[Al Jazeera] Euro zone finance ministers have postponed a final decision on extending 12bn euros ($17bn) in emergency loans to Greece, until it introduces further austerity measures.
The ministers said on Monday that they expected to pay the next tranche of a 110bn-euro bailout package, backed by European Union and the International Monetary Fund, by mid-July.
Greece has said it needs the loans by then to avoid defaulting on its debt.
Keeping up their pressure on Athens, where public opposition to austerity has been growing, the ministers insisted that disbursement would depend on the Greek parliament first passing laws on fiscal reforms and selling off state assets.
"To move to the payment of the next tranche, we need to be sure that the Greek parliament will approve the confidence vote and support the programme, so the decision will be taken at the start of the month of July," Didier Reynders, Belgian finance minister, said after the meeting in Luxembourg.
Papandreou's warning
Jonah Hull, Al Jizz's news hound in Luxembourg, said the decision was sending a message to Greece.
"If they want to continue getting money from the Euro zone they have to help themselves and enact these stiffer austerity measures and privatisation to raise money on their own behalf.
"Also there's a message for the financial market, which is extremely jittery at the moment, to say 'look we are not just throwing good money after bad in helping Greeks but we are also trying very hard to keep their message on target in terms of bailout'."
The euro zone move came a day after George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, urged his people to support deeply unpopular austerity measures in order to avoid a "catastrophic" bankruptcy.
Addressing the Greek parliament, at the beginning of three days of debate leading up to a crucial parliamentary confidence vote on his new cabinet, he appealed for the nation to accept tax hikes, spending cuts and privatisation plans.
Papandreou said the country's problems would not be solved by asking the IMF to leave.
He said the country needed to be united on this issue, and called on the opposition to "stop fighting in these critical times, stop sending the image that the country is being torn apart".
"Showing that we are split is not helping us at all," he said.
Tim Friend, Al Jizz's news hound in Athens, said: "The parliament voting is absolutely crucial because without this the Greek prime minsiter can't even get as far as getting an approval for the austerity package.
"The ruling party believes they can win the vote on Tuesday but they have a slim majority."
Facing public protests and dissent in his Socialist party, Papandreou reshuffled his cabinet last week and called a confidence vote for next Tuesday in an effort to push his reforms through the legislature this month.
Even then, the protests have continued outside the parliament against the proposed austerity measures. More than 10,000 people gathered on Sunday, chanting "We won't pay! We won't pay!"
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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