Venizelos raises doubts about whether coalition will survive elections

A demonstrator takes part in a protest by Greek schoolteachers outside the Greek Parliament in central Athens, on Wednesday. About a thousand people took part in the peaceful protest, demanding that the Greek government revokes its decision to cut thousands of public sector jobs under the financially troubled country's bailout commitments.

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos has again raised the specter of his party departing the coalition if the center-left Olive Tree alliance it will be running as part of in the May 25 European Parliament elections performs poorly at the ballot box.

Venizelos’s return to the subject caused friction in the two-party government on Wednesday.

In a televised interview broadcast late on Tuesday, Venizelos told Alpha TV that if the election result raises questions about the coalition’s political legitimacy he would hold talks with President Karolos Papoulias (to inform him that PASOK would be leaving the government) rather than Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (to discuss where the coalition would go next).

“Or MPs would not be able to support bills, the government would not be able to function properly; there would be constant doubts,” said Venizelos to explain why the coalition would not survive a poor elections result.

The PASOK leader did not put a precise figure on what he believes would constitute a reasonable result for the Olive Tree. SYRIZA MP Dimitris Papadimoulis suggested this week that if support for his party is able to surpass what New Democracy and PASOK garner together it would cause a “political earthquake.”

Sources said that the prime minister and his aides were angered by Venizelos’s comments as they believe he is creating a sense of instability around the...