By John Ward
A small clue as to why the main Greek Parties are struggling for support…and why Brussels has a BIG problem
I have from friends in Athens the latest percentage support figures for the Greek political Parties from a poll by Public Issue. These suggest that New Democracy is on 19% – a drop of 3.5% compared to the end of March; while PASOK fell 1% to 14.5 %. The poll was conducted between April 3-9th. Based on those numbers, even combined, the two big Party machines won’t win an absolute majority of seats in the Athens parliament.
As many as nine parties, ranging from the Communist Party (KKE) to the neofascist Golden Dawn, would cross the 3% threshold necessary to enter Parliament if reflected in the actual votes cast on May 6th. Or in short, the new Greek Assembly is going to be something of a dog’s dinner…with a majority against the bailout.
Now here’s some closely related news. The shareholders of the Bank of Greece are going to get a nice windfall – of 100m euros as a result of the BoG’s 2011 profits. The Bank is dependent on public support throughout the eurozone, and the Greek population has suffered traumatic cuts in wages and benefits. But a smallish number of very rich people are going to get a nice little lump sum each.
As posted earlier, mega-briber Siemens has just been appointed to a large Athenian contract under very dubious circumstances. In the last few weeks, The Slog has reported upon the arrest of a senior pol on bribery charges, Greek bombs aimed at Troika offices, Papademos lies and Greek suicides, how the Troika bailout deal is accelerating Greek insolvency, major Greek Parties trying to undermine the Brussels agreement for their own gain, the Greek Government stealing public bank accounts to pay off bondholders, unauthorised euro printingby the Bank of Greece, and how the Troika bailout in the end used ECB silly-paper that is equal in worth to one year Greek bonds themselves.
So in the context of all this, why should anyone – except a wombat like Herman van Rompuy – be surprised that support for pro-EU-bailout Parties in Greece is flatlining?
