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| Greece Struggles to Rally Support for Its Proposals | Greece Struggles to Rally Support for Its Proposals |
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| BRUSSELS — Just hours after abandoning its anti-austerity position and accepting tough terms to try and secure another bailout, Greece’s governing party struggled on Friday to rally domestic support for its abrupt reversal while influential voices in Germany and Eastern Europe expressed skepticism about whether Greece would really follow through on pledges to be more fiscally responsible. | BRUSSELS — Just hours after abandoning its anti-austerity position and accepting tough terms to try and secure another bailout, Greece’s governing party struggled on Friday to rally domestic support for its abrupt reversal while influential voices in Germany and Eastern Europe expressed skepticism about whether Greece would really follow through on pledges to be more fiscally responsible. |
| With a Sunday deadline looming for a decision on whether to cut Greece adrift, a crunch point that all sides see as Greece’s last chance to avoid bankruptcy and stay in the euro, the chances of a deal seemed to hang less on the precise details of Greece’s offer than political calculations in Athens, other European capitals and Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union. | With a Sunday deadline looming for a decision on whether to cut Greece adrift, a crunch point that all sides see as Greece’s last chance to avoid bankruptcy and stay in the euro, the chances of a deal seemed to hang less on the precise details of Greece’s offer than political calculations in Athens, other European capitals and Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union. |
| The new proposals put forward by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, which largely match those rejected in a Greek referendum last Sunday, were given swift thumbs-up by France and lifted hopes in Brussels that, after months of ill-tempered arguments and fruitless crisis meetings, Greece and its creditors could reach a deal by midnight on Sunday to prevent a fracturing of Europe’s currency union. | |
| The goal is not to seal an agreement that would immediately provide Greece with fresh funding, but simply to get a formal green light to start what could be lengthy negotiations on a new bailout to replace one that expired on June 30. Just the signal to start talks, though, could lift, at least temporarily, a dark cloud of uncertainty and give the European Central Bank cover to perhaps expand recently frozen emergency cash for Greek banks, which have been closed since June 29. | |
| With so many different actors — 19 eurozone finance ministers, 28 European Union leaders, who have been called to Brussels to discuss the crisis on Sunday and the various bureaucracies of the union in Brussels — and so much bad blood after months of insults, frustration and failure, a final agreement is still far from a sure thing, despite Greece’s pledges to carry out a raft of measures like tax increases and cuts in pension spending. | |
| Representatives of the main creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the other European nations that use the euro — were poring over the new Greek proposal on Friday. Their assessments will play a critical role in any decisions by the Eurogroup, an assembly of finance ministers from euro-using countries, which is scheduled to meet in Brussels on Saturday. | Representatives of the main creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the other European nations that use the euro — were poring over the new Greek proposal on Friday. Their assessments will play a critical role in any decisions by the Eurogroup, an assembly of finance ministers from euro-using countries, which is scheduled to meet in Brussels on Saturday. |
| Even Mr. Tsipras’s party, Syriza, which drafted the proposals with help from French experts, seemed confused, with members voicing concern over measures that the culture minister, Nikos Xydakis, described on Friday as “very tough.” Lawmakers from Syriza, a fractious coalition of left-wing groups, huddled in Parliament for talks on Greece’s new proposals to creditors ahead of a debate scheduled for Friday evening. | Even Mr. Tsipras’s party, Syriza, which drafted the proposals with help from French experts, seemed confused, with members voicing concern over measures that the culture minister, Nikos Xydakis, described on Friday as “very tough.” Lawmakers from Syriza, a fractious coalition of left-wing groups, huddled in Parliament for talks on Greece’s new proposals to creditors ahead of a debate scheduled for Friday evening. |
| The meeting was said to be tense because of serious objections among legislators over the additional austerity measures that are laid out in the proposals. | The meeting was said to be tense because of serious objections among legislators over the additional austerity measures that are laid out in the proposals. |
| Arriving for the session on Friday morning, a visibly rattled Panagiotis Lafazanis, the energy minister who leads Syriza’s radical Left Platform faction and has railed against further austerity, refused to answer reporters’ questions. The culture minister, Mr. Xydakis, complained that Greece faced an “intransigent Germany,” adding: “We will have to see how we will survive in this very tough framework.” | Arriving for the session on Friday morning, a visibly rattled Panagiotis Lafazanis, the energy minister who leads Syriza’s radical Left Platform faction and has railed against further austerity, refused to answer reporters’ questions. The culture minister, Mr. Xydakis, complained that Greece faced an “intransigent Germany,” adding: “We will have to see how we will survive in this very tough framework.” |
