Merkel biedt Grieken financiële hoop op vooravond nieuwe stakingen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - On a visit to Athens on Tuesday (22 February), German Chancellor Angela Merkel i offered Greece something of a lifeline, suggesting that Berlin will back an extension of the payment period of the country's €110 billion bail-out.
"There certainly is a discussion about whether to consider extending the running time of the Greek program," she said, according to reports from a press conference between Ms Merkel and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.
She added that Ireland's bail-out terms covered a seven-year period, while Greece's was just three. "It's one point that's on the table," she noted.
But she also said that such a decision "can only be decided in connection with all the other measures."
She patted Greece on the head for its austerity programme, saying: "Greece has started to put its house in order ... We have been watching this with satisfaction because we know that this requires political boldness."
At the same time, like a watchful nanny inspecting how well a child has cleaned up his room, she warned that for all the cuts and liberalisation the centre-left government has imposed in the face of mass social unrest, Greece must still go further.
"I believe that there are still some more things for Greece to do and the more decisive that it is in following the necessary policies, the more Germany will believe that it can succeed," she said.
Mr Papandreou for his part thanked the German leader for considering Greece's request for a bail-out extension: "Angela, I want to thank you very much for what you have done, your support and your friendship."
Ahead of the top-level meeting, talks between the respective finance ministers, Giorgos Papaconstantinou i and Wolfgang Schaeuble i also took place in Athens. According to Greek daily Kathemerini, unnamed Greek diplomats said they are confident that the repayment period will be extended to 10 or 11 years, but are not as sure that the Berlin paymaster will accede to a lowering of the five percent interest paid on the sum.
The lifeline came ahead of the country's ninth general strike in opposition to austerity measures and a day after the parliament had managed to push through legislation introducing a wholesale liberalisation of a number of professions, including lawyers, architects, engineers and notaries, a landmark piece of legislation demanded by the EU-IMF-ECB troika in exchange for the bail-out.
The legislation was passed following a series of amendments to ensure dissident members of the governing Pasok party did not abstain.
On Wednesday, in a strike organised jointly by the two leading union federations, GSEE and ADEDY, flights will be grounded and most of public transport will come to a halt while schools will be shuttered and hospitals will only respond to emergency needs. All municipal services as well as doctors offices, gas stations and pharmacies will be closed.
The two unions have called for a single day of action, but the hard-left Syriza coalition and anarchist groups have called for protesters to stay on in the central Syntagma Square until the government is overthrown, inspired by protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.