Coalition leaders sought on Thursday to defuse tension that has built up between New Democracy and PASOK as a result of the assessment of public servants’ performance, with the Administrative Reform Ministry indicating that it is willing to make compromises over the evaluation scheme.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Deputy Premier Evangelos Venizelos met on Thursday to discuss the dispute between the two parties. Although there were no public statements directly after the meeting, both sides let it be known that the two leaders are determined to overcome this rift and to meet Greece’s commitments to the troika.

In a statement issued later to mark the 40th anniversary of the junta’s fall and democracy being restored to Greece, Samaras appeared upbeat. “I am optimistic about tomorrow,” he said. “This feeling is not based on guesswork.”

Venizelos also denied that PASOK was wavering over its commitment to Greece’s adjustment program. He said the Socialist party had shown over the past few years that it is prepared to take the decisions needed to help the country exit the crisis.

In a further bid to dispel doubt about the government’s future, Samaras also told New Democracy MPs in an off-the-record meeting that he believes Greece will not be forced to hold snap elections early next year. According to sources, the prime minister told the lawmakers he believes the government will get the 180 votes it needs in Parliament to elect a successor to President Karolos Papoulias when the head of state’s term expires in February.

The conciliatory mood within the government was also aided by Deputy Administrative Reform Minister Evi Christofilopoulou revealing that tweaks will be made to the evaluation process in the civil service. The point of friction between the two governing parties has been Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s insistence that 15 percent of employees in each department be deemed below standard, leading to them being placed in a labor pool.

Christofilopoulou indicated that the ministry is now willing to commit in writing that civil servants who fail the grade will not be fired, transferred or have their wages cut. Instead, the government will seek ways to increase their productivity, such as extra training. “The aim of the evaluation is only to improve the performance of civil servants,” she said.

 

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has told New Democracy MPs that he does not think Greece will go to snap elections early next year over the election of a new president.

Speaking off the record to New Democracy deputies at the Parliament’s cafe following the unveiling of an exhibition commemorating 40 years since the restoration of democracy in 1974, Samaras appeared confident that early elections would not be needed.

“It looks like we are not heading toward elections. It seems we have the 180 [the number of deputies that need to approve the election of the President],” Samaras told ND MPs, according to Kathimerini sources.

Earlier in the day Parliament Speaker Evangelos Meimarakis also noted that the current House was in a position to elect a new president but expressed his concern over the fact that discussion about the vote had been “premature” leading to an “extended pre-election period.”

Greece needs more funding from the European Union to deal with the increased flow of undocumented immigrants in the eastern Aegean, Public Order Minister Vassilis Kikilias said in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini.

According to the minister, there has been an 800 percent increase in the number of irregular migrants reaching Greece via boat from Turkey over the last two years.

He said that Greece was finding it increasingly difficult to deal with this influx and that it would require further funding from the EU, which has recently reduced the budget for its Frontex border agency.

Kikilias said Greece has asked for emergency funding to cover the cost of hosting migrants in reception centers and to create a mobile unit to process asylum applications.

“On the one hand it is our duty to protect our borders, on the other it is also our duty to provide humane holding conditions to migrants, who are, after all, human souls in absolute misery,” he said.

Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis has written to fellow cabinet members to remind them of their tasks as the government seeks to complete some 600 action in time for the troika’s return in September.

Representatives of Greece’s lenders are due back in Athens in mid-September to conduct the fifth review of the country’s adjustment program and the government wants to ensure that it is on target for that visit.

Government sources said that Hardouvelis would like to attend the October 13 Eurogroup in Brussels with at least an agreement in principle with the troika to pave the way for debt relief talks to begin.

Greece also has six “prior actions” to complete in August in order to receive another 1 billion euros in bailout funding.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday as part of an effort to convince key leaders ahead of the troika review in September that Greece should be allowed to reduce taxes and increase the payment period for businesses and individuals who owe money to the state.