| Speaking to members of Syriza in the parliament building on Friday, Mr. Tsipras said his government has a “mandate from the Greek people to bring a better agreement” but “we do not have a mandate to take the country out of the eurozone,” an event that would follow a decisive rupture with creditors. | |
| Mr. Tsipras, who last week vowed never to succumb to creditors’ terms he condemned as the work of “extreme conservative forces,” seems to have calculated that it was worth making concessions in order to secure a three-year bailout loan totaling 53.5 billion euros (about $59 billion) and the possibility of negotiating easier terms for repayment of the nation’s massive debt. When Syriza began negotiations with creditors after it came to power in January, the objective was a more modest unblocking of 7.2 billion euros from an existing bailout program that has since expired. | Mr. Tsipras, who last week vowed never to succumb to creditors’ terms he condemned as the work of “extreme conservative forces,” seems to have calculated that it was worth making concessions in order to secure a three-year bailout loan totaling 53.5 billion euros (about $59 billion) and the possibility of negotiating easier terms for repayment of the nation’s massive debt. When Syriza began negotiations with creditors after it came to power in January, the objective was a more modest unblocking of 7.2 billion euros from an existing bailout program that has since expired. |
| “It is largely a capitulation on Tsipras’s part to what creditors have been asking for, but is that enough?” asked Raoul Ruparel, co-director of Open Europe, a research group in London. “Germany and some others are very skeptical about anything the Greeks produce, and this goes back to the main problem — a total lack of trust.” | “It is largely a capitulation on Tsipras’s part to what creditors have been asking for, but is that enough?” asked Raoul Ruparel, co-director of Open Europe, a research group in London. “Germany and some others are very skeptical about anything the Greeks produce, and this goes back to the main problem — a total lack of trust.” |
| While President Francois Hollande of France welcomed the new Greek proposals as “serious” and “credible,” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and her key ministers kept silent early Friday, insisting that it was too soon to judge the suggestions now being reviewed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the I.M.F. “We will wait until the institutions examine them and express their opinion,” said Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for the German government. | While President Francois Hollande of France welcomed the new Greek proposals as “serious” and “credible,” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and her key ministers kept silent early Friday, insisting that it was too soon to judge the suggestions now being reviewed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the I.M.F. “We will wait until the institutions examine them and express their opinion,” said Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for the German government. |
| But he reiterated Germany’s longstanding insistence that all 19 countries that use the euro must follow the rules, a position that has made Berlin resistant in the past to pleas from Greece that demands for tight budgets must be relaxed and debts restructured to prevent the country from suffocating. | But he reiterated Germany’s longstanding insistence that all 19 countries that use the euro must follow the rules, a position that has made Berlin resistant in the past to pleas from Greece that demands for tight budgets must be relaxed and debts restructured to prevent the country from suffocating. |
| “The European currency and the eurozone are much more than just the question of who shares the same money. But it only has a future if we all stick to the rules, the ones agreed in advance,” Mr. Seibert said. | “The European currency and the eurozone are much more than just the question of who shares the same money. But it only has a future if we all stick to the rules, the ones agreed in advance,” Mr. Seibert said. |
| It was a day of high drama in Athens, with questions swirling about why Mr. Tsipras had changed course and how intense the opposition would be from within the ranks of his own party to the deal he has offered. The betting was that he would be able to push legislation authorizing the new economic policies through Parliament with the help of opposition parties, but the nation seemed to be struggling to absorb this latest twist in the long confrontation with its lenders — and to come to terms with an agreement that will put further pressure on its recession-ravaged economy. | It was a day of high drama in Athens, with questions swirling about why Mr. Tsipras had changed course and how intense the opposition would be from within the ranks of his own party to the deal he has offered. The betting was that he would be able to push legislation authorizing the new economic policies through Parliament with the help of opposition parties, but the nation seemed to be struggling to absorb this latest twist in the long confrontation with its lenders — and to come to terms with an agreement that will put further pressure on its recession-ravaged economy. |
