By Christina Kostopoulou
New Greek cabinet to be announced on Thursday
It was a tight race but Antonis Samaras of the center right is now trying to form a Greek government. Together with the Greek Socialist party known as Pasok and the Democratic Left, a small party that won only 6.2 percent of the vote, Mr. Samaras is assigned the difficult task to form a majority coalition in Parliament.
Alexis Tsipras, in the strong opposition o the far-left Syriza party, has said it will fight if the new government does not rebut the most burdensome terms of Greece’s loan deals. Mr. Tsipras came from political obscurity to ride a popular wave that asked to cancel the terms of the international bailout deal, repeal its austerity measures and dismissed any warnings that Greece may end up having to leave the Euro zone. Tsipras has conceded defeat but promised that the opposition presence will be more than pressing on the terms of the bailout.
Eurozone leaders are signing with relief for the moment, but it is still unclear whether Samara’s fragile government will last more than a few months before bringing the country back into political chaos. The result of the June 17th election showed that the Greek people are split down the middle over what they should do in this crisis. In any case the leader of the New Democracy Party has promised to renegotiate some of the harsh austerity terms of Greece’s multibillion-euro bailouts with its European partners.
In comments to reporters after being sworn in, Mr. Samaras, emphasized the need for “patriotism, national unity and trust that with the help of God we can ensure that the Greek people emerge from the crisis as soon as possible” He said he would press the members of his new cabinet — expected to be named by late Wednesday — to work hard, with the aim of giving Greeks “tangible hope.”
And so the mainstreet man of the center right does look set to be leading a new government, but it isn’t over yet.
