Greece may be forced to call new elections.
President Karolos Papoulias attempts to form a new coalition government; people, in the streets, reject the IMF's austerity formula.
Brazil Agency – Greek President Karolos Papoulias will begin a final effort this weekend to try and form a coalition government. If this fails, Greece will have no alternative but to call new elections.
The country held elections last Sunday (6), but none of the parties managed to secure a majority in Parliament to form a government. Yesterday (11), the leader of the socialist party Pasok, Evangelos Venizelos, became the third politician to fail in his attempt to form a coalition government.
Today (12), Venizelos met with Papoulias and returned to the president the mandate to form a government.
"I hope that, in the negotiations with Papoulias, everyone will be more mature and responsible in their way of thinking," said Venizelos. Pasok managed to secure the support of the center-right New Democracy group, led by Antonis Samaras, but failed to reach an agreement with a third political group – which would have given it a majority in Parliament.
Besides Pasok, the New Democracy party itself and the leftist Syriza were invited by the president to try to form a coalition government, but all failed in the task in just one week.
The left-wing Syriza party rejects the aid package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which demands harsh austerity measures in exchange for a loan of 130 billion euros (approximately R$ 330 billion).
Yesterday, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said his party cannot support any coalition that attempts to uphold this agreement.
"The rejection of this plan does not come from Syriza, but was given to us by the Greek people on election night. The austerity exit has already been rejected by the Greek people in their vote, and no government can force that," he said.
Analysts say Syriza hopes to come in first place if new elections are called. The party is reportedly leading in an opinion poll, which indicates that no party is likely to win a majority in the event of a new vote.
Germany has called on Greece to remain in the eurozone and maintain the austerity package.
"For Greece, the consequences [of abandoning the plan and the euro] would be far more serious than for the rest of the eurozone," said Jens Weidmann, director of the German Central Bank, in an interview with the German newspaper. Sueddeutsche Zeitung.