Greek socialists in bid to patch up coalition government

Greece’s socialists took their turn at forging a coalition government yesterday after two other parties failed and the prospect of a new election grew.

Evangelos Venizelos, whose once-dominant Socialist party finished third in last Sunday’s elections, pledged to do his best to talk rival leaders into a pro-European government that will keep bailout-dependent Greece in the euro.

“Things are not easy,” he said after receiving the mandate from president Karolos Papoulias. “I am not declaring myself optimistic. But I am declaring myself responsible, and dedicated to this aim that I believe serves the national interest.”

He is the third party leader to try, after Antonis Samaras, whose conservative New Democracy won the most votes, and runner-up Alexis Tsipras, who heads the Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza.

Mr Venizelos has three days to strike a deal to gain a majority of 18-51 seats.

If his efforts fail, Mr Papoulias will convene all the party leaders in a last-ditch attempt to cobble together a coalition. If that is also unsuccessful, new elections will be called for early June.

The major stumbling block has been Mr Tsipras’ insistence that the austerity programme be cancelled or frozen. Both Mr Samaras and Mr Venizelos argue such a move would force Greece out of the euro and into chaos.

In a letter to European leaders yesterday, Mr Tsipras said the election result left Greece’s bailout commitments devoid of “political legitimacy,” but stopped short of demanding that the programme should be scrapped and debt repayments halted.

Mr Tsipras said the cutbacks have failed to address the country’s problems, are “destroying” the recession-bound economy and threatening to create a Greek “humanitarian crisis”.