Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has once again promised austerity-crushed Greeks that he won’t impose any more pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions, although international lenders said they could be necessary of the government fails to hit fiscal targets needed to insure that investors and banks are repaid.
“There will be no more austerity measures,” Samaras said in a televised speech to his conservative party’s political committee. “And as soon as growth sets in, relief measures will slowly begin,” Samaras said.
That came as envoys from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) were in Athens checking progress on long-delayed reforms and as tax revenues were falling far short of expectations despite big tax hikes.
The Troika also wants the public workforce drastically reduced, which could skyrocket unemployment which is already at a record 26.4 percent and set off more of the social unrest that Samaras’ coalition government is eager to hold down. Strikes, protests and riots brought down the government of his predecessor, former PASOK Socialist leader George Papandreou.
Samaras denied there was a stalemate in talks. “There is discussion over certain things. I would not call it a hitch, mainly a discussion over how to apply agreed (measures),” he told financial weekly Axia in an interview. Under the bailout conditions adopted last year, Greece needs to cut public sector workers by 25,000 in 2013 and a total of 150,000 by the end of 2015.
The job cuts have sparked friction with Samaras’ junior coalition partner Fotis Kouvelis, head of the moderate Democratic Left party, who is citing Greece’s soaring unemployment rate. Facing a sixth consecutive year of recession, the heavily-indebted country has been relying on international rescue packages to avoid bankruptcy. A return to growth initially foreseen for 2012 is now not expected before 2014.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
