Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ vow not to impose any more austerity measures on Greeks has fallen on deaf ears in Geramany where the Deputy Parliamentary Chairman of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats said if Greece needs a third bailout it will come at the cost of more harsh conditions.
“Should Greece need further help it’s perfectly clear that it would be linked to new terms,” Michael Meister told the Bloomberg news agency. “There would definitely be no new program without conditions.” Samaras, who opposed austerity when he was out of office, fell into line immediately with pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions insisted upon by the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) that was putting up $325 billion in two bailouts to prop up the faltering economy.
Additional aid for Greece would be provided under terms of the existing program and won’t be tied to new austerity strictures, Ethnos newspaper on Sept. 7 cited Samaras as saying. Greece may need 10 billion euros ($13.3 billion) in additional help after the current program expires, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told Proto Thema newspaper on Aug. 24.
The government agreed to reform measures that run to 2016 when it accepted the program, Stournaras also told the newspaper, ruling out fresh conditions when it ends in 2014.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Aug. 20 said Greece may need a new program, its third since since 2010 after the existing program expires in mid-2014. Merkel also referred to a new program in her Sept. 1 television debate with election rival Social Democrat Peer Steinbrueck.
Merkel, whose lead over her Social Democratic challenger Peer Steinbrueck has narrowed less than two weeks before national elections Sept. 22, said that Germany expects “self-help” from partners like Greece as a condition for help. The “first signs” of recovery are discernible there, she said.
Greece must fulfill the conditions of the current program or forgo further aid, said Meister, who’s defending his constituency in the state of Hesse. If Greece doesn’t pass all the conditions on the aid score card “any discussion about further help is over,” he said.
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