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Greece Announces New Measures to Close Budget Gap
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
Published: September 11, 2011
ATHENS — With foreign creditors and global markets piling pressure on
Greece to meet the conditions of an international bailout and stave off a
default that would shake the euro zone, the debt-ridden government announced
further budget cuts on Sunday and introduced a one-time property tax, even
as thousands of Greeks protested months of austerity.
The announcement of the new fiscal measures, made Sunday by Finance Minister
Evangelos Venizelos on the sidelines of an annual trade fair in the
northern port of Salonika, came days after fresh speculation in the foreign
media of an imminent default by Greece — reports that Mr. Venizelos
dismissed as “a game in bad taste, an organized piece of speculation
against the euro.”
It also came just days before auditors from the European Union and
International Monetary Fund were due to return to Athens to check the
government’s progress in plugging a budget shortfall estimated at €2
billion, or $2.7 billion, a step toward qualification for the next
installment of emergency loans on which the country’s solvency depends.
Athens is expecting to receive another €8 billion in the next tranche
of aid from the €110 billion rescue package Greece was awarded last
year. That aid is to be supplemented by a second bailout of €109
billion that European leaders agreed to in July. But the second package is
threatened by demands from a handful of euro zone countries that Greece
provide collateral to secure further loans.
Mr. Venizelos said the government would do everything needed to close the
budget shortfall. “If we can prove wrong those who are betting on Greece to
fail, we will see the crisis recede,” he said.
Compounding the country’s problems is a weakening economy. Mr. Venizelos
warned Sunday that gross domestic product was now expected to contract 5.3
percent in 2011, far worse than the 3.8 percent decline projected in May.
Among the measures Mr. Venizelos announced Sunday was a temporary property
tax, ranging from 50 cents to €10 per square meter, or per 11 square
feet, depending on the value of the property, which will be collected for
two years. The tax will be reduced for the disabled, the unemployed and for
large families, he said. The levy will be added to electric bills to thwart
tax evasion.
Mr. Venizelos also warned that the government would make further cuts to
public spending. In a largely symbolic move, the government said it would
withhold a month’s pay from all elected officials.
“This is a battle for the country’s survival,” Prime Minister George A.
Papandreou told a news conference in Salonika on Sunday. “These measures
are the supplies we need to fight.”
Babis Papadimitriou, an economic analyst for the private television channel
Skai and for the daily newspaper Kathimerini, said the new property tax was
“an act of desperation.”
“This is an admission of the failure of the government’s policies,” he
said. “They are asking those who have already paid to pay again.”
On Saturday night, addressing an audience of entrepreneurs and politicians
at an annual policy speech traditionally used by Greek prime ministers to
announce new public handouts, Mr. Papandreou had little to offer other than
his determination.
“We will do everything necessary to keep Greece on its feet,” Mr.
Papandreou said. “We will remain in the euro.”
The prime minister sought to offset the bitter medicine of austerity with
promises of initiatives to increase growth. A program to privatize state-
owned assets, intended to raise €50 billion by 2014, would create
investment opportunities and jobs as would the simplification of licensing
procedures for investments in the tourism and renewable energy sectors, he
said.
Judging from the mood in the streets of Salonika on Saturday night, and from
plans by labor unions for a fresh wave of strikes this week, the prime
minister’s words fell on deaf ears. Riot police officers fired tear gas to
disperse more than 25,000 demonstrators from various groups including civil
servants and university students. Taxi drivers protesting measures to open
their sector to competition hacked chunks of stone from sidewalks and hurled
them at riot officers. The police said 94 people had been detained but gave
no figures for injuries. Local media said at least 10 protesters were hurt
in the clashes.
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
Published: September 11, 2011
ATHENS — With foreign creditors and global markets piling pressure on
Greece to meet the conditions of an international bailout and stave off a
default that would shake the euro zone, the debt-ridden government announced
further budget cuts on Sunday and introduced a one-time property tax, even
as thousands of Greeks protested months of austerity.
The announcement of the new fiscal measures, made Sunday by Finance Minister
Evangelos Venizelos on the sidelines of an annual trade fair in the
northern port of Salonika, came days after fresh speculation in the foreign
media of an imminent default by Greece — reports that Mr. Venizelos
dismissed as “a game in bad taste, an organized piece of speculation
against the euro.”
It also came just days before auditors from the European Union and
International Monetary Fund were due to return to Athens to check the
government’s progress in plugging a budget shortfall estimated at €2
billion, or $2.7 billion, a step toward qualification for the next
installment of emergency loans on which the country’s solvency depends.
Athens is expecting to receive another €8 billion in the next tranche
of aid from the €110 billion rescue package Greece was awarded last
year. That aid is to be supplemented by a second bailout of €109
billion that European leaders agreed to in July. But the second package is
threatened by demands from a handful of euro zone countries that Greece
provide collateral to secure further loans.
Mr. Venizelos said the government would do everything needed to close the
budget shortfall. “If we can prove wrong those who are betting on Greece to
fail, we will see the crisis recede,” he said.
Compounding the country’s problems is a weakening economy. Mr. Venizelos
warned Sunday that gross domestic product was now expected to contract 5.3
percent in 2011, far worse than the 3.8 percent decline projected in May.
Among the measures Mr. Venizelos announced Sunday was a temporary property
tax, ranging from 50 cents to €10 per square meter, or per 11 square
feet, depending on the value of the property, which will be collected for
two years. The tax will be reduced for the disabled, the unemployed and for
large families, he said. The levy will be added to electric bills to thwart
tax evasion.
Mr. Venizelos also warned that the government would make further cuts to
public spending. In a largely symbolic move, the government said it would
withhold a month’s pay from all elected officials.
“This is a battle for the country’s survival,” Prime Minister George A.
Papandreou told a news conference in Salonika on Sunday. “These measures
are the supplies we need to fight.”
Babis Papadimitriou, an economic analyst for the private television channel
Skai and for the daily newspaper Kathimerini, said the new property tax was
“an act of desperation.”
“This is an admission of the failure of the government’s policies,” he
said. “They are asking those who have already paid to pay again.”
On Saturday night, addressing an audience of entrepreneurs and politicians
at an annual policy speech traditionally used by Greek prime ministers to
announce new public handouts, Mr. Papandreou had little to offer other than
his determination.
“We will do everything necessary to keep Greece on its feet,” Mr.
Papandreou said. “We will remain in the euro.”
The prime minister sought to offset the bitter medicine of austerity with
promises of initiatives to increase growth. A program to privatize state-
owned assets, intended to raise €50 billion by 2014, would create
investment opportunities and jobs as would the simplification of licensing
procedures for investments in the tourism and renewable energy sectors, he
said.
Judging from the mood in the streets of Salonika on Saturday night, and from
plans by labor unions for a fresh wave of strikes this week, the prime
minister’s words fell on deaf ears. Riot police officers fired tear gas to
disperse more than 25,000 demonstrators from various groups including civil
servants and university students. Taxi drivers protesting measures to open
their sector to competition hacked chunks of stone from sidewalks and hurled
them at riot officers. The police said 94 people had been detained but gave
no figures for injuries. Local media said at least 10 protesters were hurt
in the clashes.