| After the debate on Friday evening in the Greek Parliament, the focus of attention will switch to Brussels, where finance ministers of the 19 euro area countries are scheduled to hold yet another emergency meeting on Saturday, their 7th in less than a month. But, with European Union leaders due to gather the next day, the Saturday session is expected to be decisive. | After the debate on Friday evening in the Greek Parliament, the focus of attention will switch to Brussels, where finance ministers of the 19 euro area countries are scheduled to hold yet another emergency meeting on Saturday, their 7th in less than a month. But, with European Union leaders due to gather the next day, the Saturday session is expected to be decisive. |
| Martin Jäger, spokesman for Germany’s hard-line finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said that the outcome of the Saturday gathering remains “completely open.” Both Mr. Schäuble and his boss, Ms. Merkel, have ruled out writing off any of Greece’s debt under what Ms Merkel has called “a classical haircut” but they have indicated they might be open to further extending payment deadlines and reducing interest rates. | Martin Jäger, spokesman for Germany’s hard-line finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said that the outcome of the Saturday gathering remains “completely open.” Both Mr. Schäuble and his boss, Ms. Merkel, have ruled out writing off any of Greece’s debt under what Ms Merkel has called “a classical haircut” but they have indicated they might be open to further extending payment deadlines and reducing interest rates. |
| The leader of Malta, Joseph Muscat, wrote on his Twitter account on Friday that “At first glance” the Greek “proposals provide a basis for discussion.” But Malta is one of the eurozone’s smallest economies. | The leader of Malta, Joseph Muscat, wrote on his Twitter account on Friday that “At first glance” the Greek “proposals provide a basis for discussion.” But Malta is one of the eurozone’s smallest economies. |
| Some of Ms. Merkel’s political allies and the governments of eastern and central European countries that have taken an even tougher line on Athens than Germany raised doubts Friday about Greece’s readiness and ability to deliver on its new promises, delivered late Thursday just before a midnight deadline fixed by creditors expired. | Some of Ms. Merkel’s political allies and the governments of eastern and central European countries that have taken an even tougher line on Athens than Germany raised doubts Friday about Greece’s readiness and ability to deliver on its new promises, delivered late Thursday just before a midnight deadline fixed by creditors expired. |
| Hans-Peter Friedrich, a member of the Christian Social Union, which is part of Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc, expressed skepticism, noting that many of the points in the new Greek proposal are the same ones rejected overwhelmingly by the Greek people — at the urging of Mr. Tsipras — in a referendum on Sunday. | Hans-Peter Friedrich, a member of the Christian Social Union, which is part of Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc, expressed skepticism, noting that many of the points in the new Greek proposal are the same ones rejected overwhelmingly by the Greek people — at the urging of Mr. Tsipras — in a referendum on Sunday. |
| “That means there are two possibilities, either the Greek government is tricking its own people, or us yet again,” Mr. Friedrich told Deutschlandfunk radio early Friday. But he said he had not yet seen the full Greek proposal and suggested he could be swayed. | “That means there are two possibilities, either the Greek government is tricking its own people, or us yet again,” Mr. Friedrich told Deutschlandfunk radio early Friday. But he said he had not yet seen the full Greek proposal and suggested he could be swayed. |
| “We will see what the experts have to say,” Mr. Friedrich said. “And we will ask critical questions.” | “We will see what the experts have to say,” Mr. Friedrich said. “And we will ask critical questions.” |
| Also doubtful was Peter Kazimir, the finance minister of Slovakia, one of the countries that use the euro and whose previous government fell in 2011 over whether to support an earlier bailout deal with Greece. On his Twitter account on Friday, Mr. Kazimir said “it seems we have progress” on Greece but added: “one can wonder how quickly can a caterpillar turn into a butterfly.” | Also doubtful was Peter Kazimir, the finance minister of Slovakia, one of the countries that use the euro and whose previous government fell in 2011 over whether to support an earlier bailout deal with Greece. On his Twitter account on Friday, Mr. Kazimir said “it seems we have progress” on Greece but added: “one can wonder how quickly can a caterpillar turn into a butterfly.” |
| Alexander Stubb, Finland’s finance minister, who has also taken a tough line against Athens, said his country was withholding immediate judgment on the latest proposals until the members of the European Stability Mechanism, a European bailout fund that Greece has asked for funding, had published their opinion. | Alexander Stubb, Finland’s finance minister, who has also taken a tough line against Athens, said his country was withholding immediate judgment on the latest proposals until the members of the European Stability Mechanism, a European bailout fund that Greece has asked for funding, had published their opinion. |
| “We are waiting for the institutions’ analysis of the proposals Greece presented yesterday before we take a stand on them. The institutions’ assessments will probably be presented only during tomorrow’s Eurogroup meeting,” Mr. Stubb said in a statement posted to his Twitter account. | “We are waiting for the institutions’ analysis of the proposals Greece presented yesterday before we take a stand on them. The institutions’ assessments will probably be presented only during tomorrow’s Eurogroup meeting,” Mr. Stubb said in a statement posted to his Twitter account. |