Greek bailout held up by politicians’ refusal to accept plans to cut the cost of pensions
GREEK Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said last night that one final area of disagreement “requires further elaboration and discussion with the troika”, as talks over a new bailout package dragged on.
The troika – the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – requires Greece to implement reforms and austerity measures to ensure its debts become sustainable beyond the next tranche of aid.
Many reforms are thought to have been accepted by senior members of the coalition parties, including a significant reduction in the youth minimum wage, and the selling off of more state-owned assets.
“There was broad agreement on all the programme issues with the exception of one,” Papademos said in the early hours of this morning. The exception is believed to be cuts to pensions. Negotiations to overcome the hurdle “will take place immediately” [today], Papademos promised.