Austria reaches out to Greece. “I see a good chance of compliance with the agreements between Athens and the EU and if this were guaranteed I would be in favor of a two- or three-year debt repayment extension. It is up to the experts to decide the period”. These are the words of Chancellor of Vienna, Werner Faymann, interviewed by the Austrian weekly “Oesterreich”.
This is the first official opening to the number one request of the Greek premier, Antonis Samaras, who was busy last week in a dense series of international summits. The aim was to obtain from Europe a two-year extension to the deadline for implementing the agreed austerity measures in exchange for aid. The deadline for bringing the Greek deficit back to 3% from the current 9,3% would thus slip from 2014 to 2016. Faymann thus went even further than Athens' demands, assuming a three-year postponement.
The possibility of a postponement, however, was effectively rejected by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and by the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who didn't even touch on the subject in their respective press conferences after the bilateral meetings with Samaras in recent days. Berlin's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and vice chancellor Philipp Roesler, who categorically ruled out the possibility of an extension, were much tougher.
Faymann stressed instead how the crisis and unemployment in Greece have reached such a level as to make it impossible for Athens to repay its debts if it is not given more time. Lastly, the Chancellor observed that a collapse of the Eurozone would be extremely dangerous for Austria, as it would imply a drop in exports, an increase in unemployment and a decrease in wages.
