New Democracy to table no confidence motion today

Main opposition New Democracy will table a no confidence motion against the government, immediately after today’s vote on an omnibus bill including Greece’s last formal bailout commitments.

It is most likely that New Democracy MP Makis Voridis will introduce the motion.

By all accounts, ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is preparing a full frontal attack against the government, arguing that it supports a FYROM solution, but not just any solution. The party is particularly opposed to the agreement’s recognition of a Macedonian ethnicity and language.

ND claims that the accord has at least 10 problematical points. The party apparently aims to polarise the climate ahead of the 16 June Athens protest against the agreement.

Another ND objective is to reveal the role of Independent Greek leader and Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, charging that he supports SYRIZA on the accord, even though as party leader he has rejected it.

“He cannot support the government in the no confidence vote [linked to the FYROM agreement] and then not vote for the accord itself,” an ND source said, asserting that Kammenos is a political opportunist.

If all goes as planned, the debate on the no confidence motion (which must take three days under parliamentary rules) will begin today and come to a vote on the night of 16 June.

The signing of the FYROM accord by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and FYROM Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, in the presence of their prime ministers and top EU officials, will likely take place in Prespes on 17 June.