Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Oct. 30 that his administration has concluded negotiations with international lenders on a $17.45 billion spending cut and tax hike plan that would go to Parliament almost immediately, although one of his coalition partners, the Democratic Left, said it would vote against harsh changes to labor laws.
But his Finance Minister, Yiannis Stournaras, said that the disputes over some austerity measures mean that the package won’t be ready for the Parliament until next week, a critical delay that will further hold up release of a $38.8 billion loan installment from international lenders.
The government warned of “chaos,” if the budget plan for 2013-14 isn’t approved, although there is burgeoning resistance to some of the toughest measures. Stournaras denied local media reports that the bill could be broken up to ease objections from Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis, who is digging in his heels against demands that Greece make big cuts in severance pay, give workers less warning time before being let go, and for a six-day work week.
“All of the (draft legislation) will be submitted next week — I think there is no other way to do it,” Stournaras said, dampening a report that Samaras believed it was set for immediate approval.
Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, has the backing of the PASOK Socialists, the other party supporting him. He did not reveal details of the budget plan that is expected to pass it easily, even if Kouvelis pulls his party’s votes and some PASOK members balk, as they have indicated.
“There are certain issues for us that are fundamental — like labor issues,” Theodoros Margaritis, a senior member of the Democratic Left party, told private SKAI TV. “The dilemma is with Mr. Samaras. Does he want a left-wing party in his government or not? Does he want our consent on certain issues or does he want to proceed alone? If he wants, he may proceed alone.”
Samaras appealed for unity even though the budget for 2013-14 is once again aimed squarely at workers, pensioners and the poor and as the government is caught in the middle of a probe by prosecutors as to why a previous PASOK administration failed to check a list of 2,059 Greeks with $1.95 billion in deposits in a Swiss bank for tax evasion.
Samaras said he had no alternative but to renege on his promises before the June 17 elections to resist more austerity measures because the country would go broke otherwise. Until the budget is passed, the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) is withholding a $38.8 billion loan installment, all of which will be set aside to recapitalize the country’s teetering banks and pay bills.
“What would happen if the deal isn’t passed and the country is led to chaos?” he said in the statement. “Such dangers must be avoided. That is the responsibility of each party and every lawmaker individually.”
He said that, “Today we concluded negotiations over the measures and the budget,” the statement read. “We did everything we could. We exhausted all the limits of pressure and time. We achieved significant improvements even in the final hour.” He did not face reporters to explain the budget, which will go to lawmakers as a working group supporting the finance ministers of the Eurozone, the 17 countries using the euro, is meeting in Brussels to discuss the Greek crisis and the delayed loan installment.
His government is facing growing social unrest, with several strikes and protests against the measures and another planned for Nov. 14, but he said he would proceed despite opposition, including from labor unions, workers, pensioners and the poor. “Provided that the deal is approved and the budget is voted through, Greece will remain in the euro,” Samaras’s announcement said. Without it, he said, Greece could be forced out of the Eurozone and into complete economic collapse.
“The problem from this point on is not this or that measure,” Samaras’s statement said. “The problem is the exact opposite: what would happen if the deal is not ratified and the country is led to chaos, and how much more painful such a development would be for the Greek people; from an economic standpoint and – more importantly – from a political standpoint. These dangers must be averted, and this is now the responsibility of all the parties and each individual deputy.”
(Sources: Kathimerini, AP)
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