No Deal: SYRIZA and Greece's Democratic Left Party Refuse to Join Bailout Alliance; Icing on the Cake: PASOK Will Not Join a Slim Majority; Solidarity is One-Way Street

Odds of a lasting coalition are slim given the massive vote against the austerity coalition. Fotis Kouvelis, SYRIZA party leader and second place finisher in the elections repeated his position that cooperation with New Democracy and PASOK was not in his intentions.

Moreover, Greece's Democratic Left party refuses to join any pro-bailout coalition.

The moderate leftist party, which picked up 6.1 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, had been seen as the two traditional ruling parties' best hope for a coalition partner among the five anti-bailout parties that entered parliament.

"We rule out participating in a PASOK-New Democracy government," Kouvelis told Reuters after a party meeting to decide the group's strategy.

"We would participate in a coalition government with other progressive forces," he said, referring to other leftist parties which together do not have enough parliamentary seats to obtain a majority.

PASOK and New Democracy suffered a thrashing at the hands of voters on Sunday and have a combined 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, their share of the vote having been halved compared with the last election in 2009.

The Democratic Left hold 19 seats.
Icing on the No Deal Cake

The icing on the No-Deal Cake cake is PASOK party leader Evangelos
Venizelos has also said he does not want to join a government that would
have only a narrow majority.

The Financial Times discusses the splintered Greek in Merkel urges Athens to stick to reforms
Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, warned Athens to stick to the reform plans and budget targets agreed under its international bailout plan as financial markets and EU policy makers grappled with the prospect of further instability in Greece and a new socialist president in France.

Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece’s centre-right New Democracy party, set about trying to form a national unity government with two priorities: making sure Greece stays in the euro, while tweaking the bailout deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund to promote a faster return to growth.

The European Commission, one of the so-called “troika” of authorities managing Greece’s bailout, made clear it was not willing to reopen the €174bn programme and called on any new Greek government to meet the commitments already made to international lenders.

Mr Samaras has three days to try to form a government with the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) of Evangelos Venizelos, and possibly persuade some of his former lawmakers who set up Independent Greeks, a rightwing splinter group, to come back on board.

But his chances of pulling off a deal are slim. Mr Venizelos has said he does not want to join a government that would have only a narrow majority. And Panos Kammenos, the Independent Greeks’ leader, is opposed to the EU-IMF reform programme that the new government would have to pursue.

If Mr Samaras fails, it will be the turn of Alexis Tsipras, the firebrand leftist who leads Syriza. The party shocked Greece’s political class by beating Pasok into third place in Sunday’s election.

Solidarity is One-Way Street

Check out the arrogance of EU SpokesClown Amadeu Altafaj-Tardio who said "We think Greece must remain a member of the euro ... but everybody must carry their responsibility here. Solidarity is a two-way street."

That is one hell of a statement given the Troika installed puppet government just went up in flames, and give the fact this is not in Greece's best interest at all, but rather in the interest of French and German banks.

In case you missed it, please note the arrogance of  TroikaClown Evangelos Venizelos who said “We Embittered the People to Protect the Future of the Nation".

One thing is clear: The Best thing For Greece is Tell the Troika "Go to Hell", and the election proves most Greek voters know it, even though they have been brainwashed into wanting to stay in the euro.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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