【英语新闻】希腊左翼政党要求逆转紧缩政策.doc

2012年05月09日 06:19 AM
Greek left calls for an end to ‘barbarous’ austerity plans
By Kerin Hope, Alexandra Stevenson in Athens, in London
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Greece is heading for a clash with international lenders as the radical leftwing party that came second in the weekend’s elections called for the ripping up of a “barbarous” austerity programme underpinning its bailout and questions mounted about the country’s future inside the euro.
Alexis Tsipras, the 38-year-old leader of the Syriza party that surged in popularity in Sunday’s poll, outlined a five-point plan to be put to conservative and socialist leaders today as he attempts to build a coalition, demanding the reversal of fiscal and structural measures that have enabled Greece to slash its budget deficit.
However, in an unusually blunt intervention, Jörg Asmussen, a European Central Bank executive board member, for the first time raised the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro – an option the ECB had previously refused to acknowledge in public.
“Greece needs to be aware that there is no alternative to the agreed reform programme if it wants to remain a member of the eurozone,” Mr Asmussen told Handelsblatt, the German business newspaper.
Fears of a Greek exit hit financial markets, with stocks across Europe falling, the US S&P 500 hitting a two-month low by midday in New York and investors buying US Treasuries, German Bunds and UK gilts.
Syriza overtook the centre-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) in Sunday’s poll, winning 16.78 per cent of the vote to Pasok’s 13.18 per cent thanks to large gains in Athens and Piraeus, the country’s largest constituencies.
“Voters rejected the barbarous policies in the bailout deal; they abandoned the parties that support it, effectively abolishing plans for sackings [of public sector workers] and additional spending cuts,” Mr Tsipras said.
His plan would involve abandoning Greece’s second €174bn bailout agreement, putting the banking sector “under state control”, reversing labour reforms, calling a moratorium on national debt repayments and moving to proportional representation.
Greek stocks fell to 20-year lows, while in Paris the CAC 40 slid 2.8 per cent and Germany’s Xetra Dax closed down 1.9 per cent. The euro fell 0.3 per cent against the dollar to $1.3022.
“Greece in itself isn’t a big issue, but what does matter of course is the knock-on effects and contagion fears and what that would mean for the wider market,” said Adrian Cattley, European equity strategist at Citigroup.