Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ failure to convince his reluctant coalition partners to accept all the harsh measures in a $14.6 billion spending cut plan demanded by international lenders means the government will not be able to present a final plan before the envoys leave, expected to be Sept. 22.
Greek officials acknowledged that the officials from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) would likely depart without the final blueprint needed to release a $38.8 billion loan installment, the last in a first series of $152 billion in rescue loans. A second bailout, of $172 billion, is also on hold until Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, can persuade PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis to drop their opposition to more salary and pension cuts and the layoff and eventual firing of 35,000 public workers. A three-hour meeting with them on Sept. 20 produced no progress after weeks of wrangling.
The delay could create anxiety that Greece, which has repeatedly broken promises to reform and missed other deadlines, was serious about making the cuts needed to keep the rescue monies coming. An unnamed Greek official said that even if there is no agreement among the coalition partners that the package could still be presented to the Troika in time to get it to the Parliament the government controls for a rubber-stamp approval before an Oct. 8 meeting of Eurozone officials.
But with the clock ticking and tension rising as street protests against more austerity measures have begun and a massive general strike has been set for Sept. 26, Samaras is under the gun to deliver the cuts and try to prevent more social unrest at the same time. He reportedly will make a national TV address next week to pledge to beleaguered Greeks that the next round of austerity measures would be the last, but they have heard that from previous leaders who broke their pledges.
The tension was even getting to negotiators, as Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras reportedly had sharp exchanges with Troika officials over how much money the government estimated could be saved by cutting administrative costs, which they did not believe. Samaras, anxious to prevent more political fall-out from firings, said he thinks he could save enough money by cutting waste in government to offset harsher measures. “The Troika should stop attacking Greek people,” Kouvelis told reporters after the meeting. “People have their limits.”
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