At a moment when the negotiations between Greece and the country’s lenders are at the most critical point, government officials are considering the arrangement of a meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, in order to find a common ground regarding the Troika negotiations.
The idea was tabled earlier this week during the meeting held in the government headquarters between the Greek Premier and government Vice President Evangelos Venizelos. The two men are considering this possibility in order to give the main opposition leader a detailed update on the negotiations front, although the invitation will have the characteristics of a meeting and not of a political leaders’ council.
MPs of the ruling New Democracy party have already expressed their agreement for such a meeting. On the contrary, SYRIZA MP Panagiotis Lafazanis was amongst those disagreeing with such a possibility and described the proposed meeting as a “political depredation,” although SYRIZA’s official line is that Tsipras is open to the invitation. At the same time, SYRIZA’s spokesman is ruling out the participation of PASOK’s leader, Venizelos, as it is characterized as unnecessary. “We think that the presence of Mr. Venizelos would be unnecessary… If the government cannot communicate or express itself with a single voice, that is its own problem,” SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis said earlier today, according to Greek newspaper “Kathimerini.”
Furthermore, Skourletis declared that the government should not expect any consensus on the debt issue. “If the Prime Minister feels the need to invite Mr. Tsipras, this is something that we will look at. However, we make clear from the beginning, that there is no room for a consensus on issues related to debt,” he underlined.
Objections regarding the meeting between the Prime Minister and the main opposition leader were also expressed by a portion of government MPs. According to statements New Democracy secretary Andreas Papamimikos made to “Vima” radio station, there is “no sense” in such a meeting as long as the main opposition continues to demand the premier’s resignation.
“We see top brass in SYRIZA, such as Mr. Pappas, saying that Mr. Tsipras will meet with Mr. Samaras in order to ask for his resignation… We will not meet and reach understanding with people who create division and the rest are pretexts,” Papamimikos said, concluding that “when the answer we get from the head of the main opposition leader’s office is that Mr. Tsipras, if he decides to see the Prime Minister, will ask for his resignation, then I’m sorry, but that is an insult not just to the Prime Minister but to the institution. One cannot, therefore, reply to hypothetical situations. Let us see how things are and then we can talk.”
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