Evangelos Venizelos of the PanHellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) and Fotis Kouvelis of Democratic Left agreed it would ease social pain if sweeping cuts in wages, pensions and allowances were postponed until 2015, although they said structural reforms should go ahead next year as planned.
The meeting with Mr Samaras, intended to wrap up details of the €11.5 billion package, ended without a deal, although the three leaders agreed to resume discussions in the next few days. “There is agreement on putting together a strategic plan”, Mr Kouvelis said.
Government officials made clear that Greece had no room on reforms. “We know that if we backtrack this time we will be out of the euro”, said one official involved with preparing the package. “The only issues up for debate concern alternative choices for identifying spending cuts to be implemented in 2013-14.”
More than half the proposed cuts – agreed to by the previous government in February – would come from setting a ceiling on pensions at about €2,200 a month, slashing wages at public sector corporations to levels in the core civil service, reducing allowances for better paid public sector workers, and curbing healthcare spending, according to plans outlined last week by Yannis Stournaras, finance minister.
The government is considering further unpopular measures to plug a remaining gap of about €1.5 billion, including raising the retirement age from 65 to 67 and charging fees for students at state universities who stay on for years without taking final examinations.
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