Okay. So it was farce rather than fracas after all. Stournaras has just told us the troika has backed down a bit on labour laws and that agreement on the package has now been concluded.

Which begs the question. If Kouvellis has to threaten not to vote for the package, for the government to actually try and get concessions, could they not have been more serious about the negotiations from the very beginning?

Samaras is a disgrace and has been shown up as one from the mere fact of “resolving” this crisis through the troika backing down before a real threat. Imagine what he could have achieved had he countered with his own threats?

So, unfortunately, Greece is on the road to perdition. Thanks to Samaras.

Yesterday the Left wing Party of Fotis Kouvellis appears to have thrown a spanner in the works by announcing that he and his party would refuse to vote for the package of stringent austerity measures demanded by the troika if any changes to the labour laws was in it. It appeared to be a point blank refusal.

The troika is insisting that without this there is no deal to hand over the tranche of 30 billion or so to go towards recapitalizing the banks.

I need to reserve judgement on this since it is as yet unclear whether Kouvellis and his Dimar Party will stick to this refusal, in which case the government coalition looks set to have problems. Since it could, however, be nothing but a spin device and he does back down at the last minute to “save” Greece, I cannot express any opinions.

The one thing I can say, however, is why was this point blank refusal reserved ONLY for the labour laws by Kouvellis and not for much in the rest of the package, cuts and taxation which will definitely lead to the total collapse of the Greek economy. But be that as it may, we have to wait for what is really behind the move.

Now, if we take it that Kouvellis and Dimar may genuinely have put their foot down, or whether this is the best way for them to get out of a destructive situation, and that, for whatever reason he persists in his refusal, then several scenarios are being bandied about.

One is that Samaras proceeds with a government reshuffle as was being rumoured for after the vote on the package. In addition, this could tie in with the other complementary rumour, that PASOK is about to dissolve and that its major players shall dump Venizelos and their Party and join Samaras in a new party to be called a different name.

There are many reasons why this is a tall order. Nevertheless supposing it does work out this way, with Kouvellis joining the opposition and the PASOK party splitting, even if most of them join Samaras, will he still have a majority in Parliament? After all, are his own MPs all going to accept such a development without a murmur?

It is inelegant to speculate over such rumours. But, regardless of whether this is just another act of the show being put on to force the Greeks to accept the troika designed destruction not just of their economy but of their very lives, or whether this is the result of real tremors and cracks in the, in any case, unholy coalition, one thing is certain.

We are reaching the point where the Greek people simply cannot be pushed any further and things are about to explode. In one way or another. Samaras may or may not be in a panic. Samaras may or may not have been jolted out of his torpor and narcissistic illusions of success just because The Frau dropped in for lunch one day without even bringing him a tiny gift.

But though, as I said I am reserving judgement on all this, on whether it is just more farce or really a turning point, I can say one thing. Whatever is behind it, it is strong indication that things are not going at all well with the neatly laid out troika/Samaras plan. He has failed miserably and is about to pay the consequences. Whatever these may be.