First Parliament Summer Session Debates PPC Issue

This extraordinary meeting was proposed by the government majority, and vehemently opposed by the opposition parties.

The main opposition Radical Left Coalition SYRIZA party, as well as Independent Greeks (ANEL), the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Democratic Left (DIMAR) are expected to individually decide on their next moves within the coming hours and determine whether they will participate in Friday's extraordinary Parliament session. They accuse the government of "unparliamentary" approaches and practices.

"The government block fended off the fact that there were over 120 [MPs'] signatures, as well as similarity in the opposition's ["small PPC" referenda] proposals, something contrary to common sense as far as I am concerned", commented the secretary of the DIMAR parliamentary group Nikos Anagnostakis following the conclusion of the Conference of Presidents.

According to the Parliament's rules, a referendum must be voted on by the plenary, or full, session of Parliament. The "small PPC" is a spinoff of the Public Power Corporation whose breakoff and subsequent privatisation was approved through a bill passed in Parliament by government majority.