Greek Talks Stuck as Euro Ministers Meet
Baku, February 9 (AZERTAC). Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos headed to Brussels today as politicians in Athens narrowed their differences to the single issue of pension cuts needed to secure a 130 billion euro ($172 billion) bailout.
Talks stumbled over pensions as European Union spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said he couldn`t confirm reports the EU gave Greece 15 more days to identify measures totaling 300 million euros. “No one seems to be aware of such an extension,” he told reporters today in Brussels before today`s emergency finance ministers` meeting starting at 6 p.m.
The latest hitch came after six days of talks as the political parties battled to complete a package that`s been on the table since July. Greece faces a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment on March 20 and is struggling to secure financing to avert a collapse of the economy that could spark a new round of contagion in the euro area.
European stocks rose for the first time in four days as the Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.1 percent at 12:52 p.m. in Berlin. The euro was down 0.1 percent to $1.3251.
A Greek deal would reinforce the reduction of contagion risks as investors discriminate between “small countries with serious problems (Greece, Portugal) and much bigger countries with smaller problems (Italy, Spain),” Schmieding said.
Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), the world`s biggest mobile-phone company, is moving cash from Greece into the U.K. “every evening,” mirroring efforts by others companies such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc (SAN) and WPP Plc (WPP) to hedge against the European debt crisis, Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford said on a conference call today.
Greece doesn`t have much time left to arrange financing for its bond payment and avoid “outright default,” said Thomas Mayer, chief economist at Deutsche Bank AG.
A Greek decision has hung in the balance for almost a week as lenders demand officials sign on to measures ranging from a reduction in the minimum wage and lower pensions, to immediate job cuts for as many as 15,000 state employees.
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