imposing austerity during a recession were doomed to fail.
“We can overturn the rationale that places the market above society … Under the present conditions, the deficit targets will not be met and the national debt will increase, leading with mathematical certainty to additional socially negative measures.”
(source: AP)

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