High tension as restructuring looms

“The rejection by several ministers of further budget cuts to their ministries has soured the atmosphere on the eve of the official announcement of the 2012-2015 stability programme” affirmsTa Nea. The left-wing daily reports that tensions are mounting within Prime Minister George Panpandreou’s government in the run-up to the Friday 15 April announcement of the European Commission approved austerity plan. While “some MPs are making no secret of the fact that they have considered resigning,” others, like the Minister for Labour, do not know where they can make further cuts to bring their budgets into line with the new policy. “Tension is mounting within the Greek government at a time when the scenario of the restructuring of the country’s sovereign debt has once again taken centre stage. The Greek Minister for Finance has ruled out this possibility, but his German counterpart has said it is on the cards for 2013.”