The show(down) must go on: Coalition row over closure of Greece's public broadcaster continues

Last week, we noted on this blog that the abrupt closure of Greece's public broadcaster ERT risked opening a rift in Greece's ruling coalition - as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras took the decision without the approval of his junior coalition partners, PASOK and Democratic Left.

Tensions have actually mounted within the coalition, and all eyes are now on a meeting later on today between Samaras, Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis (the leaders of PASOK and Democratic Left respectively). Here's a quick update of what happened over the weekend:

• After both PASOK and Democratic Left hinted at snap elections as a possible outcome of the on-going coalition row over ERT, Samaras came up with a compromise proposal: have a cross-party committee hire a small number of workers so that a basic broadcast service (mainly news bulletins) could resume as soon as possible;

• Samaras's coalition partners have both turned the offer down. They concede ERT needs restructuring, but want the state broadcaster to stay open while such a restructuring takes place;

• This makes today's meeting (scheduled for 5.30pm GMT) very interesting. Venizelos and Kouvelis are apparently not planning to make doorstep statements after the meeting with Samaras, but will wait to speak until they are back at their respective party headquarters - possibly another sign that tensions are running high;   

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday spoke to Samaras over the phone and reminded him that "it is of vital importance" for Greece to stick to all its commitments with the EU-IMF-ECB Troika, including "those relating to public sector reform." Just a coincidence? Or an invite to Samaras to stick to his guns on ERT closure? 

• Meanwhile, Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the largest opposition party, SYRIZA, is to deliver a speech in Syntagma Square this evening - right in front of the Greek parliament. No doubt he will use it to call for the government to resign.

• Finally, it's worth keeping in mind that ERT workers have appealed to the Council of State - Greece's highest administrative court. The Council of State should issue its verdict later on today, and many expect it to order that ERT be immediately re-opened. Paradoxically, the ruling could help put an end to the coalition row. However, it would almost inevitably also weaken Samaras's position - given that his initial decision to shut down ERT would be overturned.  

We will keep a close eye on any future developments, so make sure you follow us on Twitter @OpenEurope if you want to stay on top of the latest events in Greece.   

Will the closure of public broadcaster set the scene for a coalition showdown in Greece?

Imagine a Number 10 spokesperson announcing during the afternoon news bulletin that the BBC has become too expensive to run and will be shut down with immediate effect. You would be excused for thinking that the Government and the Corporation have joined efforts to take you for a ride.

Well, this is exactly what happened in Greece - and it wasn't a joke. Greek government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou went on TV yesterday afternoon to say that the country's public broadcaster ERT would go off the air a few hours later, because it had become a "refuge of poor transparency and waste."

As a result, ERT's almost 3,000 employees have been temporarily laid off. The Greek government says that a revamped and slimmed-down broadcaster (NERIT SA) will be up and running by the end of August. Protests were staged outside ERT's headquarters yesterday and are continuing today, while ERT journalists are still putting programmes on air via digital frequencies and the internet.

A couple of points are worth making at this stage:

• The decision to shut down ERT is clearly linked to Greece's commitment to firing 15,000 public sector workers by the end of next year under its EU-IMF bailout deal, although it's up to the Greek government to choose where to cut. Therefore, it's probably not entirely fair to blame the Troika for this (admittedly pretty extraordinary) decision;

• The fact that the Greek government prefers shutting down ERT altogether and then opening a brand-new company, instead of trimming the existing company down, could be seen as further evidence of how difficult it is to fire public sector workers in Greece - even in cases where inefficiency and waste are evident (at least according to what the Greek government spokesman said);

• On the domestic politics front, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has decided to go ahead with the closure of ERT despite open opposition from his coalition partners - PASOK and Democratic Left. The latter now want to submit a draft bill to scrap the decision, meaning that there is a risk of a coalition split - unless someone blinks.  

As the Troika has long suggested, it is clear that Greece's bloated public sector needs to be downsized significantly. That said, it is also clear that this situation has been poorly handled, particularly given the wider political and social tensions already at play in the country. The fallout of this story might be worrying - further splits in the governing coalition and wider public backlash against an austerity programme for which there is already very little buy-in.

We will keep monitoring the situation and give further updates on Twitter @OpenEurope.

And on the second day...

