| Greece to seek two-year extension to bailout term |
ATHENS Greece’s new government is to ask lenders for two more years to hit fiscal targets, responding to huge public pressure for a softening of an international bailout but setting up a showdown with its euro zone partners.
An official from the small Democratic Left party attending three-party talks before the announcement of a new coalition government said the delay of the bailout deadline and an extension of unemployment benefits were key elements of a new government policy document.
The document was agreed between officials from the conservative New Democracy party, which won an election on Sunday, and its new coalition allies, the PASOK socialists and Democratic Left, the official said.
The policy agreement sets up a difficult negotiation with Greece’s euro zone partners, in particular paymaster Germany, which have offered modifications but no radical re-write of a 130 billion euro ($165.13 billion) lifeline agreed in March, which is keeping Athens from bankruptcy.
New Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras named the chairman of the National Bank of Greece, Vassilis Rapanos, as finance minister on Thursday in a coalition cabinet that wants to renegotiate the terms of an EU-IMF bailout programme.
The formation of a new coalition government in Greece demonstrates the country’s will to honour commitments and stay in the eurozone, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said.
“I warmly welcome today’s announcement of the formation of a new government in Greece,” Barroso said in a statement.
“I am particularly reassured that the new administration will count on ample and broad-based parliamentary support,” he said.
“I believe that this sends a clear signal of Greece’s determination to honour its commitments and stay in the euro.” Barroso said that the so-called Troika of bailout programme auditors — the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank — will return to Athens in the coming days.
The aim of their visit is to “exchange views with the new government and to begin to assess what has been done and what still needs to be done in relation to the essential reforms set out in the second economic adjustment programme for Greece.”
Agencies
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