Saturday, January 31, 2015

Tens of thousands march to support Spanish anti-austerity party


Tens of thousands march to support Spanish anti-austerity party

PUBLISHED ON JAN 31, 2015 11:22 PM
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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday (above) in support of new anti-austerity party Podemos, a week after Greece elected its hard-left ally Syriza. -- PHOTO: AFP

MADRID (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday in support of new anti-austerity party Podemos, a week after Greece elected its hard-left ally Syriza.
With the party topping opinion polls in the run up to elections later this year, protesters chanted "Yes we can!" as they made their way from Madrid city hall to the central Puerta del Sol square.
Many waved blue and white Greek flags and red and white Syriza flags or held signs reading "The change is now" and "Together we can".
Podemos, which means "We Can", was formed just a year ago, but produced a major shock by winning five seats in elections for the European Parliament in May.
"The wind of change is starting to blow in Europe," Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said in both Greek and Spanish at the start of his address to the crowd at the end of the march.
"We dream but we take our dream seriously. More has been done in Greece in six days than many governments did in years."
Syriza beat mainstream Greek parties by pledging to end austerity and corruption, as Podemos aims to do in Spain's general election due in November.
Iglesias, a 36-year-old pony-tailed former university professor, appeared alongside Syriza's Alexis Tsipras, now Greece's prime minister, to publicly support him during his campaign.
Podemos wants to prevent profitable companies from firing people, promote a fully state-controlled health care system and enact a "significant" minimum-wage hike.
'STOP FOOLING US'
The party has struck a chord with Spaniards enraged by a string of corruption scandals, as well as public spending cuts imposed by the conservative ruling party and previously by the Socialists after the economic crisis erupted in 2008.
"There are many people that agree with the need for change. Enough already with stealing - that the corrupt take everything and we can't do anything," said Dori Sanchez, 23, an unemployed teacher who came from Monover in southeastern Spain for the rally.
Podemos said 260 buses brought supporters to the capital from across Spain for the "March for Change", while hundreds of locals signed on to host travellers.
"I want real change, that they stop fooling us," said Blanca Salazar, 53, a geriatric aide who came by car from the northern city of Bilbao with her husband and nephews.
Spain has now officially exited recession - the country's economy grew by 1.4 per cent last year, according to provisional data released Friday - but nearly one in four workers is still unemployed.
Salaries for many people have dropped and the number of workers on low-paid short-term contracts has soared.
Podemos has overtaken the mainstream opposition Socialist Party in several opinion polls, and in some has topped the list ahead of the conservative ruling People's Party (PP).
The Socialists and the PP have ruled Spain alternately since the country returned to democracy after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned Spaniards not to "play Russian roulette" by supporting Podemos, which he said "promises the moon and the sun" but will not deliver.
Speaking in Barcelona as the rally was taking place, Rajoy said radicalism was "unfortunately very much in fashion in our country" without mentioning Podemos directly.
"I don't accept the gloomy Spain which some want to portray because they think that by doing so they will replace those who are governing and have had to face the most difficult crisis in decades. They will not succeed," he added.
Critics of Podemos have accused it of having links to Venezuela's left-wing leaders and alleged fiscal irregularities by some of its top members. The party's leaders have promised to publish their tax returns to dispel the allegations.
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ECB official says Greek lending could stop by March

ECB official says Greek lending could stop by March

PUBLISHED ON FEB 1, 2015 1:24 AM
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People walk past a closed shop in Komotini, northern Greece, on Jan 15, 2015. A top European Central Bank official said Saturday the institution cannot keep lending money to Greece unless the heavily indebted nation extends its bailout programme before a February deadline. -- PHOTO: AFP

