(ANSAmed) - ATHENS - Events in Europe in recent days, in Spain and France in particular, have given Greece "the chance to renegotiate fairly" the austerity plan imposed on the country by the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, this is on the condition that the centre-right party New Democracy (ND) wins next Sunday's elections.Greece: Samaras bets on Europe and new negotiations
Four days before vote race to withdraw cash goes on
This is the message from the ND leader Antonis Samaras today, four days ahead of Sunday's elections in the country. Meanwhile, the Greeks continue to be wracked with fear and are withdrawing their savings from banks and emptying supermarket shelves.
In a message to his electorate during a press conference in Athens, Samaras repeated that his party's priorities are "to form a stable government and to keep Greece in the eurozone". The leader of ND pointed out that European leaders are open to the possibility of renegotiating the deal with which Greece obtained international aid. "I believe that we will have something to gain from the fact that Europe is changing, and in this climate of change Greece has the chance for fair negotiation". Samaras also said that he backed the position of the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, who is in favour of a Europe-wide guarantee on bank deposits.
Samaras' call to electors to form a united front against the potential victory of the radical-left wing coalition Syriza - which is seen as a serious risk for Greece's stay in the eurozone - came as sources from the Greek banking sector produced an alarming revelation. The sources claim that the amount of money being withdrawn from their accounts by Greek savers lies between 500 and 800 million euros a day. Greeks fear that a victory for the left in the elections could cause the country to exit the eurozone and bring about a return to the drachma, the old Greek currency.
In the context of such fears, numerous sources have told ANSAmed that people are rushing to hoard items such as pasta, tinned food and other non perishable goods, a phenomenon that has been reported by managers of large supermarkets for days. Many people have started hoarding food for fear that, while talks are ongoing between parties to form a new government in the aftermath of Sunday's election, greater political and economic instability and even social tensions could occur.
A contributing factor to the already great uncertainty over the near future is a report that has gained ground in Athens today, according to which Greece has only 2 billion euros remaining in its state coffers, a figure that would be enough to guarantee the payment of the wages and pensions of public sector workers only until July 20. The Kathimerini newspaper was the first to report the news, which has as yet been neither confirmed nor denied by the Ministry of Finance, which in a statement released this afternoon, said only that "July's pensions are not in danger".
Thursday, 14 June 2012
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