Samaras rejects coalition option

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras moved quickly on Monday to douse speculation that a national unity government might be formed soon, arguing that the conservatives had no appetite for being part of an administration that is applying the wrong policies.

Samaras used the address to his party?s executive committee, which was broadcast live by some TV and radio stations, as an opportunity to quash rumors about a possible new bid by Prime Minister George Papandreou to form a coalition with ND and possibly other parties.

?Over the last few months there have been rumors about a coalition government. We are not interested,? said Samaras. ?Should we be part of a mistake? Should we implement with others policies that we told them from the start were wrong and have been proved to be so? Should we be part of making the middle class disappear? Should we be part of policies that, instead of reducing the deficit, increase unemployment and multiply the numbers of closing businesses??

A Public Issue opinion poll for Kathimerini published last week indicated that ND had a clear lead over PASOK but was still some 5 percent short of gaining a parliamentary majority. Samaras, however, insisted that his party could win the next general elections outright and said that the government?s only option is to call a snap poll.

?The only thing they can do to save the country is to leave,? he said. ?They may not want elections but what they want is irrelevant; what the people want counts.?

Samaras suggested that any attempt to create a government, possibly including technocrats as well as representatives of several parties, without holding elections would be rejected by the majority of Greeks and would not have political legitimacy.

The ND leader stuck to his pledge to renegotiate the terms of Greece?s emergency loan agreement with the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund and said he planned to ensure the country would exit the crisis by 2021, the 200th anniversary of the start of the war of independence against Ottoman rule.