Prime Minister George Papandreou and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos failed to offer concrete answers to other members of the Cabinet on what a planned revision of the terms of a second rescue plan for Greece, which was hammered out by European Union leaders in July but has yet to be ratified, will mean in real terms.
Many ministers left a cabinet meeting complaining that they had understood little or nothing about the outlook for Greece following indications this week by several EU officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker, that the second rescue package — referred to now as the July 21 agreement -would be subject to certain changes.
According to sources, Venizelos had wanted to fully brief his fellow ministers about the scenarios being considered by his eurozone counterparts but was prevented from doing so by Papandreou due to fears of the possible repercussions of such speculation. But many ministers reportedly pressed Venizelos to elaborate on comments he made earlier in the day to a group of MPs of ruling PASOK regarding the “broadening of efforts to tackle Greece’s debt.” Venizelos is also said to have reassured MPs that he expected deliberations by eurozone counterparts to produce a positive decision for Greece, “that would fortify our country institutionally and financially.”
But the minister fudged his responses to questions about the possibility of a larger-than-expected haircut on Greek debt, a scenario that would mean rather than being in “selective default” Greece would experience a full default.
According to sources, several ministers, including Health Minister Andreas Loverdos, complained to Papandreou after the cabinet meeting about the lack of substance to the briefing.
The July 21 agreement is expected to be high on the agenda of scheduled talks tomorrow between Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Additonally an extraordinary meeting of eurozone finance ministers that was due to take place on October 13 to decide whether Greece should receive its next emergency loan tranche has been postponed. Eurogroup chief and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker announced the delay saying that the final decision on Greece’s eight billion-euro instalment has been postponed because the troika’s assessment will not be ready by October 13.
He did not suggest an alternative date for the meeting but insisted that Greece would not default and that there had been no discussion of this option. In the meantime the Greek Parliament voted late on Tuesday in favor of holding a referendum aimed at getting the public’s approval for a series of constitutional changes. Although the government has not yet set out in detail what topics it will address, it may want to pave the way to make it easier to fire civil servants and to set up tax courts to give authorities greater power in pursuing people and businesses that owe money to the state.
However, Interior Minister Haris Kastanidis suggested to MPs that that referendum would contain a question that would allow Greeks to state their opinion on how the government is tackling the economic crisis. “The question that will be posed will relate to the fundamental interests of the Greek people in the face of the fiscal and economic crisis,” said Kastanidis. “It will involve a question or questions that will relate to the crucial economic and fiscal situation.” The minister did not give any further details apart from saying that the question that will be put to Greek voters later this year will not be easy.
Source: Kathimerini
