Brussels, 28/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU is bringing all its weight to bear to put pressure on the Greek parliament so that, this Wednesday, it will pass the budgetary strategy 2011-2015 put forward by the Papandreou government and, on Thursday, it will approve additional austerity measures worth €28 billion. Conditional on this crucial vote is payment of immediate financial aid of €12 billion which will allow Greece to honour its financial commitments in July and to finalise a second medium-term aid plan designed to give Athens time to reorganise its public finances and return to economic growth. The EU speaks as one in rejecting any idea of a “plan B”, referred to in the press, were the Greek parliament to vote down the unpopular measures, and in order to avoid the country's bankruptcy and the incalculably catastrophic consequences this would have. This approach is having only a limited effect on the protagonists: the main opposition party continues to reject calls for national unity, and while the Right would appear to be just as much to blame for the current situation as the party in power, the Socialists are finding it difficult to remain united and the Greek people continue to demonstrate against the austerity measures.
“There is no plan B”, Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso stated categorically in a debate in the European Parliament on the outcome of the recent European summit (see EUROPE 10405). Those, he said, speaking about an alternative, such as Greece's leaving the euro, “are quite simply lying” and “will be responsible for a catastrophe” for Greek public finances because it is these same ones who refuse to lend Greece money. The only plan is the one negotiated between the Greek authorities and the troika (EU, ECB and IMF), Barroso said. According to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy: “Even without Europe, Greece would have to consolidate its public finances and bring in painful reforms”. Because of “tax fraud”, the people of Greece do not feel that the measures proposed are fair and equitable, he acknowledged, however. He went on to warn: “The coming hours will be decisive for the people of Greece, for the eurozone and even for global economic stability”. In a press release, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn was equally firm: “To those who speculate about other options, let me say this clearly: there is no plan B to avoid default. The only way to avoid immediate default is for parliament to endorse the revised economic programme (that) includes both the medium-term fiscal strategy and the privatisation programme. They must be approved if the next tranche of financial assistance is to be released”.
To tell Greeks, on the eve of a crucial vote for the European strategy on tackling the sovereign debt crisis, that the EU will ride to the assistance of Greece no matter the outcome of the vote in the Greek parliament would run counter to all the pressure Europe is putting on Greece to swallow the bitter pill of austerity. The economic press is talking, however, about discussions that Germany has called for on a back-up plan. The comments of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble in German weekly Bild am Sonntag, that preparations should be made for all eventualities have set tongues a-wagging. Eurozone member states repeat endlessly that they will do all that is necessary to safeguard the stability of the zone. A yes vote in the Greek parliament, no matter how narrow the majority, would allow some breathing space.
In the course of the debate in the European Parliament, a number of MEPs both pro-European, such as the leader of the Socialist Group Martin Schulz (Germany), and eurosceptical, such as the leader of the ELD Group Nigel Farage (UK), asked Barroso and Van Rompuy what Europe would do it the proposed measures were thrown out by the Greek parliament. It was a question to which no answer was given. (M.B./transl.rt)