PM Papandreou will meet with opposition party leaders today in an bid to to achieve some form of consensus on the measures that need to be adopted. President Karolos Papoulias is also reported to be attending today’s meeting. According to Ekathimerini, this type of meeting, involving all the party leaders and chaired by the president, is relative rare.
Earlier this week, Mr Papandreou failed in an attempt to find common ground with the opposition leaders. Antonis Samaras of New Democracy, Giorgos Karatzaferis of the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) and Alexis Tsipras of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) refused to give their across-the-board consent for further tax hikes and the start of a privatisation program. Communist Party (KKE) leader Alike Papariga refused to attend the meeting.
Should PM Papandreou be unable to gain any significant concessions from the opposition leaders, one option that he is considering, according to sources quoted by Ekathimerini, is to propose a cabinet reshuffle that would lead to some non-PASOK officials being brought into the government. At the same time talks of a referendum which have arisen over the past few days have been reportedly dismissed by PM Papandreou.
Speaking on Thursday, FM Papaconstantinou said that Greece was at a crucial crossroads. “We (Greece) are between a hard road and a destructive road,” he said, while insisting that the government had no plans to quit the euro area.
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