EUROZONE-GREECE/MORNING-MARKET REAX Greeks react to their government's fight to win debt relief

Record ID: 496326

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/MORNING-MARKET REAX Greeks react to their government's fight to win debt relief
  • Date: 6th February 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (FEBRUARY 7, 2015)(REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING ALONG SYNTAGMA SQUARE, VIEW OF PARLIAMENT IN THE BACKGROUND GREEK PARLIAMENT GREEK FLAG VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING IN SQUARE (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, SAYING: "Of course this should have been done years ago. When you don't resist, what can you expect to happen?" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN STREET (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT FOTINI PANTAZI, 43, SAYING: "I believe that the current government is handling things very well. I must say we can't always bend our heads. Greece as some 180 other countries (of the world) can survive on its own, handle its issues itself. I thing that's where we are heading." (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT STAVROS MISTAKIDIS, PENSIONER, 78, SAYING: "Things are hard. Not Varufakis, whatever his name, not anyone in his position can save the situation. They (creditors) are not going to give anything for free. Since we borrowed the money we must pay back. How are we going to do that? Only they (government) now. We are going to have hard times." VARIOUS OF MAN LOOKING AT NEWSPAPER HEADLINES AT NEWS KIOSK NEWSPAPERS TA NEA NEWSPAPER HEADLINE, READING (Greek): "PRESSURE AND THREATS TO ATHENS TO KEEP ITS COMMITMENTS - DANCING WITH THE WOLVES'' MORE OF NEWSPAPERS. TO THE LEFF, AVGI NEWSPAPER WITH HEADLINE READING (Greek): "GREECE CAN'T BE BLACKMAILED" NEWSPAPERS THE KATHIMERINI NEWSPAPER HEADLINE (Greek): "DEEP SPLIT BETWEEN ATHENS AND BERLIN" INTERIOR OF ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE SHARE PRICE TICKERS AND ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE SIGN VARIOUS OF SHARE PRICE TICKERS VARIOUS OF SCREENS WITH SHARE PRICES AND GRAPHS
  • Embargoed: 21st February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2L0F9KVGGTXEY9LV09161GDGD
  • Story Text: Greeks woke up with mixed feeling on Friday (February 6) over the prospects of success for their new government's anti-austerity drive.
    Greece's new leftist finance minister clashed openly with his powerful German counterpart on Thursday (February 5) as Athens' borrowing costs leapt and bank shares plunged following the European Central Bank's decision to stop funding the country's lenders.
    After blunt talks in Berlin, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he had told Greece's Yanis Varoufakis it was not realistic to make electoral promises that burdened other countries, and they had "agreed to disagree".
    A defiant Varoufakis, whose hard left-led government was elected on a platform of scrapping austerity measures and negotiating a debt write-off, contradicted him at a joint news conference, saying: "We didn't even agree to disagree."
    Schaueble said he and Varoufakis had been unable to bridge their differences. And while he respected the choice made by Greek voters, it was essential the new government stick to agreements reached with the European Union and work with the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission.
    Some Greeks in the streets of Athens were supportive of how the government has been handling the situation so far, but some predicted tough times ahead.
    "Of course this should have been done years ago. When you don't resist, what can you expect to happen?" said one Athens resident supportive of government's anti-austerity drive.
    "I believe that the current government is handling things very well. I must say we can't always bend our heads. Greece as some 180 other countries (of the world) can survive on its own, handle its issues itself. I think that's where we are heading," added 43-year-old Fotini Pantazi, who receives a state pension after taking early retirement while looking for another job.
    Other Greeks were less optimistic.
    "Things are hard. Not Varoufakis, whatever his name, not anyone in his position can save the situation. They (creditors) are not going to give anything for free. Since we borrowed the money we must pay back. How are we going to do that? Only they (government) now. We are going to have hard times," said 78-year-old pensioner Stavros Mistakidis.
    The stock market continued its dive and opened one percent lower on Friday. Banks shares dropped three percent.
    Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' 10-day-old government has said it will not extend a bailout programme due to expire at the end of this month and has refused to cooperate with the so-called troika of international lenders. It has also said it will reverse some unpopular measures imposed by foreign creditors and halt some privatisations, raise the minimum wage, rehire fired public sector workers and restore a bonus for poor pensioners.
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