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June 18th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Relegated to third place in an earlier, inconclusive May 6 election, PASOK
said it wanted a broad coalition that would include Syriza, but that the
most important goal was to form a government and put an end to political
uncertainty.
But gains in the markets were capped due to further questions over the debt
crisis and over the finances of the bigger euro zone economies of Spain and
Italy, which have seen borrowing costs rise near to unsustainable levels.
PASOK officials told Reuters that a meeting on Monday would decide how they
would support Samaras – by participating fully in government, or by voting
with the coalition in parliament.
The new government might get a helping hand from its euro zone peers with
Germany’s foreign minister suggesting Athens might get more time to
implement the cuts demanded of it.
But most economists say even that would leave Greece, into a fifth year of
deep recession, facing a programme it cannot hope to deliver on.
The election result brought cheers at the headquarters of New Democracy and
Syriza. The leftists rode a wave of discontent over austerity and corruption
and see second place as a victory for a party that has long been on the
fringes of Greek politics.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, 37, made clear his was now the main opposition
party, saying it would fight on against the bail-out and take power sooner
or later.
“Very soon, the Left will be in power,” the former communist and
student protest leader told supporters in central Athens after conceding
defeat. “We begin the fight again tomorrow.”
The result came as a relief for Greece’s EU and IMF lenders and euro zone
partners who feared a Syriza victory would tip Greece over the edge and the
common currency towards break-up.
But the vote revealed a society deeply split between its desire to stay in the
euro and a deep-seated anger at salary, pension and job cuts that have hit
the poorest while sparing a political and business elite seen by many as
corrupt.
A protest vote looked set to give the ultra-right Golden Dawn party 18 seats,
repeating its success of May 6 despite a now-notorious incident in which its
spokesman threw water at one leftist opponent and slapped another during a
TV debate.
Giorgos Argyropoulos, 25, a clerk at an electronics store who voted for Syriza
said: “We will now have a strong parliamentary opposition to help
overturn the bail-out.”
Analysts say a pro-bail-out coalition may not last, having commanded only
slightly more than 40 per cent of the vote and being pressed to make more
savings from lenders.
More than two years of budget cuts have caused unemployment to jump to over 22
per cent. Businesses are shutting down by the dozen and the homeless are
multiplying on the streets of Athens.
Both New Democracy and PASOK have said they want to renegotiate the terms of
the bail-out to spread the burden over a longer period and take measures to
boost growth.
Greece’s EU partners and the International Monetary Fund welcomed the
pro-bail-out parties’ victory, saying they were ready to work with the
government that emerges. But EU officials have made clear Greece must stick
to its pledges to receive more funding while hinting there may be some
leeway at the margins.
“There can’t be substantial changes to the agreements but I can imagine
that we would talk about the time axes once again, given that in reality
there was political standstill in Greece because of the elections, which the
normal citizens shouldn’t have to suffer from,” German Foreign Minister
Guido Westerwelle said.
Even so, Greece is in a desperate situation.
Its caretaker government says the state has enough cash to last a few weeks
and Athens has pledged to come up with an additional 11.7 billion euros
worth of spending cuts in June to merit the next loan instalment.
Source: Reuters
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