Greece's leaders battled to salvage a €130 billion EU/IMF bailout, rejecting criticism of their commitment to a punishing austerity package, despite staunch opposition to it among voters.
But with mistrust of Athens high, EU sources said eurozone finance officials were studying whether it was possible to delay part or all of the rescue deal while still avoiding a disorderly default - news which pushed German Bund futures to session highs. Finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, insisted that Greece would clarify all outstanding issues on a €3.3 billion package of cuts and attacked critics for "playing with fire".
One of the outstanding issues had been a written commitment from Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece's opposition conservative party, that he will stick to the agreed programme if he wins elections expected in April. "If New Democracy wins the next election in Greece, we will remain committed to the programme's objectives, targets and key policies", Samaras wrote. But he insisted the fast-shrinking Greek economy must also be kickstarted into life, and reserved the right to adapt details of the package accordingly - a hedge that could prove a sticking point for increasingly frustrated eurozone partners.
Full article
© Reuters
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article