The two politicians met on the sidelines of a European People’s Party gathering in Brussels and ahead of a European Council dinner. There were no statements after their talks but sources on the Greek side said that Samaras presented Merkel with Greece’s recent fiscal statistics and the figures concerning rising tourist arrivals. They also discussed Greece’s return to international bond markets and the growing investment interest from China.

Greek government sources insisted that there was no attempt by Samaras – nor will there be – to convince the country’s lenders to relax structural adjustment targets. Greece still has some 600 actions to carry out by the fall. Instead, Samaras wants to focus on the coalition’s desire to lower taxes and provide debtors with some breathing space. It is expected that after Wednesday’s talks with Merkel, he will promote this line in meetings with other eurozone leaders too.

The two leaders also discussed appointments to key European Union positions. Greece has yet to name its nominee for a position on the European Commission. Ex-Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and former Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis remain favorites for the post, although it is not yet known which portfolio will be awarded to Greece.

The discussions between the Greek government and Troika regarding the main open issues will take place in September.

The government seems to be satisfied from Troika’s “preview visit”, as the government characterized it, since it was short and they did not have time to deal with the issues in details creating, thus, a negative economic and political climate with their requirements.

Greek government insists that the plan made will be followed and the government staff members are working on tax relief measures and populist measures in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance.

Among the measures that the government considers are reducing the heating oil price, reducing emergency levy in 2015, reducing the cost of production for farmers, reducing VAT for selected sectors.

The government pledged to present equivalent measures to meet the financial burden that has come up due to the court decisions concerning the wages restoration of some employees groups. There are still some open issues, though, such as employment relations.

The government hopes that the package of measures that will be presented will reduce the political cost and control the internal political developments in autumn concerning also the presidential election and the early elections.

The Prime Minister, though, assured that his plan has not changed and that he will call for elections if the opposition cause early elections and in case the government’s term of office has come to an end.

Mr. Antonis Samaras will visit Brussels in order to meet the European leaders and discuss the state of economic affairs in Greece as well as to prepare the ground for the package of tax relief measures and the negotiation of debt relief.

Greece’s international creditors couldn’t help but be impressed by the primary surplus of the state budget worth 712 million euros that was recorded for the first six months of 2014. With the result exceeding the target by 251 million euros, it is possible that an agreement for tax cuts and a lightening of austerity measures may be reached in September.

A government source says that the government’s plan foresees:

* “Lump sum” tax reductions from October, such as in heating oil

* A first “packet” of reductions from January 1, 2015, that will incorporate the new state budget.

* The presentation or legislation of a binding time schedule for further tax reductions, possibly over a three-year period.

A source in the Ministry of Finance says that international creditors’ envoys appear interested in ending negotiations by September so that a discussion on the alleviation of Greece’s debt burden can follow.

The meeting between Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis and troika chiefs yesterday focused on Greece’s lagging efforts to privatize state assets with international creditors giving Greece the “yellow card” for these delays. They understand that the situation hasn’t helped attract investment capital but they believe that this could change in the fall as efforts are intensified.

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis gave a presentation of the consequences of privatizations on the reduction of debt (from revenue) and the increase of the GDP (from investments) over the coming months and years.

Following a first day of talks between Greece’s new finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis and troika envoys on Thursday, the foreign inspectors were to meet on Friday with several other ministers for briefings on the progress of a series of economic reforms pledged by Athens in return for continued rescue loans.

The first meeting of the day began at 10 a.m. and was at the office of Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis where issues of labor market and pension reform were expected to dominate the agenda. The envoys were scheduled to meet subsequently with Health Minister Makis Voridis and Development Minister Nikos Dendias for updates on their sectors.

Representatives of the European Commission and the European Central Bank were to be joined on Friday by the envoy from the International Monetary Fund, Poul Thomsen, who had been held up in Ukraine. The troika mission chiefs are scheduled to leave Athens next Thursday.

