–Vote Expected To Start At 22h00 GMT/18h00 EDT
ATHENS (MNI) – The Greek Parliament has opened debate on a key
confidence vote that will determine whether the government of Prime
Minister George Papandreou can stay in power.
The members of the main opposition party New Democracy are
boycotting the debate but they will appear in the chamber later tonight
to cast their votes against the Papandreou government. It is unclear
whether New Democracy leader Antonis Samara will address the Parliament
in the leadup to the vote. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos will
speak, as will Papandreou.
Papandreou is scheduled to speak last, at around 21h30 GMT/1630
EDT, but there is a chance he could decide to speak earlier in an effort
to dampen dissention within his own Socialist party.
The vote is scheduled to begin at 22h00 GMT/18h00 EDT.
Samaras today renewed his call for Papandreou’s resignation.
Papandreou has given no indication so far what his response will be.
Several ministers in his cabinet have said explicitly that they
want a coalition government and have indicated that they will vote in
favor of Papandreou only if the prime minister promises to begin
coalition negotiations Saturday morning.
Venizelos, a long-time intra-party rival of Papandreou, has been
taking the initiative, calling his EU counterparts on the telephone and
pushing for speedier disbursement of an E8 billion loan tranche from the
EU and IMF. However, Eurogroup officials have said the tranche will not
be discussed at their meeting on Monday, suggesting that they are
adopting a wait and see stance. The IMF, whose share of the tranche is
E2.2 billion, is taking a similar stance.
–Angelika Papamiltiadou, a_papamiltiadou@hotmail.com
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