A little step forward

WITH austerity the worst word to use in Greece, at least there seems a little light at the end of the financial tunnel, after a lengthy meeting this week.

  Greece received a two-year extension to its fiscal adjustment programme, but no decision was made on the disbursement of an outstanding 31.5 tranche of an EU/IMF bailout loan at Monday's Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

 "Together with the Greek adjustment program the Eurogroup will further discuss (Greece's) financing needs and debt sustainability at an extraordinary meeting that will be convened on 20 November," the ministers said in a joint statement that was read out by Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker at a press conference after the meeting, adding that a few more "prior actions" remained to be implemented by the Greek authorities by then.

 The Eurogroup acknowledged the considerable efforts made by the Greek citizens and welcomed the resolve of the Greek authorities to put the programme back on track, particularly after parliament's adoption of a "substantial set of reforms (omnibus bill of austerity measures) as well as a convincing budget for 2013" on November 7 and 11 respectively, Juncker said, adding that "these have received a preliminary positive assessment" by the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Troika of Greece's international lenders.

 He said that the ratification process for the disbursement of the next tranche by the eurozone national parliaments will begin shortly before November 20, after which the Eurogroup will convene again, possibly on November 26, either in person or by teleconference, to ascertain whether everything is in place for the final approval of the next loan tranche to Greece.

 

Not the images we want to see

THE leaders of Greece's power-sharing government on have agreed on most of the cost-cutting measures for the next two years, in line with demands set by the troika of foreign lenders, the chief of a junior coalition member said.

  “We reached an agreement on the main points. There are still some outstanding issues. We are going to seek for a four-year extension [of the Greek fiscal adjustment program], said Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis after the meeting. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of conservative New Democracy party was also meeting with PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos.

  Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, who was present at the meeting of the three leaders, described the agreement as a “basis for strong negotiation” with the country's creditors.

  Stournaras said the proposed measures will first have to be approved by the troika envoys, expected in Athens during the weekend, before they are voted upon in Parliament. The cuts are essential if Greece is to continue receiving funds from international emergency loans.

  The meeting came a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital in protest at the anticipated cuts.  It was not clear whether a new leaders' meeting will take place.

Tens of thousands of protestors shouting "enough is enough" took part in trade union rallies and marches organised in central Athens on Wednesday, as part of a 24-hour nationwide strike in protest against a new package of austerity measures.

  The main protest was called by the General Confederation of Greek Labour (GSEE) and the civil servants' union federation ADEDY. Pame, the Communist Party-backed trade union, organised its own protest.

  Estimates of the size of protest marches varied greatly between organisers and police, with the former claiming over 100,000 took part and the latter estimating participation to have been in the region of 50,000.

  The march went as far as Syntagma Square, where a delegation from the trade unions presented a resolution outlining the demands of Wednesday's nationwide general strike to parliament. There were more clashes with police by a small group, who threw petrol bombs at the police, and these were the images shown on tv around the world. While the majority of the rally was peaceful, and one can understand their reasons for the really, the clashes were mainly at the end of the day, but nonetheless  pictures that nobody wants to see.