The second day of talks on the formation of the new Greek government has so far seen no major surprises. As we predicted in our response to the election results that we put out yesterday, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos' refusal to join a 'national unity government'. unless left-wing SYRIZA were on board, for most part turned out to be political posturing. Things now seem to be heading towards a three-party coalition with election winner New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left.

The latest developments:

• As widely expected, both SYRIZA and right-wing populist Independent Greeks have said "Thanks, but no thanks" to New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras' offer to take part in the new coalition;

• Samaras also met Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis yesterday. After the meeting, Venizelos insisted that the best solution would be to have a four-party coalition with SYRIZA in, although he stressed that "the country must have a government by tomorrow [i.e. today]";

• Kouvelis suggested that his party was willing to form part of the new government, although he added that he would sign "no blank cheques" to Samaras;

• Venizelos and Kouvelis (in the picture) met this morning. After the meeting, Kouvelis said an agreement is in sight and could be reached "within hours". A tripartite coalition with New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left would hold 179 of the 300 seats in the Greek Vouli - which the European Commission and other eurozone countries could see as sufficient to start talking of minor revisions of the Greek bailout programme; 

• Venizelos suggested that, in parallel to the new government, Greece should also set up a negotiating team to discuss the revision of the bailout terms in Brussels. This group, he said, should clearly include SYRIZA - now the second-largest party of the country. However, SYRIZA has dismissed Venizelos' plan as a "publicity stunt"; 

• Meanwhile, there seems to be a bit of confusion on what Greece could actually achieve from the re-negotiation of its bailout terms - which, according to us, will be a couple of minor adjustments but no changes to the thrust of the agreement. A senior European official is quoted as saying, "If we were not to change the [EU-IMF] Memorandum of Understanding we would be signing off on an illusion. There is scope for revision." He added that a new MoU would be signed "during the summer." However, the prompt reply from European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio is that "nobody is talking about a new MoU". 

• On a slightly separate note, Die Welt notes that PASOK - the party - is actually proportionally in more debt that Greece itself. It owes banks some €130 million - i.e. 18 times its annual income. Election winner New Democracy is also reported to be heavily indebted. This is partly due to the fact that Greek political parties get state funding based on their share of votes in the general elections, and support for PASOK has been shrinking since its last victory in 2009. 

Euro opinion polls point to more fudge

Some interesting opinion polls from the heart of the eurozone from the last couple of days:

In Greece, a series of polls shows momentum ahead of the country’s re-run election next month shifting slightly from the radical left anti-bailout and austerity SYRIZA party to the pro-bailout and austerity centre-right New Democracy party, though SYRIZA is still set for gains compared with its election result earlier this month. New Democracy, which won the elections with 18.9%, now leads with between 25.6% and 27.7%, a lead of between 0.5% and 5.7% over SYRIZA. That means that together with the establishment socialist PASOK party, which won 13.2% at the elections, a pro-bailout coalition could be formed with a majority of seats in the Greek parliament, something that evaded the parties last time.

The polls also showed support for staying the euro at 65% versus 25% against. While staying in has enjoyed a consistent majority, voters are potentially starting to re-align their party choice accordingly - realizing perhaps that ripping out the bailout package comes with massive risks - albeit this could change again before the elections and remember, SYRIZA remains the joker in the pack.

Meanwhile in Germany, public opinion seems to be shifting in the anti-euro direction, with an opinion poll published on Friday by German state TV ZDF finding that 79% of respondents rejected eurobonds as a solution to the crisis, which is a stark reminder for the rest of Europe how far away we actually are from eurobonds. Interestingly, though, support for euro membership itself was also waning, with 50% (up from 43% in February) saying they believed it carried more disadvantages than advantages for Germany, with 45% taking the opposite view (down from 51% in February).

These opinion polls - together with events of recent weeks - point towards one conclusion: we're looking at yet more fudge. As we've pointed out before, as sceptical as one might be about the future of the euro, there's still considerable scope for negotiations on all sides of the Greek crisis, and therefore, chances that the country can find a settlement and agreement with its creditors after the elections that allows it to stay in the euro remain strong. It would be different if the public were to turn against the euro itself, which it isn't at this time.

The stakes are simply far too high for another round of Russian roulette.

Anti-austerity inside the eurozone: Greek voters stick to their potentially false choice

The key trend in Greek opinion polls holds steady: voters back anti-austerity parties in great numbers but  remain committed to staying in the euro in equally great numbers. The latest Public Issue poll released yesterday put the radical left Syriza as the largest party with 30% of the vote, New Democracy on 26% and Pasok on 15%. The figures suggest a surge in support for Syriza but also a move back towards the larger parties, with smaller parties falling in the polls.

