President Karolos
Papoulias called together the leaders of the three biggest parties
Sunday, a week after indecisive elections and three failed attempts to
form a government raised the possibility of new elections in the
debt-stricken country.
After the meeting, the
leader of the radical leftist Syriza coalition said other parties wanted
Syriza to be their "partners in crime," adding: "We can't do that."
Syriza leader Alexis
Tsipras suggested the two other largest parties, New Democracy and
PASOK, were going to form a coalition with a smaller group, the
Democratic Left.
But the Democratic Left
issued a statement calling Tsipras's remarks "a disgrace," accusing him
of lying and slandering the smaller party.
Europe is keeping a
nervous eye on Greece, fearing that the political chaos there could lead
to defaults on debt that could threaten the future of the euro. Greek
failure -- or refusal -- to make debt payments could hurt banks across
Europe.
The talks with Papoulias
came a week after elections in which angry voters punished mainstream
parties by backing a range of fringe groups.
Democratic Left leader
Fotis Kouvelis held his own meeting with Papoulias late Sunday. So did
Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the head of the far-right Golden Dawn party.
Michaloliakos emerged from talks saying any new government would need an
internationally respected premier with the clout to reject the bailout
package the previous government signed, calling the deal "a crime
against our country."
If no government can be
cobbled together by Thursday, new elections must be called. They would
take place next month. Papoulias said he hoped he could help form a
unity government, adding that "things in Greece are quite difficult" --
but things only looked more difficult after Sunday's talks.
Tsipras, whose party
came in second last week on a platform of rejecting the conditions that
international lenders have placed on the country, said that New
Democracy, PASOK and the Democratic Left could form a majority
government without the backing of his party.
Polls suggest that Syriza, which came second in voting last week, would come first, if another round of elections is held.
"The three parties have
168 seats together. They can go ahead with that. They are pressuring us
to participate, and that is an irrational and unprecedented request.
They want us to give a fake sense of legalization," he said.
But the Democratic Left
said it had not agreed to back a coalition without Syriza and said of
Tsipras: "His obvious inability to justify his stance should not lead
him to slander and lie. This is an unethical political act on his part."
Evangelos Venizelos,
leader of the Socialist party PASOK, said after the meeting that his
party would do everything possible to form a national unity government,
but that they were ready for new elections if necessary.
Venizelos had gone to
Papoulias on Saturday to admit he could not form a government, making
him the third politician in a week to fail to form a coalition.
Antonis Samaras, the
leader of the center-right New Democracy party, said before the meeting
on Sunday that the voters had called for collaboration, change, and
staying within the eurozone, the group of 17 European countries that use
a common currency.
Papoulias met Samaras, Venizelos and Tsipras together on Sunday.
Independent Greek Party
leader Panos Kammenos complained about the way Papoulias was organizing
the meetings, saying all party leaders should meet together.
The Communist party, meanwhile, called for new elections, saying they will not participate in a coalition government.
Four out of five voters
said they would vote the same way in a new election, according to a poll
published Saturday by the newspaper Kathimerini.
In a separate poll
published Sunday by the newspaper Vima, seven out of 10 people said they
wanted the parties to form a coalition government.
Syriza would come top if
new elections were held, the Vima poll suggested, after coming in
second behind New Democracy a week ago. But the results would still lead
to a deeply divided parliament, the poll suggested, with no party
getting more than 21% of the vote.
In the same poll, six
out of 10 voters said Syriza's plans were not realistic. Party leader
Tsipras made a radical speech last week against austerity.
Syriza came in second in
last week's election with 16.8%. The party is opposed to the terms of
the bailout agreed with the European Union, European Central Bank and
International Monetary Fund.
The country's lenders have said that if Greece does not comply with the bailout terms, payments will stop.
Deep uncertainty
surrounds the political situation in Greece after large numbers of
voters in last Sunday's election backed parties opposed to the country's
bailout deal.
Severe austerity
measures are required under the terms of the bailout, agreed to by the
outgoing coalition government of PASOK and New Democracy.
Headlines in Saturday's papers talk about "Elections on the Titanic" and "Opening the door to an exit from the euro."
Greece has been forced
to impose punishing austerity measures to get international loans that
have kept it from defaulting on debts so far.
But last week's election
results were widely seen as a message to politicians to back away from
the economic measures, which include policies to cut spending and raise
taxes to reduce public debts.
Seven parties won seats in parliament, but none captured more than 19% of the vote, leading to a week of political turmoil.
The stakes are
potentially huge for the rest of the eurozone, the group of 17 European
countries that use the euro as single currency.
There is concern that
the lack of leadership could jeopardize Greece's bailout agreement. That
could lead to a disorderly default by Greece, which would force the
nation out of the eurozone.
A default by Greece also
could drag down other troubled governments such as Spain and Portugal.
The eurozone economy is fragile, and any financial shock could plunge
the region into a deep recession, a development that would ripple across
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