In Athens, Merkel Seals The Deal

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, visiting Athens on April 11 under tight security the day after a terrorist car bombing and Greece’s first sale of a sovereign bond in four years, was expected to sign a deal with a Greek investment fund for growth.’
Germany’s Handelsblatt reported the memo would be signed as part of her good will stop to boost fellow Conservative, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, for continuing to impose reforms she insisted on in return for backing 240 billion euros ($330.7 billion in international loans, much of up put up by Germany.
According to the report the investment fund, whose structure would be based on Germany’s state-owned KfW lender, would aid the liquidity of small and medium-sized businesses through low interest rate loans. The report further noted that the two countries would each contribute 100 million euros to the new venture.
Nearly half of Greek SME’s are expected to fold during an ongoing crushing economic crisis although Samaras touted the sale of a five-year 3 billion euro bond at 4.75 percent interest as proof the country was making a big comeback sooner than expected.
Plans for the investment fund have been kicking around for a while and it was expected to include the European Union, the European Investment Bank and France, but when that didn’t happen, Merkel decided to act on her own, the newspaper said.
Germany’s share, however, expected to be transferred through KfW, must be approved by the German state budget for 2014, scheduled for debate at the Bundestag in July.
Many Greeks have blamed Merkel for the big pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions and worker firings that the government said has put the country on the road to recovery although it has cut their disposable income nearly in half.
She was also to attend an event at the Athens Hilton and then hold a news conference with Samaras, scheduled for 7 p.m.
Scores of thousands of angry protesters turned out on the streets 18 months ago when she came to Athens but this time protests were banned and the center of the city sealed off during her visit, with vehicles banned and public transport shut down to ensure she wouldn’t see any demonstrations of opposition.
Unions and the left-wing main opposition party, SYRIZA, protested outside the barricades that were manned by about 5,000 police.
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras in a newspaper article criticized the cordon, saying Merkel would not get a sense of the impact of the austerity measures she supported.
“I encourage her to visit a hospital and witness the Third World conditions … or a school where teachers try to cope with underfed children,” he wrote, the Associated Press reported.
Merkel’s visit was also seen as an attempt to give Samaras’ New Democracy party a boost as it had fallen behind in polls to SYRIZA ahead of next month’s critical elections for Greek municipalities and the European Parliament.
Tsipras is opposed to the terms of the bailouts and said he expects SYRIZA will dominate in the May polls, and that it will force early national elections in which he will come to power.
He has promised to revise the deal  with the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) or renege on it outright.