Greece pleads for more time to implement cuts
Greece needs more time to implement tough financial reforms and spending cuts, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said today.
His comments came as he began a series of top-level European meetings to discuss the debt-ridden country's international bailout.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup, the body representing the finance ministers of the 17 eurozone countries, arrived in Athens to meet Mr Samaras.
The Greek premier then heads to Berlin later this week to meet chancellor Angela Merkel and on to Paris to see president Francois Hollande.
Greece is dependent on two international rescue loan packages from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, which are preventing it from bankruptcy and potentially having to leave the euro.
In return, it has had to impose strict austerity measures, including cuts to salaries and pensions and repeated tax hikes. But Athens has faltered in the speed and effectiveness with which it has implemented the reforms, fuelling impatience by its creditors, notably Germany, which is the single largest contributor to the bailout.
The so-called "Troika" of debt inspectors that oversee Greece's bailout program - the European Union, European Central Bank and the IMF - are due in Athens next month to assess and report on how well the country has stuck to the terms of the deal.
Hinging on a favourable report from the Troika is a massive bailout instalment, without which Greece faces a chaotic default on its vast debts and a possible exit from the euro.
A Greek exit could destabilise markets and economies around the world as other vulnerable countries in the eurozone are caught up in investor panic.
Mr Samaras said that while Greece needs more time to restart its economy, this did not necessarily mean it needed more funds.
"Let me be very clear: we are not asking for extra money," told the Bild newspaper.
"We stand by our commitments and the implementation of all requirements. But we must encourage growth, because that reduces the financing gaps."
"All we want is a little 'air to breathe' to get the economy going and increase state income," he added, without specifying any timeframe.
"More time does not automatically mean more money."
Mrs Merkel downplayed expectations of her Friday meeting with Mr Samaras.
"We will not find solutions on Friday - we will wait for the troika report. Then the decisions will be made," she said.
She stressed the importance of everyone fulfilling their commitments. "What Europe needs to be taken seriously in the world is credibility," she said.
Mr Samaras' fragile three-party coalition government, which assumed the country's leadership in June after two inconclusive elections, has a delicate balancing act to pull off.
Faced with widespread anger in Greece over harsh measures seen as unfair to ordinary people, it had pledged to seek to renegotiate some of the terms of the bailout. But its creditors have little patience left, with many officials across Europe insisting Greece should not get any more leeway.
