An economic crash for party finances too, which attempt to counter the
crisis with expense cuts, non-renewals of contracts and smart ideas. PASOK is breaking the limited-time contracts and does not have money even for cleaners, ND has issued coupons trying to tidy things up, KKE is preparing a campaign and LAOS is receiving a grant from the Ion Dragoumis foundation to cover everyday needs.
They suffer from the crash
Who said that even those who are actually responsible for today’s crisis do not suffer from the crash? Reliable sources talk about the dramatic situation of the parties in Ippokratous and Syngrou, so very few members want early elections. The balance sheets as to the sizes of the major parties, which will be presented within the next two weeks, will be indicative of the distress and impasse in which the political system has reached. This is because loans are choking PASOK and ND.
Loans of many million euros
There are loans which exceed 150mil for the governing party and 130mil for ND (112 and 110mil owed to banks respectively). Major issues arise as the main bulk is from Agrotiki, which has been targeted by the Troika for a sale, so the parties' economic teams are on alert.
Cuts and decreases in PASOK
Indicative of the situation is the stance of PASOK’s secretary, Mihalis Kahrimakis, which asks for a further decrease the Ippokratous personnel by not renewing limited-time party contracts. Meanwhile, cuts have been decided in a series of administrative costs (cleaning, mobile phones, advertising costs, etc.). So far the party General Manager, Rovertos Spiropoulos has been forced to lay off about 100 employees, and more will follow. This move, of course, has caused some damage to the party as the professional staff has always formed its backbone.
ND, the lost members and the fight for coupons
At the same time the rationalization of expenditure continues in ΝD, with the General Director of the party, Thanassis Skordas, puzzling about how money will flow into the party funds and how to preserve as many jobs as possible. They, too, have had staff cuts, even though his primary concern was to re-activate lapsed members. Banking sources say that ND has recently received a loan to pay salaries and fees, but the aim of the party management team is to initiate another type of action to fill the holes. For example they have already given out coupons worth 10 thousand euro per MP, in order to collect a significant amount. The mobilisation evidenced thus far, however, leaves no room for complacency. For this reason, there are thoughts of turning to, and activating the party forces of Greeks abroad. In any case, the difficult economics of the party, and the fact that the move to Syngrou (while the rent in Rigillis still has to be paid, too) cost a lot of money, are the factors that concern Antonis Samaras a great deal.
KKE is holding on, SYRIZA has open wounds
KKE, as the third biggest parliamentary force, has already started a campaign, but in no way has it pinned its hopes on loans (although it owes about 5 million to the National Bank), but to its consistently good financial situation. This is not the case for SYRIZA, where successive divisions at both the Innovators and Alekos Alavanos’ levels, have left economic scars.
Tight management by LAOS
Finally, LAOS has chosen to apply tight management, with all resources to be concentrated at the headquarters of the party in Kallirois, even if those resources are related to the financing of the Centre for Political Thought "Ion Dragoumis", which was subsidized with 400,000 euros, of which only 90,000 went to the payroll.
Another big problem in the event of early elections is the negative attitude of many large advertisers as to the promotion of the parties and their positions because of past debts to their companies.
