Brussels, 15/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - The outcome of the Greek presidential elections will in no way change the European Commission's objective, which is to work to keep Greece anchored in the eurozone.
“Whatever happens, the only viable scenario is to keep Greece firmly in the eurozone”, said Mina Andreeva, a spokesperson to the European institution, on 15 December.
The Greek government has decided to bring forward the presidential elections by two months, putting the former European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, forward as its candidate for the Presidency. The first round of the elections will be held on Wednesday 17 December at the national parliament. If the government fails to bring together the majority required (180 MPs, with the coalition holding 155 seats at the Parliament), early general elections will have to be held. Opinion polls put the main opposition party, Syriza, which is hostile to the 'troika' (European Commission, ECB and IMF), ahead of the party of Antonis Samaras.
Last week, the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that he would not like to see “extremist political forces” coming to power (EUROPE 11217). Earlier that week, the Commission had welcomed the choice of candidate (EUROPE 11215). This was described by Pierre Laurent, president of the European Left, as “pressure from the European Commission on the electoral process of a sovereign country”. The Syriza described it as interference.
On a visit to Athens on Monday and Tuesday, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, told the daily newspaper Kathimerini that he would not be meeting Syriza's leader, Alexis Tsipras. “Not this time. But in the future, I will have the opportunity to do so and it will be interesting”, he said. (EL)