Greek leaders united by a desire to avoid blame

With the eyes of an impatient Europe on them, Greece’s feuding leaders are united by a desire to avoid blame for the harsh austerity required to save their country from a catastrophic default.

Analysts say that despite their posturing, the leaders of the conservative New Democracy party, the centre-left PASOK socialists and the far-right LAOS nationalists, which back Lucas Papademos’s government, will ultimately accept the bailout terms demanded by the EU and the International Monetary Fund to avert chaos.

But some want to dump the internationally respected Papademos and revert to politics as usual as soon as the money is in the bank, while others want to keep him in office for tactical reasons.

Antonis Samaras, 60, New Democracy’s leader, is battling to distance himself from unpopular austerity measures and trying to force an early general election shortly after a planned March bailout while his party is still ahead in the polls.

“A very important consideration in his movements and calculations is his great desire to become the next prime minister,” said Theodore Couloumbis, professor of international relations at the University of Athens.

“The last thing he wants is to be blamed for an unruly default for Greece, whose consequence would be an exit from the eurozone and later from the EU.”

Since Athens received its first EU/IMF bailout in 2010, he has steadfastly refused to support tax rises, pay and pension cuts required by international lenders and has been very reluctant to give written undertakings to back such steps in future, despite pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU conservatives.

New Democracy is hoping to win an absolute majority in a general election which Samaras wants on April 8, but with 30% support in opinion polls it is not quite there yet.

The two other party leaders in the room — PASOK’s George Papandreou and LAOS’s George Karatzaferis — are keen to ensure that Samaras shares responsibility for the unpopular measures, and to keep Papademos in office and defer an election.

Papandreou, 59, resigned as prime minister in November after an attempt to organise a referendum was met with anger among socialist lawmakers tired of taking responsibility for pay and welfare cuts that hit core supporters in organised labour, the public sector and the rural poor.

The party’s popularity has slipped to a mere 12%, the lowest since Papandreou’s father, Andreas, founded PASOK 36 years ago.

While he has made clear he will not seek re-election as party leader in a ballot expected soon,Papandreou remains influential and still controls a large number of PASOK deputies.

To vindicate his past decision and policies, Papandreou is now trying to make the Papademos government work. He wants the technocratic premier to stay in office as long as possible, possibly even until 2013, to give PASOK time to recover.

Reuters