No Progress in Greek Coalition Budget Cut Talks

By Andy Dabilis on September 20, 2012

Wrangling for weeks over how to cut 11.5 billion euros, or some $14.6 billion from the budget over the next two years as demanded by international lenders, the uneasy Greek coalition government led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his partners, the PASOK Socialists and Democratic Left, failed to reach an agreement after talking for several hours on Sept. 20.
Samaras is trying to convince PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis to renege on their campaign promises – as Samaras already has – to protect the most vulnerable sectors of Greek society who are expected to bear the brunt of new cuts.
Venizelos and Kouvelis were reportedly opposed to some of the planned pension cuts and layoff and eventual firing of 35,000 state workers, but the newspaper Kathimerini said it appeared they were ready to give in to keep unity.
The three met with Finance Minister Yiannis Stournas, Deputy Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis for a briefing on Stournaras’ negotiations with the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) which is putting up $325 billion in rescue monies to keep the Greek economy from defaulting and taking the Eurozone with it.
The talks with the Troika have reportedly become very tense as the coalition leaders can’t find a common ground on a remaining 2-3 billion euros in cuts with Kathimerini reported Stournaras was feuding with them over how to cut public sector costs.