Dismayed by the failure of Eurozone leaders to approve release of a long-delayed $38.8 billion loan after he rammed through Parliament a highly-unpopular $38.8 billion spending cut and tax hike program with more harsh austerity measures, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the lack of a debt deal between the country΄s lenders over technical reasons did not justify holding up aid.
After 12 hours of talks in Brussels that ended in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, the Eurozone chiefs couldn’t come to terms with International Monetary Fund Managing (IMF) Director Christine Lagarde over whether to give Samaras two more years, until 2016, to meet fiscal targets to reduce the country’s debt and deficit. The European Union, along with the IMF and European Central Bank make up the Troika of Greece’s international lenders.
“Greece did what it had committed it would do . Our partners, together with the IMF, also have to do what they have taken on to do,” Samaras said in a statement that showed his disappointment after putting his political neck on the line. ” Any technical difficulties in finding a technical solution do not justify any negligence or delays,” he added. Samaras has called on the Eurozone and Lagardeo live up to their commitments after the two sides failed to agree on a deal to make Greek debt sustainable during length talks that ended without any decision was was rescheduled to resume on Nov. 26.
The failure to reach an agreement means that Greece has to wait to find out if loan instalkments worth 44 billion euros ($56.2 billion, with another $17.4 billion bundled into a pending disbursement) will be released next month. The government said it will run out of cash reserves toward the end of this month and earlier had to borrow $5 billion to meet $6.17 billion in loan payments.
“It is not just Greece but the whole of the eurozone that depends on our partners’ decisions,” said Samaras. “No procrastination can be permitted,” a veiled warning that if Greece doesn’t get the money that it could be forced out of the Eurozone and jeopardize the entire bloc. He is set to fly to Brussels on Nov. 21 to prepare for a Nov. 22-23 European Union conference of leaders.
Samaras postponed a visit to the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar next week so he could be in Brussels when the Eurozone talks resume on Nov. 26. .
“The prime minister will stay in Athens to coordinate things,” spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Reuters. Samaras was due to meet Qatar΄s emir and prime minister as well as top officials from Qatar΄s sovereign wealth fund to discuss investment in the country΄s recession-mired economy.
Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader who is overseeing a shaky coalition of the PASOK Socialists and Democratic Left, was ridiculed by the major opposition party, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) after the talks collapsed. SYRIZA is opposed to the bailout terms that have worsened a five-year recession and put nearly two million people out of work and has complained that Samaras is kow-towing to the Troika and doing its bidding.
SYRIZA Member of Parliament Dimitris Papadimoulis said the inconclusive meeting showed the coalition’s policies had failed. “A new postponement,” he tweeted. “On Monday, (when the Eurogroup will meet again) they will (apply) a band aid until the German elections,” he wrote, referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s unpopular stance in her country to keep backing aid for Greece, although she has insisted on the tough conditions. Her party faces elections next year.
“The government is doing all their favors and is being humiliated in return,” Papadimoulis said, trying to rub Samaras’ nose in the failure. SYRIZA has been leading opinion polls in the last couple of months while the three coalition parties are fading fast.
(Sources: Kathimerini, AP, Reuters)
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