NEWS,24.06.2012

Greece outlines plan to ease bailout burden

 

Greece wants tax cuts, extra help for the poor and unemployed, a freeze on public sector lay-offs and more time to cut its deficit under a plan likely to run into strong opposition at a European Union summit next week.The new coalition government's programme, reflected public pressure to ease the terms of a 130 billion euro bailout saving Greece from bankruptcy but only at the cost of harsh economic suffering.If implemented in full, the new programme would undo many austerity measures the country agreed in February to clinch the bailout package, its second since 2010.Euro zone partners have offered adjustments but no radical rewrite of the bailout conditions, with paymaster Germany particularly resistant to Greek calls for leniency.Greece's programme includes a call for the recapitalisation of the country's fifth-largest lender, ATEbank - a state-owned agricultural bank that EU sources said this month was among several lenders the European Commission wanted to be wound down. The finance ministry has denied that report.The programme, agreed by leaders of the three-party coalition after a June 17 election, faces its first test at a two-day EU summit starting next Thursday and sure to be dominated by the debt crisis that started in Greece and is now threatening to engulf Italy and Spain, the euro zone's third and fourth-largest economies, respectively.Inspectors from Greece's "troika" of lenders  the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund  were due in Athens on Monday Tuesday  to review the country's progress.Euro zone officials have said the bailout package should be revised only to reflect time lost on two elections since early May and a deeper than expected recession."The general target is for there to be no further reductions in wages or pensions and no more taxes," the Greek government programme said.It called for a cut in the 23-percent value-added tax (sales tax) rate for restaurants and farmers, a freeze on lay-offs in the bloated public sector and for unemployment benefit to be paid for two years rather than one.The government will also ask for two more years, until 2016, to cut its budget deficit to 2.1% of national economic output from 9.3% in 2011, an extension that would require extra foreign funding.The lowest income tax threshold should be raised, the document said, and the minimum wage  cut by 22 percent in February  revised in line with agreements between employers and workers.The programme also calls for the accelerated payment of 6 billion euros of government debt to suppliers.The coalition brings together the conservative New Democracy, Socialist PASOK and Democratic Left in an alliance that will face constant pressure from an opposition led by the radical leftist Syriza bloc.Led by charismatic ex-communist Alexis Tsipras, Syriza surged into second place in the election on a vow to tear up the terms of the bailout.Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a Harvard-educated economist who switched from opposing the first bailout to reluctantly supporting the second, has promised to soften the terms without jeopardising Greece's place in the euro zone."Though the troika will be in Athens on Tuesday, the crunch test will be Thursday's EU summit," the centre-left Ethnos daily wrote in an editorial on Saturday.

Greece aims to stem layoffs - policy plan

 

Greece's new coalition government will seek to stem layoffs and extend by two years the application period of a tough recovery plan imposed in return for EU-IMF loans, an official document said on Saturday.The policy document released by the conservative-led coalition government said an upcoming effort to "revise" Greece's EU-IMF bailout deal in talks with creditors includes "the extension of the fiscal adjustment by at least two years" to 2016.The aim would be to meet fiscal goals "without further cuts to salaries, pensions and public investment," it said, announcing a freeze on further civil service layoffs and a boost to unemployment benefits."The aim is to avoid layoffs of permanent staff, but to economise a serious amount through non-salary operational costs and less bureaucracy," the document said.The new government said it wanted to review minimum wage cuts and measures taken earlier this year to facilitate private-sector layoffs, arguing that collective labour agreements would "return to the level defined by European social law" and what Europeans have agreed on.It said employers and unions should be allowed to set the private sector minimum wage, which was cut by 22 percent to 586 euros ($736) in February among additional austerity measures taken to clinch a new rescue deal.Greece remains under intense international pressure to implement the terms of the EU-IMF bailout package that has kept the indebted country's economy afloat for two years.European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank inspectors return to Athens on Monday to resume discussions suspended because of Greece's two-month political deadlock brought to an end by elections last Sunday.

NEWS,06.05.2012.

France holds breath ahead of tight vote

 

France held its breath on Saturday on the eve of a presidential election that Socialist Francois Hollande was predicted to win despite incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy closing the gap after wooing the far-right.Political speeches and new opinion polls have been banned since a particularly ferocious campaign ended on Friday night, but the last poll published ahead of the deadline forecast a 52-48 per cent win for Hollande.The Ifop-Fiducial poll said Sarkozy has clawed back six percentage points of voter intentions since the end of last week as he went all-out to enchant those who voted for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round.With the Socialist’s lead the narrowest since campaigning began, Sarkozy has vowed a surprise, while Hollande has stressed that nothing can be assumed about a first Socialist presidential victory in over a quarter century.“Everything is possible on Sunday,” admitted the left-leaning Liberation’s headline, while the pro-Sarkozy Le Figaro’s front page stressed that French citizens had a “historic choice”.“Electing a president is not a beauty contest,” warned a Le Figaro editorial, apparently targeting Hollande’s image as a soft and convivial consensus builder without ministerial experience.Liberation skewered Sarkozy for dragging his UMP party ever further to the right as he courted National Front voters, vowing to defend French values, limit immigration and strengthen France’s borders. “Whatever the outcome, the political landscape will remain profoundly, durably and dangerously transformed,” it said. French overseas territories were voting on Saturday, before the mass of some 46 million voters goes to the polls on Sunday.Hollande was spending Saturday with his partner Valerie Trierwiler in his political heartland Tulle in central France, while Sarkozy was with his wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni, and their baby daughter Giulia.Hollande won the April 22 first round with 28.63 per cent of the votes to Sarkozy’s 27.18 percent, and both candidates have been fighting for the votes of those whose candidates failed to make the run-off.Le Pen, who won almost 18 percent in the first round, has said she will cast a blank ballot, and observers expect many of her supporters to do the same.Ifop has forecast however that 55 per cent of her voters would back Sarkozy and 19 per cent Hollande.

 

Cameron hails London mayor win

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday hailed fellow Conservative Boris Johnson's re-election as London mayor but it was the sole bright spot for his party as it took a mid-term beating.In local elections on Friday the opposition Labour party took control of 32 councils and won more than 800 seats at the expense of the Conservatives and their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats."I think it was a very strong campaign by Boris. It was based on his record, on the excellent things he has done out there and I am delighted to congratulate him," said Cameron, standing alongside Johnson at City Hall."It was a campaign the whole Conservative party got behind. I enjoyed campaigning for Boris but now what matters is working together for the good of London, as PM, as mayor, and that is exactly what we are going to do."Eccentric Johnson, famed for his dishevelled blond locks and gift for buffoonery, won 51.5 percent of the vote in a closer-than-expected run-off with rival and predecessor, Labour's Ken Livingstone."It was a very hard-fought long campaign," said Johnson, who will now lead London into the Olympic Games in July."I am grateful to the Conservative Party. They did turn out in large numbers to help me but I think we were able to reach people across the city with a message that resonated with them in tough times."British newspapers said Cameron now faces pressure from the right wing of the Conservative party to ditch policies including support for gay marriage, and bring in more radical tax and spending ideas."Now stand up for Tory values," said the right-leaning Daily Mail newspaper, while the left-leaning Guardian said the "drubbing" also boosted Johnson's own credentials for a possible Conservative leadership challenge.The Conservatives lost 12 councils and more than 400 seats in the local elections while the centrist Lib Dems, led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, lost one council and lost more than 300 seats.Capping a bad month for the government after Britain slid back into recession, Cameron's push to create the posts of elected mayors in England's biggest cities was widely rejected in referendums.