Greek leaders face crunch talks on Tuesday to secure a new international bailout and avoid a chaotic debt default, caught between EU demands that they accept painful reforms immediately and a national strike against more austerity.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos negotiated through most of the night with Greece’s European Union and IMF lenders, ending at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) when the 24-hour strike was about to begin, closing ports and tourist sites and disrupting public transport.
“We must find a solution today,” said one government official before the leaders’ talks, which are expected to start later in the day.
Finance Minister Evanagelos Venizelos said talks with the “troika” of lenders – the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF – were not going well.
“Unfortunately the negotiations are so tough that as soon as one chapter closes, another opens,” he said after meeting troika officials on Monday night.
Early on Tuesday, the strike called by the private and public sector unions GSEE and ADEDY began to bite, bringing the country’s main port to a standstill.
“No ships departed from Piraeus port this morning, as a result of the seamen’s strike,” said a coast guard official.
In central Athens, tourists were locked out of the Acropolis and public transport was disrupted during the morning rush hour. State hospitals ran on a skeleton staff and teachers, bank employees and telecoms workers were due to join the action.
(source: Reuters)
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