Political Dilemmas Related To The Release Of 5th Aid Tranche
Pressures for decisions on the Greek debt multiply over the last few days, taking the form of dilemmas about whether Greece would stay in the Eurozone by implementing the medium-term plan with additional measures for 2011 or it would be force to leave the single currency, with devastating consequences.
The proposal of Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) for a referendum to gain a mandate for further austerity measures, spending cuts and privatizations or exit from euro, along with intervention of European Commissioner Maria Damanaki on Wednesday on a similar manner, revealed that the negotiations between the Greek government and the opposition are exhausting the possibilities of an answer to the Troika in the coming days.
This answer will allow the release of the fifth aid tranche and launch alongside procedures for a new loan for 2012, as shown by recent statements by European Commissioner Olli Rehn and Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker.
During unofficial contacts, the European Commission confirms that it would pass the issue to the finance ministers in order to proceed with a political decision, since it is clear that in financial terms, the possibility of results that are consistent with initial objectives is now significantly reduced.
On the other hand, the European Central Bank remains firmly in its position to reject any form of a Greek debt restructuring and insists on implementing the measures and the expanding of borrowing with new bilateral loans for 2012 or an additional loan through the temporary rescue fund EFSF, a proposal that the German government rejects.
Diplomatic sources in Brussels told Capital.gr that “the situation seems desperate but we should bear in mind that that the solutions for Greece, Portugal and Ireland had been adopted is such desperate situations, when agreement seemed to be unreachable”.
They don’t rule out that European Summit in June may not provide any bold answer and the issue would be passed to the European Summit in September .
(capital.gr)
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