HELSINKI (AFP) - A top European Central Bank official said Saturday the institution cannot keep lending money to Greece unless the heavily indebted nation extends its bailout programme before a February deadline.
The remarks from Bank of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen - who sits on the ECB's governing council - come one month before the bailout programme agreed upon by Greece with Europe and the International Monetary Fund is set to expire.
"Greece's programme extension will expire at the end of February so some kind of solution must be found, otherwise we can't continue lending," Liikanen told Finnish public broadcaster Yle.
Syriza - the radical-left coalition that won Greek elections last week - has pledged to renegotiate the terms of the country's bailout.
"Significant debt restructuring has been carried out with private investors. The ECB cannot fund a state directly, which is what it would mean in this case," Liikanen said.
Following Syriza's victory Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said he opposed debt relief but would consider extending Greece's loan repayment period.
"We're sticking to what we've agreed on... but we can extend the loan period," Stubb told reports in Helsinki.
Finland took a tougher stance than other eurozone states in 2011 when the second Greek bailout package was agreed, demanding collateral for its portion of a programme worth €159 billion (S$243 billion).
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Greece offers olive branch as search for allies begins






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Greece offers olive branch as search for allies begins


[ATHENS] Greece sought to repair relations with its international creditors on Saturday as the new anti-austerity government began a charm offensive in European capitals, even as Germany insisted it would not support any debt relief.
Just hours before Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis headed to Paris to seek support for a renegotiation of Greece's US$270 billion bailout, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he believed a deal could be reached with the EU and IMF.
"No side is seeking conflict and it has never been our intention to act unilaterally on Greek debt," Mr Tsipras said in a statement issued to the Bloomberg news agency.
In its first meeting with creditors since it took office, the Greek government clashed with the head of the eurozone finance ministers on Friday over its plans to rethink its rescue package and to halve Greece's debt.



Mr Tsipras, who will visit Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande next week, said his plans did not mean Greece would renege on its commitments to the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
"On the contrary, it means that we need time to breathe and create our own medium-term recovery programme," he said.
This includes aiming to balance the budget - excluding debt repayments - and clamping down on tax evasion, corruption and policies which favour only a wealthy few, he said.
"I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole," the prime minister said.
The stunning success of Mr Tsipras' hard left Syriza party in last Sunday's polls sent shockwaves through the continent and gave encouragement to other anti-austerity parties.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid on Saturday in support of the Spanish party Podemos, which has been surging in polls ahead of elections later this year.
Mr Varoufakis was to leave for Paris on Saturday night, with talks scheduled with French Finance Minister Michel Sapin and Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, before heading to London and Rome.
Neither he nor Tsipras intend to visit Germany, which has shouldered the bulk of Greece's loans and which strongly objects to Athens' stated plans.
Ms Merkel on Saturday ruled out fresh debt relief, telling the Hamburger Abendblatt daily: "There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt." "I do not envisage fresh debt cancellation," she said, as a new poll for broadcaster ZDF found 76 per cent of Germans oppose any reduction in debt.
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb also oppose any debt relief.
Despite a restructuring in 2012, Greece is still lumbered with a debt pile of more than 315 billion euros (S$481 billion, upwards of 175 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) - an EU record.
But in its first week in power, the government scrapped the privatisation of Greece's two main ports and the state power company and announced a major raise in the minimum wage.
Mr Varoufakis further raised the stakes by saying that Greece wanted direct access to its EU-IMF creditors and would no longer work with their widely hated fiscal audit staff team, known as the "troika".
Martin Schulz, the German head of the European Parliament, said this position was "irresponsible", and afterwards the Greek minister appeared to row back slightly.
Mr Varoufakis told the To Vima weekly that the troika was not authorised to renegotiate the bailout, and so "why should they waste their energy and their time?"
Mr Varoufakis made his outspoken remarks after a strained meeting on Friday with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who represents finance ministers from the 19-nation eurozone.
Mr Dijsselbloem warned Athens that "taking unilateral steps or ignoring previous arrangements is not the way forward".
Greece has been promised another 7.2 billion euros in funds from the EU, IMF and European Central Bank, but this is dependant on the completion of a review of reforms at the end of February.
Mr Varoufakis has said his government does not want the loans, but there are concerns Greece cannot survive without them.
A particular issue is Greece's banks, which are helping the state stay afloat by purchasing its treasury bills - and which are being supported by the ECB.
Bank of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen, who sits on the ECB's governing council, said it cannot continue lending Greece money unless Athens extends its bailout programme.
"Greece's programme extension will expire at the end of February so some kind of solution must be found, otherwise we can't continue lending," he told public broadcaster Yle.

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