Papandreou Appeals to Greek Patriotism

Bloomberg
June 27, 2011

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called on lawmakers to obey their “patriotic conscience” and back tougher austerity measures, as they began to debate a five-year budget plan that will determine whether the cash-strapped nation can avoid default.

“Voting for the medium-term plan means we can close this chapter of uncertainty for the Greek people,” Papandreou said at the start of a three-day debate on the program in Parliament in Athens today.

Papandreou will face his second survival test in a week on June 29 when lawmakers vote on the package of budget cuts and asset sales that’s needed before Greece can tap a fifth loan payment from last year’s 110 billion-euro ($157 billion) rescue. Failure to pass Papandreou’s 78 billion-euro plan may lead to the euro area’s first sovereign default.

“I am fully aware of the reality, fully aware of the risks for the average Greek and their quality of life and for the country as a whole,” Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in Parliament in the same debate. “We have to stabilize the situation so that we can immediately in a short time improve the situation. But we must first survive on a fiscal basis to be able to improve this situation.”

With 155 votes in the 300-seat legislature, Papandreou needs to unite his lawmakers in two votes this week on wage cuts and asset sales. Two ruling-party lawmakers have said they may vote against the legislation, in part due to their opposition to plans to sell a stake in Public Power Corp SA (PPC), the former electricity monopoly. Workers at Public Power have held rolling 48-hour strikes for the past week, leading to power cuts around the country.

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