According to sources, troika officials expressed dissatisfaction during Thursday’s initial talks with Hardouvelis over repeated pledges by Greek government officials for tax breaks and the possible renegotiation of levies imposed as part of the country’s two loan programs such as the special solidarity tax.

On the other hand, the inspectors were said to be satisfied with overall progress in implementing a second set of six prior actions, particularly the approval of the partial sell-off of the Public Power Corporation in Parliament earlier this week. They were also impressed that Greece managed to sell three-year bonds on Thursday despite adverse market conditions, sources said.

Democratic Left (DIMAR), a former partner in the Greek government coalition that departed last year after a rift over the closure of state broadcaster ERT, lost a second MP in one day on Thursday after party chief Fotis Kouvelis ousted Grigoris Psarianos.

In a tersely worded letter addressed to the Parliamentary Speaker, Kouvelis said that the MP for Athens’s Second Constituency “has completely broken away from the coordinated functions and directions of DIMAR’s parliamentary group.”

Kouvelis ordered the deputy’s ouster after the latter failed to back the party’s proposal for a Parliamentary debate on a referendum regarding the part-privatization of Public Power Corporation (PPC).

“DIMAR has exhausted all limits for his remainder in the Parliamentary group, despite his blatant contempt for a long period of time toward collective decisions,” Kouvelis wrote.

Earlier on Thursday, the party’s MP for Thessaloniki’s Second Constituency, Katerina Markou, tendered her resignation in a letter accusing the party of being “old-fashioned, insular and plodding.”

Markou had also failed to back the party’s proposal over the PPC referendum.

The departure of the two MPs means DIMAR now has 11 deputies in the 300-seat House.

Both the deputies are rumored to be gravitating toward recently founded party To Potami (The River).

Democratic Left (DIMAR) leader Fotis Kouvelis wrote on Tuesday to several political leaders, including PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos and SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras, in a bid to create common ground between center-left parties.

Kouvelis, whose party is in a state of disarray after polling at just 1.2 percent in May’s European elections, sent two letters. One was destined for Tsipras, while the other was addressed jointly to Venizelos and four other politicians: To Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis, Education Minister Andreas Loverdos, who also heads Pact for a New Greece, former PASOK minister Louka Katseli and the leadership of the Ecologist Greens. Kouvelis also wrote to a number of independent lawmakers.

Kouvelis called for “alliances with deeply political content” that would help take Greece in a more progressive direction. “The country needs an alternative plan to exit the crisis that will secure its European course,” the DIMAR leader said in his notes.

He set out 12 policy points on which all the parties should agree. These include committing to a future in the euro area, restructuring Greek debt so it becomes sustainable, reforming the tax system, rolling out programs to tackle unemployment, restoring labor rights and decoupling public sector reform from across-the-board sackings.

Venizelos, who headed the three-party Olive Tree alliance in the European elections, is expected to give his response on Wednesday.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Monday sought to play down a recent row between Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Cypriot MEP Eleni Theocharous amid reports that he plans to visit Athens for talks with the Greek premier in late July.

The controversy was sparked by a document submitted by Turkey in June 23 – during Greece’s EU Presidency – that described the Republic of Cyprus as a “defunct” state. Theocharous, of the center-right DISY party, urged Venizelos to resign after failing to react to Ankara’s gesture, with the Greek minister slamming her reaction as “irresponsible petty politicking” and “personal demagoguery for the sake of short-lived publicity.”

“I would like to clarify once and for all that the incidents of the last few hours, which have created the false impression of a possible rift between the Greek and Cypriot governments, that our relations are beyond excellent and that our communication with both Prime Minister [Antonis] Samaras and Foreign Minister Venizelos is daily and in full cooperation,” Anastasiades said on Monday. The exact date of his visit was not made known.

Journalist Stavros Theodorakis was confirmed as leader of To Potami on Sunday as the centrist party concluded its founding congress in Lavrio, southeast of Athens.

Theodorakis, who ran unopposed, will not be called party president as To Potami has decided to avoid such titles. The journalist founded the party earlier this year, leading it to 6.6 percent of the vote in the European Parliament elections on May 25. A ballot was not held on Sunday as nobody chose to challenge him for the leadership.

“To Potami has a big pool of supporters to draw from,” Theodorakis told party delegates, claiming that opinion polls show that a much larger proportion of the Greek public than 6.6 percent sees the party in a positive light.

Of 486 delegates, 86 were elected to the party’s national committee. These include the two MEPs To Potami elected in May.

Taking stock of Greece’s six-month European Union presidency on the day before Italy takes over, Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Monday called it “successful,” noting it had paved the way for the country to finally emerge from a protracted financial crisis.

Venizelos, who is also deputy prime minister and leads junior partner PASOK in the coalition, noted that Athens had scored several significant achievements over the past six months, not least the reporting of a primary surplus which the country’s international creditors had set as a precondition for the launch of much-desired talks on debt relief. The achievement of the surplus was confirmed by the European Commission in April “with all that that signifies for the completion of fiscal adjustment and the process toward exiting the crisis,” Venizelos told a press conference. The country’s success in hosting an “organized, effective, professional and ultimately successful” presidency highlights “a different Greece, a Greece of normality, of stability,” he said.

Venizelos again ruled out the prospect of snap general elections, scheduled for 2016. He did not respond directly to reporters’ questions about a possible cooperation between PASOK and the main leftist opposition SYRIZA, which opposes the terms of the country’s international loan programs. He did observe, however, that Greece “has entered an era of parliamentary cooperations,” noting that PASOK had expressed its backing for such alliances as early as 2012.

As regards the cost of the Greek presidency, Venizelos said Athens kept expenses to a minimum. Of the 50-million-euro budget, 19 million was spent, meaning the remaining 31 million will be returned to the Finance Ministry.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who is on Tuesday to attend a ceremony in Luxembourg marking Greece’s completion of its EU presidency, made a similar speech later yesterday. “Greece proved everyone wrong by achieving fiscal streamlining and stabilizing the country’s position in the euro,” he said. Last week, the premier described the country’s approach to the EU presidency as “result-oriented,” noting that 67 pieces of legislation were drawn up. Samaras is to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome this month and it is thought the two men will discuss promoting issues of joint concern such as maritime and immigration policies.

Greece and Europe proved wrong all those who bet on their failure and dissolution, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said in his brief review of the Greek EU Presidency, during the closing ceremonies held at Zappio Hall on Monday night.

According to AMNA, Greece proved them all wrong, achieved a fiscal clean-up, stabilised the country΄s position, implemented reforms, accessed the markets again and is now exiting the long-term recession, he stressed.

In his review, the premier said that the presidency strengthened the Economic and Monetary Union integration and gave priority to the banking integration so the inherent weaknesses of the euro could be dealt with; economic stagnation was fought; and, most importantly, the Greek EU Presidency made growth and job opportunities the main political issue Europe is facing at present.

Greece, which only used 40% of the available funds for the Presidency, promoted the protection of European borders, he said, and the management of migration flows, with a humane approach. Guidelines for the legislative and business planning in justice and internal affairs were set – the Presidency΄s major achievement, he noted – while migration has now become an inseparable part of the EU΄s foreign policy.

Among other achievements, the premier mentioned actions in maritime policy, especially as Greece holds an important position in global shipping and also has the longest shoreline in the EU, which are also the EU΄s external sea borders.

Concerning an agreement among EU members to establish means of securing the external, maritime borders of the EU, which Greece worked on, Samaras said, “We will stand by the next, Italian Presidency, which will assume the drafting of an action plan, and this is something I will note in Strasbourg on Wednesday, at the closing ceremony there of the Greek EU Presidency.”

The prime minister concluded, “The Greek EU Presidency coincided with the European Parliament elections. European citizens did not vote against the European Union, but requested more and better Union. They turned down the Europe of statistics, impersonal bureaucratic automation and one-sided economics, demanding a Europe that is at the same time visionary and realistic.”