Opposition parties wait for outcome
Greece’s opposition parties, which have backed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s efforts to bring back a “viable” agreement from Brussels, waited anxiously on Tuesday for the outcome of the premier’s meeting in the Belgian capital.
New Democracy’s political council met for the first time since Vangelis Meimarakis replaced Antonis Samaras as leader. The main topic of discussion was the government’s ongoing talks with the institutions. The meeting concluded with the conservatives calling on Tsipras to sign an agreement, reopen Greek banks and ensure that deposits would be safeguarded.
“The government does not have a mandate for rupture [with lenders] but one for bringing back a viable agreement,” said New Democracy in a statement.
To Potami, whose leader Stavros Theodorakis also signed a joint statement with Tsipras on Monday along with Meimarakis, remained silent on the negotiations taking place in Brussels. Sources said the centrist party was not surprised that Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos did not present specific proposals at the Eurogroup as Theodorakis had advised Tsipras that his main goal should be to assure eurozone leaders that his government is committed to remaining in the single currency.
Sources said that Theodorakis intervened a number of times on Monday to ensure that the joint statement did not contain any assertions or language that could be used by lenders to refuse any further discussion with the Greek government.
PASOK leader Fofi Gennimata was in Brussels on Tuesday for a meeting of the Party of European Socialists.
