Published : Feb. 6, 2012 - 11:15
ATHENS (AFP) ― Greece on Sunday insisted on extending critical talks on a debt rescue into Monday, as the government’s coalition backers denounced pressure from public creditors to pass harsher austerity measures.
After a five-hour meeting with his socialist, conservative and far-right allies, Prime Minister Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said the talks would continue on Monday, and that agreement had been reached on many issues.
But George Karatzaferis, leader of far-right party LAOS and Antonis Samaras, head of the conservative New Democracy party both attacked what they said was pressure to impose even harsher cuts on the Greek people.
“I will not contribute to the explosion of a revolution from destitution that will burn all of Europe,” Karatzaferis told reporters as he exited the meeting.
Moments later, Samaras said the country was “being asked for more austerity, which it is unable to bear. I am fighting to prevent this.”
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos (second from right) poses with far-right Laos party leader George Karatzaferis (left), conservative New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras (second from left) and Greek Socialist party leader George Papandreou before an emergency meeting at his office in Athens on Sunday. (AFP-Yonhap News)
Athens has been in talks with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank ― known as the ‘troika’ here ― on further action needed to unlock a new eurozone rescue deal worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion) pending since October.
Pressure is also high for an agreement with private lenders to wipe out part of the 350-billion-euro Greek debt, as Athens faces loan repayments of 14.4 billion euros ($19 billion) on March 20.
The measures demanded by the troika reportedly included a 20-percent cut to the monthly minimum wage of 750 euros ($985); a 15-percent cut in supplementary pensions; and 15,000 civil service redundancies this year.
Earlier, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos had warned that agreement had to be reached on Sunday for Greece to keep up its debt repayment schedule safely.
“Everything must be concluded by (Sunday) night ... so that we can be within the timetable given the bond maturities in March,” Venizelos said.
“We are on a knife edge,” the minister had warned on Saturday.
Papademos, who has reportedly threatened to resign if his coalition fails to back him, concentrated on what had been achieved so far in his comments Sunday evening.
He said the political leaders had agreed on “basic elements” including new public spending cuts, pension adjustments and bank recapitalization in addition to a controversial labor cost revision.
The leaders had also agreed to “take measures to reduce public spending by 1.5 percent of output in 2012” and tackle a competitiveness deficit by reducing wage and non-wage costs, a measure strongly opposed by unions, he said.
Agreement had also been reached on recapitalizing Greek banks taking part in a voluntary debt write-down in a way that would ensure the banks’ “business autonomy,” said Papademos. Lenders accepting state aid would not be nationalized, he said.
The caretaker prime minister also held back-to-back meetings with senior troika officials and representatives of the Institute of International Finance, the global banking organization leading the debt writedown talks.
Papademos is himself a former European Central Bank deputy chief.
IIF managing director Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre, adviser to French bank BNP Paribas, made no statements after the talks.
Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker has turned the heat on Athens, threatening to cut off funds if reforms were seen to stall.
“If we were to see that everything was failing in Greece then there wouldn’t be a new (refinance) program,” Juncker told German magazine Spiegel.
French Economy Minister Francois Baroin on Sunday said talks were “difficult” but that progress had been made on the privately held debt swap.
“In any case, the rendez-vous is on Feb. 13 at the latest,” Baroin said, referring to the tentative deadline for a deal.
Europe’s commissioner for maritime affairs Maria Damanaki, who is Greek, said the country has been on a “disastrous path.”
“For two years we have promised changes which we failed to pursue, or failed to complete,” she told To Vima weekly.
“We say much and do little. We agree to timetables we do not keep. Hence we have created the image of a state that is systematically unreliable,” Damanaki said.
The debt deal is also decisive for Greece’s political future, as the government is expected to hold early elections upon its conclusion.