Ignoring protests by 50,000 people against the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet him in Athens on Oct. 9, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said it was proof Greece is being welcomed back into the international arena and will get the help it needs to keep the economy from failing.
Samaras said the trip by Merkel, perceived as an enemy by many Greeks for insisting on more harsh austerity measures in return for international aid, has opened the door for a delayed $38.8 billion loan installment, the last in a first series of $152 billion in rescue monies from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB.)
The payment, along with a second bailout of $173 billion, has been on hold until Samaras’ uneasy coalition government gets approval from Troika envoys on a pending $17.45 billion spending cut and tax hike program, but a glowing Samaras said Merkel’s trip was a signal that Greece has the backing of the EU.
He said it “proves that we are breaking an international isolation.” At a joint news conference he said: “And this was due to our mistakes as well. The political power and image of a country corresponds to its credibility.”
Merkel, the EU’s de facto leader, made her first visit to Greece in five years and the first since the economic crisis broke out in 2010, forcing then-Prime Minister George Papandreou, the former PASOK Socialist leader, to ask for international aid. A year ago she raised the specter of Greece leaving the Eurozone of the 17 countries using the euro as a currency.
But Merkel hasn’t relented on demands that Samaras impose more pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions, which he vowed before the June 17 elections he would not but reneged after he won. Still she said, “I want Greece to remain in the euro. A lot has been done, much remains to be done.”
Hours earlier, finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg paired their encouragement with a demand that Greece commit to a list of 89 policy steps before an Oct. 18-19 leaders’ summit at which a decision could be made whether to release the next installment of loans.
While Merkel and Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, were meeting quietly, several blocks away the downtown of Athens was filled with protesters who didn’t want her in Greece and who stepped up their anger against the government for readying more austerity.
But there was bad news in the background too as new IMF forecasts put Greece’s debt at 182 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2013, up from an April forecast of 161 percent and making it harder to reach a target of 120 percent by 2020, which underpins funding for the country. The IMF also said the economy will shrink a sixth year, by 4 percent in 2013, compared with a forecast for no change in April.
Opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said Merkel’s coming to see Samaras was a symbolic expression of support “for a government that is on the brink of collapse,” and that she was supporting what he called “Merkelites” in the government who kowtow to her.
(Sources: AP, Kathimerini)
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