Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou
The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have been accused of interfering in Greece's domestic affairs after demanding asset sales to ease the country's debt burden.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou accused the EU and the IMF of practicing “unacceptable behavior,” on Saturday.
On Friday EU and IMF inspectors, along with European Central Bank experts had been monitoring Greece's implementation of a bailout plan which saved Athens from bankruptcy, AFP reported.
After finding revenue shortfall and reform processes being at risk in a quarterly audit, the three bodies demanded that Athens should act towards reforms at a faster pace and sell more public assets, a 50-billion-euro asset sale being among the demands.
Papandreou complained of the three inspecting bodies to IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The prime minister has reportedly taken the matter to EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn.
After years of great public deficits, Greece currently has a public debt of around 300 billion euros.
In 2009 the country's deficit reached a 15.4 percent of output, which is over five times the level allowed by the EU.
The EU and IMF approved a 110-billion-euro loan package for Greece last May.
SZH/MMA/MB
No comments:
Post a Comment