Pressure mounts on eurozone to unblock funds for Greece

An under-pressure eurozone got back to work on Greece yesterday, trying to unblock hold-ups to promised bailout funds after international markets tumbled on the latest doubts.

Despite an announcement from Athens it would fail to meet this year’s deficit targets, Greece’s Finance Minister Evengelos Venizelos said his country would not be made a “scapegoat” for wider debt troubles as he went into talks with his 16 euro-area counterparts.

Mr Venizelos, also deputy premier, on Sunday announced new budget cuts for 2012 in a bid to satisfy international auditors just back in Athens after a month’s absence.

Their assessment will determine whether Greece can secure eight billion euros in loans needed to pay next month’s bill that were blocked by eurozone partners and the IMF.

“Greece is a country with structural difficulties. But Greece is not the scapegoat of the euro area,” Venizelos said on arriving for the two-day talks, citing a cumulative recession over three years that has seen its economy shed 12 per cent of its value.

But EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the so-called “troika” of inspectors from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund would need time to complete their assessment of the latest Greek budgetary vows.

That may not be ready in time for a decision on paying out the sixth tranche of last year’s €110 billion rescue.

Concerns range from doubts about Greece meeting its latest commitments, given broken past promises and its now €350 billion-plus debt pile, to potential difficulties in securing the necessary parliamentary majority for their full implementation next year.