Syriza party chief gives anti-bailout ultimatum to rivals
Fresh elections loomed over Greece as coalition talks remained deadlocked Wednesday with Alexis Tsipras, leader of the radical left Syriza party, issuing an ultimatum to rivals to renounce support for the European Union-led bailout if they want to enter government.
Tsipras, whose party came second in Sunday's elections, has been tasked to form the government after the conservatives failed to get majority. He has three days in which to form government.
Meanwhile, conservative leader Antonis Samaras has denounced calls by the Syriza party chief to reject the international bailout.
Greek voters, angry at the harsh austerity cuts, had deserted the two main parties Samaras' conservative New Democracy party and socialist Pasok.
Tsipras said: "The bailout parties no longer have a majority in parliament to vote for measures that plunder the country..There will be no 11 billion euros of additional austerity measures; 150,000 jobs will not be cut."
Samaras, who failed to form a government Monday, denouncing Tsipras' call, said he was being asked to "put my signature to the destruction of Greece".
"[Mr Tsipras] interprets, with unbelievable arrogance, the election result as a mandate to drag the country into chaos," Samaras said. "I hope [he] will have come to his senses by the time we meet."
Samaras told a party meeting that Tsipras's proposal would "lead to immediate internal collapse and international bankruptcy, with the inevitable exit from Europe".
Meanwhile, Eurozone nations are debating whether to delay a 5.2 billion euro payment to Greece over the political upheaval in the country, Dow Jones reported.
Officials of the eurozone are to hold a conference in the coming days to discuss the matter.
The payment was to be handed over to Greece on May 10 and is the final installment of a bailout for the country agreed in March.
Source: Europe News.Net
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