No time to rock the boat
It is ludicrous to be talking about the possibility of early general elections now. Prime Minister George Papandreou has a comfortable majority in Parliament, the support of the international community and a popular mandate. He has, therefore, no reason to go to the polls nor to risk delaying the painful, yet necessary, austerity program. The head of opposition New Democracy, Antonis Samaras, has obviously chosen the more responsible path by voting in favor of the important draft laws outlined in the memorandum and in toning down his anti-reform rhetoric. This is what the country needs: a premier who will disregard the political cost and the polls and an opposition leader who will not follow the usual policy of saying «no» to every government proposal. We have seen signs of political maturity from both Papandreou and Samaras, at least until Papandreou decided to rock the boat with his dangerous talk about early elections.
