February 9, 2012
Greek political leaders on Wednesday night were unable to come to agreement on a European Union demand for 300 million euros worth of pension cuts. The snag could jeopardize an EU aid package worth 130 billion euros -- and Greece's ongoing membership in the euro zone. Elsewhere, though, progress appears to have been made.
At stake is a €130 billion ($170 billion) bailout package, Greece's future in the euro zone and the potential damage that a disorderly national insolvency could do to European banks and the global economy. A mere €300 million in budget cuts seems but a trifle in comparison.
That, though, is the amount by which Greek political party leaders have come up short in their weeks of talks aimed at fulfilling European Union demands that they push through additional savings worth €3.3 billion as a condition for the vast bailout. On Thursday, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is off to Brussels for meetings to finalize the aid money. But the failure to agree on all the belt tightening measures sought by the EU has now put the bailout in doubt.
Venizelos implored the party leaders to reach a quick agreement, saying that the country's "survival over the coming years" depends on EU help. "It will determine whether the country remains in the euro zone or whether its place in Europe will be endangered," he said, according to the Associated Press. "There is not room for any other expediency. We must look Greeks in the eye, look at the national interest and the interest of our children."
The unsuccessful conclusion of the austerity talks on early Thursday morning comes despite increasing pressure from the so-called troika of Greek creditors -- made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- and widespread exasperation in European capitals.
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