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| Greek Prime Minister Won’t Seek to Extend Bailout | Greek Prime Minister Won’t Seek to Extend Bailout |
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| ATHENS — As pressure grows on Greece to reach a deal with its international creditors and avert fears that it will default on its huge debt, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday that his government would not seek an extension of a stringent bailout program and would carry out its campaign pledges to roll back austerity, but gradually. | ATHENS — As pressure grows on Greece to reach a deal with its international creditors and avert fears that it will default on its huge debt, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday that his government would not seek an extension of a stringent bailout program and would carry out its campaign pledges to roll back austerity, but gradually. |
| In laying out his government’s program in a speech before Parliament, Mr. Tsipras sought to tread a line between satisfying coalition lawmakers and supporters that his government will honor the anti-austerity promises that brought it to power last month while reassuring creditors that his radical leftist administration is prepared to move toward a compromise that keeps the economy afloat without further burdening European taxpayers. | In laying out his government’s program in a speech before Parliament, Mr. Tsipras sought to tread a line between satisfying coalition lawmakers and supporters that his government will honor the anti-austerity promises that brought it to power last month while reassuring creditors that his radical leftist administration is prepared to move toward a compromise that keeps the economy afloat without further burdening European taxpayers. |
| Greece’s creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — want the new government to seek an extension beyond Feb. 28 of the European portion of the country’s bailout of 240 billion euros, or $270 billion. The government, however, has said that despite dwindling cash reserves, it is not interested in the latest portion of the bailout, a loan of €7 billion, because of what it sees as onerous conditions. Instead, it has said it wants a program between now and the end of May to bridge the gap and permission to raise short-term funding by issuing treasury bills. | Greece’s creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — want the new government to seek an extension beyond Feb. 28 of the European portion of the country’s bailout of 240 billion euros, or $270 billion. The government, however, has said that despite dwindling cash reserves, it is not interested in the latest portion of the bailout, a loan of €7 billion, because of what it sees as onerous conditions. Instead, it has said it wants a program between now and the end of May to bridge the gap and permission to raise short-term funding by issuing treasury bills. |
| Mr. Tsipras said his government would not seek an extension of the bailout, which he said would be tantamount to continuing the “mistakes and disaster” of the past, and he repeated calls for a bridge program until a “mutually acceptable deal” is found. He said his government needed “fiscal space” for discussion on restructuring of debt. | |
| “We only have one commitment: to serve the interests of our people, the good of society,” he said, noting that it was an “irreversible decision” of his government to fulfill its campaign promises “in their entirety.” | “We only have one commitment: to serve the interests of our people, the good of society,” he said, noting that it was an “irreversible decision” of his government to fulfill its campaign promises “in their entirety.” |
| Mr. Tsipras also pledged to replace a hated unified property tax, which combines several levies, with a new tax on large property and to increase the tax-free threshold on annual income to €12,000 from the current €5,000. Cracking down on tax evasion and corruption were also underlined as priorities. | Mr. Tsipras also pledged to replace a hated unified property tax, which combines several levies, with a new tax on large property and to increase the tax-free threshold on annual income to €12,000 from the current €5,000. Cracking down on tax evasion and corruption were also underlined as priorities. |
| Immediate action will be taken, he said, to restore collective wage bargaining, bringing unions back into negotiations on workers’ salaries and working conditions. He also pledged to restore the minimum wage to €751 a month from €586, a measure that will be enforced gradually from now until 2016, he said. | Immediate action will be taken, he said, to restore collective wage bargaining, bringing unions back into negotiations on workers’ salaries and working conditions. He also pledged to restore the minimum wage to €751 a month from €586, a measure that will be enforced gradually from now until 2016, he said. |
| The Greek authorities have already met with resistance, even in France and Italy, whose governments have pushed back against German-led austerity. A tour of European capitals last week by Mr. Tsipras and his finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, failed to win firm support for Greek ambitions to write down a €320 billion debt burden and to revoke some of the most severe cutbacks. On Friday, the leader of the eurozone group of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, rejected Greece’s bridge program idea. And approval for issuing treasury bills must come from the European Central Bank, which has said it will no longer accept Greek bonds as collateral for liquidity, increasing the pressure on the country’s cash-strapped banks. | |
| This week promises to be even tougher for Mr. Tsipras. His coalition, with 162 lawmakers in the 300-seat Parliament, is expected to secure a confidence vote on Tuesday night. But his foreign audience will be harder to win over. A day before the Greek prime minister faces his European Union peers at a summit meeting on Thursday, Mr. Varoufakis will meet eurozone counterparts in Brussels and is certain to be pressed to seek an extension to Greece’s bailout. The International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, and the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, will also attend the summit meeting, increasing the pressure. | This week promises to be even tougher for Mr. Tsipras. His coalition, with 162 lawmakers in the 300-seat Parliament, is expected to secure a confidence vote on Tuesday night. But his foreign audience will be harder to win over. A day before the Greek prime minister faces his European Union peers at a summit meeting on Thursday, Mr. Varoufakis will meet eurozone counterparts in Brussels and is certain to be pressed to seek an extension to Greece’s bailout. The International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, and the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, will also attend the summit meeting, increasing the pressure. |
| The Greek issue is also expected to figure on the agenda of talks of a Group of 20 finance ministers’ summit meeting in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday amid growing concern about the implications for the global economy of Greece’s debt crisis. | The Greek issue is also expected to figure on the agenda of talks of a Group of 20 finance ministers’ summit meeting in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday amid growing concern about the implications for the global economy of Greece’s debt crisis. |
| “We don’t intend to threaten stability in Europe,” Mr. Tsipras told Parliament, adding that his government would not negotiate national sovereignty. “Greece remains a focus of international interest,” he said, but this time “as a protagonist, not as second fiddle.” | “We don’t intend to threaten stability in Europe,” Mr. Tsipras told Parliament, adding that his government would not negotiate national sovereignty. “Greece remains a focus of international interest,” he said, but this time “as a protagonist, not as second fiddle.” |
| “The problem is not just Greek, it never was,” he said. “The crisis is not Greek, it is European.” | “The problem is not just Greek, it never was,” he said. “The crisis is not Greek, it is European.” |
| Also, in a comment aimed at Germany, Mr. Tsipras said it was the historical duty of Greece to seek war reparations and the repayment of a forced loan from World War II. | Also, in a comment aimed at Germany, Mr. Tsipras said it was the historical duty of Greece to seek war reparations and the repayment of a forced loan from World War II. |
| Already Athens is being squeezed. After last week’s decision by the European Central Bank on Greek bonds, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating on Greece further into junk status, to B- and warned of a possible default or an exit from the eurozone in “the worst case scenario.” Moody’s followed suit, saying it was placing Greece “on review” for a downgrade because of "considerable uncertainty regarding the outcome of the ensuing negotiations.” | Already Athens is being squeezed. After last week’s decision by the European Central Bank on Greek bonds, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating on Greece further into junk status, to B- and warned of a possible default or an exit from the eurozone in “the worst case scenario.” Moody’s followed suit, saying it was placing Greece “on review” for a downgrade because of "considerable uncertainty regarding the outcome of the ensuing negotiations.” |
| Greece is expected to return to growth this year after a six-year recession that has pushed unemployment above 25 percent and slashed household incomes by a third. Last week, however, the European Commission lowered its projected growth forecast for Greece to 2.5 percent, from a more optimistic estimate of 2.9 percent in November, as such robust growth is seen as dependent on the enforcement of economic overhauls pledged by the previous Greek administration, which the new government has contested. |