Samaras Begins Bid for Greek Coalition That Sustains Rescue

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Greek election winner Antonis Samaras begins his second bid in six weeks to form a coalition as euro-area finance chiefs pressured him to form a government that would keep bailout aid flowing.

European officials indicated a willingness to ease the terms of rescue loans as long as Greece, with just weeks of cash in the bank, re-commits to their austerity demands. The prospect that Samaras would lose to anti-bailout leader Alexis Tsipras rattled markets concerned that Greece may quit the 17-nation currency union. The result sent the euro higher.

"The Greek people expressed their will to stay anchored with the euro, remain an integral part of the euro zone and honor the country's commitments," Samaras told supporters in Athens yesterday after the election result. "There is no time for petty politics."

The vote forced Greeks, in a fifth year of recession, to choose open-ended austerity to stay in the euro or reject the terms of a bailout and risk the turmoil of exiting the union. With the 17-nation currency's future on the line, finance ministers pledged to assist Greece in its struggle with the cycle of austerity and recession that has trapped the country since it became the first victim of the debt crisis in 2010.


Unity Idea


New Democracy won 30 percent of the vote, or 130 seats, enough to put together a coalition with Pasok, whose leader Evangelos Venizelos said he'd propose President Karolos Papoulias broker a unity government which would include Syriza and Democratic Left, the sixth-biggest party. Papoulias is expected to formally begin the process of asking Samaras to form a government today.

New Democracy and Pasok would have 163 seats if they agree to govern together in the 300-member parliament, according to the official projection by the Interior Ministry in Athens based on 85 percent of yesterday's vote. The addition of Democratic Left, which has demanded commitment to staying in the euro as well as "gradual disengagement" from the austerity measures, would give a government 179 seats.

Underscoring the urgency is that New Democracy and Pasok, rivals for four decades since the end of a military junta, will put aside their differences to prevent an economic collapse.