Greek political parties delayed yet again
Tue Feb 7, 2012 4:13pm EST
* EU officials say package must be agreed by mid-month
* Party official blames missing paperwork for fresh delay
* Merkel promises not to force
Greece out of the euro zone
* Dutch PM says
euro zone can live with Greek exit
* Trade unions stage 24-hour strike
By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou
ATHENS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Greek political parties delayed yet again
on Tuesday making the tough choice of accepting painful reforms in
return for a new international bailout to avoid a chaotic default,
seemingly deaf to EU warnings that the euro zone can live without
Athens.
With a series of deadlines come and gone, leaders of the three
parties in the coalition of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos postponed
what was supposed to be a crunch meeting until Wednesday.
On a day when protesters burned a German flag in Athens, Chancellor
Angela Merkel tried to ease growing tension by promising she would not
try to force Greece out of the euro. But the Dutch prime minister said
the currency bloc could take a Greek exit in its stride.
One party official blamed Tuesday's delay, which is likely to enrage
euro zone leaders desperate to tie up the 130 billion euro rescue after
months of argument, on missing paperwork - the same reason given when
the meeting was postponed from Monday to Tuesday.
"The reason is that the political leaders will not have the time to
assess the measures in the bailout," said the party official, who
declined to be named.
The heads of the conservative, socialist and far-right parties had
yet to receive the draft agreement with the European Union and IMF only
half an hour before the 1900 GMT scheduled start of the meeting on
Tuesday.
"We can't say a plain yes or no unless we have assurances from the
relevant authorities of the state that these actions are constitutional
and will lead the country out of the crisis," far-right LAOS leader
George Karatzaferis said. "There is time. When it comes to future of the
country, we will find the time."
Party leaders have hesitated to accept the tough terms of the deal,
which are certain to mean a big drop in living standards for many
Greeks.
Adding to the pressure, unions staged a 24-hour strike on Tuesday,
and protesters tussled with police outside parliament, chanting: "No to
mediaeval labour conditions!"
Deadlines are rapidly losing any significance as one after another
passes. Last weekend, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said a deal
had to be done by Sunday. Then the parties sailed past a Monday deadline
to give their response to the EU, promising that Tuesday would be the
day for decisions.
A CHALLENGE TO MERKEL
Such dithering is a challenge to the authority of Merkel, whose
government is a major funder of Greek bailouts. She said on Monday that
"time is of the essence" and expressed bewilderment about what the
repeated delays could achieve.
With Greek resentment increasingly focusing on
Germany, Merkel tried to calm the atmosphere on Tuesday, warning
that forcing Greece to abandon the euro would have "unforeseeable
consequences".
"I will have no part in forcing Greece out of the euro," she said in
response to a question from a Greek student at a meeting with young
people in a Berlin museum.
Euro zone countries cannot be forced out of the currency bloc by
their peers. But some policymakers in the bloc are starting to say in
public what they have been saying in private; that if Athens doesn't
accept the terms, they might not do much to prevent Greece falling out
of its own accord.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the euro zone could live without
Greece if it didn't keep its side of the bargain.
"We are currently so strong in the rest of the euro zone, in the
countries who have the euro, that we can handle an exit of Greece - a
Greece which runs into serious trouble," Rutte told Dutch public
broadcaster NOS.
"They really have to implement all the measures they have promised to
take. If that doesn't happen we can't help them."
Such comments will hurt Greeks, who have a deep fear of being cast
adrift from the euro zone and left with a new national drachma currency
which would probably dive in value.
Papademos, a technocrat parachuted in to lead the Greek government
late last year, has been trying to persuade the party leaders to accept
the EU/IMF conditions.
With elections likely in April, the party political leaders - who
Europe insists must all sign up to the austerity programme - face an
obvious incentive not to heap more misery on their voters. But if they
do not, an unruly default looms.
Euro zone officials say the full package must be agreed with Greece
and approved by the euro zone, European Central Bank and International
Monetary Fund before Feb. 15.
This is to allow time for complex legal procedures involved in a bond
swap deal - under which the value of private investors' holdings of
Greek debt will be cut radically in value - so Athens can get rescue
funds before March 20 when it has to meet heavy debt repayments or
suffer a chaotic default.
After days of negotiations, officials said sticking points on cutting
the minimum wage and scrapping holiday bonuses appeared to have been
largely resolved but the level of cuts on top-up, supplementary pensions
still remained.
"DON'T BOW YOUR HEADS!"
The funds come at the price of deeply unpopular wage and spending
cuts that have infuriated ordinary Greeks struggling through the
country's fifth year of recession.
Tuesday's strike closed tourist sites and the country's biggest port,
and disrupted public transport. Scuffles broke out as protesting
strikers tried to climb steps leading to parliament, chanting: "Don't
bow your heads, show resistance!"
Riot police rushed to block their way as some protesters sprayed red
paint on the steps and a wall next to the tomb of the unknown soldier,
which commemorates the fallen in past Greek campaigns. Other protesters
burned a German and a Nazi flag.
Ceremonial guards in traditional Greek kilts, a top Athens tourist
attraction, were evacuated and the protesters were pushed back on to the
adjacent Syntagma Square, where riot police created a defensive line.
However, the turnout was noticeably smaller than at other protests in
recent months, with heavy showers dampening the marchers' spirits.
One civil servant watching the protests expressed a weary anger at
the austerity imposed already, which has almost halved her monthly pay
to 900 euros, and higher taxes.
"I wouldn't mind paying for the next two years if I knew austerity
would take us somewhere," said 32-year-old Leto Papadopoulou. "But this
crisis seems endless. In 10 years from now, I will be a lost case for
the labour market."
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