Interestingly, a poll from Ipsos suggests that 70% of Greeks would vote to keep the euro if a referendum on the issue were held today, this compares to 50% of Italians, 62% of French, 51% of Germans and 55% of Spaniards. Interestingly, 38% of Italians would vote to leave the euro if a referendum was held today - that's quite high given the country's traditional support for the single currency.

On a less surprising note, from today's Die Welt we learn that fears over Greece leaving the euro has triggered yet more Greek tax evasion. Greek tax revenues between January and April were €500m lower than anticipated in the 2012 budget, while April’s takings fell by 13% on the previous year.

That is not a good sign.

No Good News From Greece

Today's negotiations in Greece on the creation of a government of technocrats have broken down. Talks will resume tomorrow morning, but only in order to appoint a caretaker cabinet which will remain in office until new elections take place - in all likelihood as early as mid-June.

Although widely expected, the outcome of today's meeting is going to create further political and economic uncertainty over the future of Greece in the eurozone. So what could happen now?

First off, it's by no means certain that a stable government will come out of the next elections. The latest polls indicate that left-wing SYRIZA could be the biggest party, but it would still have to form a coalition government. However, following the latest tough round of talks, the outspoken leader of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras (in the picture with Greek President Karolos Papoulias) doesn't seem to have many friends - the Communist Party has ruled out a left-wing coalition since the very beginning of the electoral campaign, and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis said yesterday that he would no longer cooperate with Tsipras, even after new elections. On the other hand, Tsipras has repeatedly said that he doesn't want to become a 'complicit' of New Democracy and PASOK - the only two Greek parties that insist on the need for Greece to stick to the EU-IMF bailout programmes.

Needless to say, this would complicate Greece's position vis-à-vis its eurozone partners. As Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Brussels yesterday, there could be some room for Greece to negotiate a relaxation of its deficit targets if a serious new government can be formed. As we pointed out here, Greece may well be heading towards a series of inconclusive elections. This would make it very difficult indeed for Germany and the others to justify the disbursement of future tranches of bailout money.

Greece's euro exit is becoming increasingly likely - not just because it's being talked about by a growing number of top European politicians - although we still think that Greece's anti-bailout parties may ultimately soften their stance, potentially paving the way for a compromise. What's most interesting is the fact that figures are being put on the impact of a Greek euro exit (and consequent default). A couple of hours ahead of Francois Hollande's inauguration ceremony, outgoing French Economy Minister Francois Baroin told Europe 1 that Greece's euro exit and default "would have a net cost of €50bn" for France, "plus the debt held by banks and insurance firms in their portfolios." Le Figaro did its own estimates, and put the cost at up to €58.5bn - that is, €895 per Frenchman.

Quite a busy eurozone day. As usual, you can follow our live updates on Twitter @OpenEurope, and continue to check out our blog for updated analysis. 

The buck passing continues in Greece

The political situation in Greece following Sunday's elections is getting even messier. Following the failure of conservative New Democracy to even begin a serious discussion about forming a government (negotiations lasted all of six hours), the Radical Left (SYRIZA) yesterday also threw in the towel. The "dream" of a leftist Coalition government had failed, said SYRIZA's leader Alexis Tsipras, but added that his party had nonetheless forced Europe to reconsider the Greek bailout package (perhaps a bit premature). 

The buck has now been passed to socialist PASOK, the former governing party which slumped to third in the elections. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday that he will ask Greek President Karolos Papoulias - who by now must be a seriously nervous man - to give him the go-ahead to start discussions with other parties in a last-ditch effort to try to form a government. If that fails, we're definitely looking at fresh elections, probably in June. The prospects for PASOK succeeding are slim - to say the least.

So what's going to happen? Frankly, heaven knows. As we have noted before, even fresh elections may not generate a stable government, though there's a chance that those people who voted on smaller parties that didn't get over the 3% threshold to enter the Greek parliament, may shift their votes to bigger parties. SYRIZA clearly remains the X-factor, and could potentially pick up more votes. The party has outlined a five point plan - including completely ripping up the bailout agreement - that is simply fundamentally incompatible with the position of the Germans and the IMF. The politics are immensely complicated, but if SYRIZA's support is required for forming a government, then we're basically looking at three potential outcomes:

1) SYRIZA and Germany/IMF stick to their guns, the bailout cash is frozen, Greece defaults and almost certainly leaves the euro
2) SYRIZA caves and Greece is given the next tranche of bailout cash and the charade continues for a bit longer
3) Germany/IMF cave, the bailout terms are revised and Greece is given the cash

Perhaps a path between the second and third options would be possible too - and given the stakes, not unlikely. In any case, it ain't lookin' good.

