Financial Times
May 18, 2012
For most of last month’s election campaign, Antonis Samaras stumped in the mistaken belief he would be Greece’s next prime minister. This time around, Mr Samaras, head of the centre-right New Democracy party that polled a stunningly meagre 18.9 per cent in the May 6 vote, is leaving nothing to chance.
Syriza, the coalition of leftist anti-bailout insurgents that caught Mr Samaras and the other mainstream parties by surprise, is not only a political rival, he argues. It is a harbinger of a “nightmare” – forcing Greece out of the euro and destroying of its economy.
“The battle that is beginning, the elections, isn’t about any one party,” Mr Samaras told his parliamentary colleagues this week. “It is about whether Greece will remain in Europe ... or whether Greece will be forced to leave Europe, losing much and risking much more.”
Mr Samaras is not alone. From Brussels to Berlin to Athens, a chorus of voices from Europe’s political establishment has formed to warn Greek voters that their next election on June 17 is nothing less than a referendum on the country’s membership in the euro, a club that remains popular among almost all segments of the Greek electorate.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment