Greece's bailout agreement proves elusive to secure
Source: Agencies |
February 9, 2012, Thursday
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GREEK party leaders finally gathered yesterday to agree a reform deal in return for a new EU/IMF rescue to avoid a chaotic default, after repeated delays which have prompted warnings that the euro can live without Athens.
With the future of Greece and the wider eurozone at stake, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' efforts to get the three parties in his government to accept the tough reforms demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund seem to have been thwarted by arguments over little more than procedural matters.
One deadline after another has passed without the leaders making up their minds on terms for the new 130 billion euro (US$172 billion) rescue which Athens must receive to avoid going bankrupt next month when big debt repayments are due.
What was supposed to have been a crunch meeting on Tuesday was postponed because of missing paperwork, according to one party official, delaying discussion of a deal which will further inflame an angry Greek electorate.
All three parties - conservative New Democracy, the PASOK socialists and far-right LAOS - finally received the 15-page document yesterday laying out the principles of the bailout and its conditions, a party official told Reuters.
There were seen arriving at the prime minister's office in the afternoon.
Attached to the document are a further 30 or so pages laying out how the program, which is likely to force a big cut in many Greeks' living standards, will be implemented.
The draft of the bailout includes plans to cut the minimum wage by about 20-22 percent, a government official said. It also gives political leaders the option of cutting pensions over 1,200 euros by up to 20 percent or cutting supplementary pensions by 15 percent on average or a combination of cuts in both pensions, the official said.
After officials spoke optimistically that the three leaders - New Democracy's Antonis Samaras, PASOK's George Papandreou and LAOS leader George Karatzaferis - were set to meet just after noon yesterday, the meeting was delayed again.
Earlier, an official said Karatzaferis wanted all documentation translated from English - the language of negotiation with the international lenders - into Greek before he would look at them.
The far-right leader then threatened to abandon the meeting because he had not received the Greek version of the document, though he has backed down from similar threats in the past.
Another party demanded several hours to study the draft before discussions could begin, an official at the party said, requesting anonymity.
One Greek news website wrote an open letter to Papademos yesterday demanding that he "end this water torture".
"Greeks cannot any longer stand this torment of constant insecurity that is destroying the country and hurting our national dignity," it said. "The prime minister must end this endless bargaining that demeans the country and its citizens."
With the future of Greece and the wider eurozone at stake, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' efforts to get the three parties in his government to accept the tough reforms demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund seem to have been thwarted by arguments over little more than procedural matters.
One deadline after another has passed without the leaders making up their minds on terms for the new 130 billion euro (US$172 billion) rescue which Athens must receive to avoid going bankrupt next month when big debt repayments are due.
What was supposed to have been a crunch meeting on Tuesday was postponed because of missing paperwork, according to one party official, delaying discussion of a deal which will further inflame an angry Greek electorate.
All three parties - conservative New Democracy, the PASOK socialists and far-right LAOS - finally received the 15-page document yesterday laying out the principles of the bailout and its conditions, a party official told Reuters.
There were seen arriving at the prime minister's office in the afternoon.
Attached to the document are a further 30 or so pages laying out how the program, which is likely to force a big cut in many Greeks' living standards, will be implemented.
The draft of the bailout includes plans to cut the minimum wage by about 20-22 percent, a government official said. It also gives political leaders the option of cutting pensions over 1,200 euros by up to 20 percent or cutting supplementary pensions by 15 percent on average or a combination of cuts in both pensions, the official said.
After officials spoke optimistically that the three leaders - New Democracy's Antonis Samaras, PASOK's George Papandreou and LAOS leader George Karatzaferis - were set to meet just after noon yesterday, the meeting was delayed again.
Earlier, an official said Karatzaferis wanted all documentation translated from English - the language of negotiation with the international lenders - into Greek before he would look at them.
The far-right leader then threatened to abandon the meeting because he had not received the Greek version of the document, though he has backed down from similar threats in the past.
Another party demanded several hours to study the draft before discussions could begin, an official at the party said, requesting anonymity.
One Greek news website wrote an open letter to Papademos yesterday demanding that he "end this water torture".
"Greeks cannot any longer stand this torment of constant insecurity that is destroying the country and hurting our national dignity," it said. "The prime minister must end this endless bargaining that demeans the country and its citizens."
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