Παρασκευή 29 Μαρτίου 2024
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The drums beat for Kammenos

The drums beat for Kammenos

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday night returned from Brussels to Athens, where a hellish weekend awaited him.  On Monday in parliament he will face a major battle which he himself provoked, so as to provide cover for his coalition partner, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos. But the drums have already begun to beat in Syriza.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday night returned from Brussels to Athens, where a hellish weekend awaited him. On Monday in parliament he will face a major battle which he himself provoked, so as to provide cover for his coalition partner, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos. But the drums have already begun to beat in Syriza.

The public statement of MP and former minister Nikos Filis that the munitions deal with Saudi Arabia should be cancelled, is drawing more and more support, though Filis appears to have spoken of his volition.

Filis’ reaction drew others to agree with him. Top Syriza cadre Yorgos Kyritsis said ‘I agree’, expressing the so-called Group of 53, a sort of mild internal opposition of which he is a member.

Interior Minister Panos Skourletis advised ‘caution’ in cases such as the Saudi deal. Skourletis is becoming a heretical voice in the cabinet, drawing ever closer to the positions of the 53 and of Nikos Filis.

Nikos Xydakis, who as Syriza parliamentary representative will represent the party in Monday’s debate after party leaders speak, also favours cancellation of the arms deal.

Sources tell Ta Nea that the same view prevails in parliament’s armaments committee, on which Syriza is represented by Filis, Kyritsis, and others in the Group of 53, such as Theodoros Dritsas, Christos Karagiannidis, and Yorgos Varemenos, a vice-speaker of parliament.

In fact, the deal to sell munitions to Saudi Arabia is just the pretext for the reactions. The real cause is Panos Kammenos and the forced co-habitation with his Independent Greeks party in the ruling coalition. The concerns that existed from the start at Syriza’s headquarters are coming to the surface, as the defense minister’s coarse actions and dark role become increasingly apparent.

A number of Syriza MPs cannot accept the idea that Alexis Tsipras and his government have become hostage to the defense minister, and that he has not offered adequate explanations not only in the munitions deal, but also in the affair of the Noor 1 ship and the casino in London.

On the contrary, Kammenos is finding refuge by hiding behind the prime minister, who at the end of the day bears the political cost.

Both in the Syriza party and in Mr.Tsipras’ office, there is a prevalent belief since last summer that the path to exiting the bailout memorandums that the prime minister envisions requires the adoption of social welfare policies. These days, the government’s narrative regarding the social dividend hand-outs, which the government intensely advertised in order to defend the excess primary surplus, has been torn to shreds by the Kammenos affair, which soured the political climate and threatens to kill Syriza’s efforts for a comeback in opinion polls.

Syriza’s steadfast voters from the start had reservations about Tsipras’ tight embrace of Kammenos, and about the cooperation with a party with extreme, conservative positions.

Nobody has forgotten Kammenos’ statement that if the EU corners Greece, we will open the borders and flood them with jihadists, which now appears farcical and tragic, because of the checks imposed on Greeks at German airports, despite the fact that both countries are in the Schengen Area.

Trapped

The number of MPs with objections to the Syriza-ANEL coalition is growing, even as the PM’s office realises –though it cannot say so publicly – that the revelations about Kammenos are rocking the ruling coalition to its foundations.

This somewhat explains the ambiguous decision of the foreign ministry and parliament to categorise as classified the documents relating to the case, so as to create a veil of silence and avert a damaging outcome.

The crucial question is whether these MPs can react, and if they do, what can Alexis Tsipras do? His effort to build bridges with the centre-left after the election of Fofi Gennimatas as leader failed.

Hence, the PM at the moment appears trapped in the coalition with ANEL, which is why he is defending until the end his defense minister, in order for the government to survive and remain in power.

The prime minister’s office knows that a revolt of MPs over the Kammenos affair is difficult, and unlikely to lead to a toppling of the government. No one in Syriza is prepared to overthrow the government, not least because in the event of elections half of them will not be re-elected, based on current polling data.

Hence, Monday’s parliamentary debate is considered crucial. Can Panos Kammenos persuade with his statements? Will this be enough to calm Syriza MPs? Up to what point will the PM, already on a tightrope, offer cover so as to protect governmental cohesion and not cut his minister loose, and on the other hand keep the necessary distance so as not to identify completely with Kammenos?

Diversionary tactics

The prime minister’s office is preparing its customary diversionary tactics. In parliament and media n,ewsrooms there are rumours of untrammeled scandal-mongering in the hours until the debate on Monday, aimed at New Democracy and Pasok, including ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Tsipras is preparing again to blast the old, corrupt political system, in contradistinction to the moral high ground of the Left.

Government sources are implying that Tsipras may present documents relating to previous arms deals, mainly pertaining to the era of Pasok PM Costas Simitis. The Achilles’ heel of this strategy is that the moral high ground theoretically belongs only to the Left, and does not appear to cover Panos Kammenos.

Next week, the government will again meet with creditors for the third bailout programme evaluation, as the 4 December Eurogroup must seal the deal at a technical level, in order to meet the timetables. Preconditions such as auctions of seized properties are creating a backlash inside Syriza, and the budget vote that follows stirs problems –even though it is considered a vote of confidence that MPs will not vote down – because of the tax burdens and the ambitious targets that will be paid for by taxpayers in blood.

It was Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos himself who lyrically admitted that the budget is not just, whereas colleagues of his such as Social Welfare Minister Theano Fotiou are duping the middle class, the bulk of voters that brought syriza to power, which is threatened with obliteration under the government’s tax onslaught.

Aimilios Perdikaris

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Παρασκευή 29 Μαρτίου 2024