Greek President Karolos Papoulias has begun talks with the heads of the three main parties, in a last attempt to form a coalition and avert another election.
The three leaders have each failed in earlier attempts to form coalitions
All three - conservative New Democracy, far-left Syriza and socialist Pasok - have failed in bids to form coalitions.
Voters deserted New Democracy and Pasok at last Sunday's polls, amid anger over tough austerity measures imposed as part of an IMF-EU bailout deal.
Polls suggest the popularity of anti-bailout Syriza continues to grow.
Analysts say a new election could make them the biggest party in an anti-bailout coalition, which would threaten Greece's membership of the euro.
The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says most Greeks appear to be in favour of remaining in the euro, but there are questions as to what sacrifices they are willing to make to achieve that goal.
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, Syriza's Alexis Tsipras and Pasok's Evangelos Venizelos arrived to meet the president at noon (09:00 GMT) on Sunday.
"The Greek people didn't just send us a message, they gave us a mandate," said Mr Samaras as he arrived for the meeting.
"A mandate of co-operation for all of us to change policy, but also to remain in the euro."
None of the three leaders managed to cobble together a coalition that creates a majority in Greece's 300-seat parliament.
The stumbling block appears to have been Syriza's insistence that any new government must cancel austerity measures agreed in return for EU-IMF loans worth 130bn euros ($170bn; £105bn).
Mr Papoulias, 82, will later meet individually with the leaders of the four other parties that won enough votes for parliamentary seats. They include Golden Dawn, an extreme right-wing anti-immigration group.
Syriza's Alexis Tsipras has refused to compromise over the bailout terms
Russian roulette
The talks are expected to take place over two or three days, although in theory they could drag on until the opening of parliament on Thursday.
If, as expected, they fail to produce a governing coalition, a new election will be scheduled for next month.
The uncertainty has alarmed Greece's international creditors, who insist the country must keep to the terms of the bailout deal if it is to continue receiving funds and avoid bankruptcy.
Correspondents say the anti-bailout vote that was shared among several small parties in the first election now seems to be consolidating around Syriza.
Several opinion polls have put Syriza - runners up to New Democracy in last Sunday's election - in first place in any future poll.
With a bonus of 50 extra parliamentary seats that winning would bring, an anti-bailout coalition led by Syriza is looking more likely.
"It is obvious that there is an effort to bring about a government that will implement the bailout. We are not participating in such a government," Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis said on Saturday.
Mr Tsipras insists he wants to keep Greece in the euro, and says European leaders are bluffing when they threaten to eject Athens from the single currency if it reneges on bailout agreements.
Greece's socialist daily newspaper, Ethnos, warned on its Sunday front page that politicians were playing "Russian roulette" with the country's damaged economy, in its fifth year of recession.
0 comments:
Post a Comment