Greek elections unlikely to yield any answers

The Greek elections are almost upon us. Much of the attention (including ours) has been focused on the French election, possibly rightly given the potential impact on the Franco-German axis and the austerity approach to the eurozone crisis. The lack of attention may be down to Greece-fatigue following the intense start to the year with the Greek restructuring, or the fact that with a bailout and strict programme in place the room for flexibility with the new government is severely limited. That said, the Greek elections have the potential to be almost as important.

Despite the well documented rise of fringe parties and the strong talk from New Democracy (ND), a coalition between Pasok and ND looks to be the most likely outcome. Combined the parties may gain around 35% - 40% of the vote. The largest party (likely to be ND) gets an extra 50 seats under Greek electoral rules, meaning that the coalition would be the largest combined group in the Parliament and may just scrape a majority. This position will be aided by the fact that all the other parties are fairly disparate and unlikely to form any cohesive opposition.

However, even if this coalition is formed there numerous ways in which it could play out:

1)      Stable coalition – ND and Pasok manage to gain and hold a majority in the Parliament. They set about attempting to implement the EU/IMF bailout package. May be some talk of renegotiating elements of the package, particularly to boost growth. If anyone is to have success on this front it would be this coalition as it has at least some experience and knowledge of negotiating with EU/IMF.

Impact on the eurozone: This added stability would likely be positive for markets and the eurozone in the short term. Ultimately, it will not make much difference since Greek debt still looks unsustainable and implementing the necessary reforms will be a massive challenge on the ground even if they are pushed through parliament. There is less chance of external financing being cut off anytime soon, since the government will at least try to adhere to the programme.

2)      Coalition breaks up, new elections where ND wins a majority – The coalition fails to gain a full majority in Parliament (possibly due to Pasok defections after the deal is struck) or fails after a very short time due to lack of cohesion between parties (especially if ND leader Antonis Samaras feels he could gain a full majority in new elections). Elections delay implementation of EU/IMF package but once ND government comes into power the implementation continues, although calls for growth policies will grow louder.

Impact on the eurozone: Ultimately, depends on how long the coalition lasts and the policies which ND uses in the new election to gain a majority (potentially shift further right if there is growing disillusionment with the EU/IMF austerity).  ND unlikely to push for euro exit or full renegotiation of EU/IMF package so that adds certainty, but the inherent problems with the package (mentioned above and covered in detail here) still hold true. The turnover between elections could be important. Any delay in implementing the package will not go down well with the EU or IMF and could reduce its effectiveness even further.

3)      Coalition breaks up, new elections fail to deliver suitable replacement leading to an election cycle – Coalition breaks down as mentioned above, but this time the new elections fail to deliver a clear winner, possibly with an even greater move towards the far left and far right parties. This would likely trigger a series of unstable coalitions and probably more elections. Once this cycle has begun it will be hard to break, particularly with Greece’s economic situation seemingly only getting worse.  

Impact on the eurozone: This would be the worst of all outcomes. The EU/IMF package would fall by the wayside due to lack of willingness or a government to implement it. If a cycle of elections does take hold it could feed anti-euro sentiment, although anger has, for now, been largely directed at the austerity bailout rather than euro membership more generally. This would eventually result in funding being cut off and Greece probably having to exit the eurozone. This is unless such a threat galvanises the population to vote a single party supporting the euro into power.

Overall, a ND-Pasok coalition looks likely but it will probably be far from stable. It is definitely hard to see it serving a full term. The most likely outcomes (1 and 2 above) may deliver some short term certainty but problems loom large for Greece over the medium to long term. The EU/IMF package still looks unachievable for Greece and will not solve its debt sustainability problems, while there is surely a tipping point where the Greek population withdraws its support for the euro more. At the moment this is still some way off. These elections will certainly not deliver a definitive answer to long term issues in Greece and there is still a chance that an uncertain outcome could worsen Greece’s situation.