[ti:Greece Struggles to Form Government, Unsure about Reform]
[ar:Mario Ritter]
[al:Economics Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
[00:05.12]The Olympic flame was lit in Greece Thursday.
[00:09.86]The ceremony marked the beginning of a long trip
[00:15.53]through Greece and Britain,
[00:17.97]which holds the Summer Olympics this year.
[00:21.80]Greece has been at the center of a political
[00:25.89]and economic struggle
[00:27.72]that threatens many of Europe's economies.
[00:31.40]It remains unclear if Greece will continue using the euro
[00:37.04]or if its Eurozone partners can enact reforms needed
[00:42.32]to hold the currency group together.
[00:45.15]On the day the Olympic flame was lit,
[00:48.54]Greek Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos
[00:53.08]began an attempt to form a new government.
[00:57.51]It marked the third attempt to form a government this week
[01:02.54]after parliamentary elections last Sunday.
[01:06.67]First, the conservative New Democracy party attempted and failed.
[01:13.84]Then the leader of the leftist Syriza coalition,
[01:18.47]Alexis Tsipras, also failed.
[01:22.30]He said that the election results showed the Greek people
[01:27.52]had rejected deep budget cuts required
[01:31.26]by international creditors.
[01:34.44]Mister Venizelos heads the PASOK party,
[01:38.88]which took third place in the elections.
[01:41.77]Experts have questioned whether he can form a government.
[01:46.59]That means the Greek President may ask parties
[01:50.79]to form an emergency coalition.
[01:54.07]If that does not work, new elections could be called.
[01:58.70]But for Greece, that could mean pain from its Eurozone creditors.
[02:05.32]They could deny future payments
[02:08.10]from the financial rescue plan agreed to in February.
[02:13.68]The agreement is worth about one hundred seventy billion dollars
[02:19.16]in loans and cancelled debt.
[02:22.60]The rescue is the second and largest for Greece
[02:26.68]since its debt crisis began in two thousand nine.
[02:31.55]On Thursday, Euro-area governments
[02:34.84]released a five billion five hundred million dollar loan to Greece.
[02:40.51]But Greek officials were reportedly unhappy
[02:44.69]that over one billion dollars was withheld.
[02:48.73]The failed efforts to form a government have raised concern
[02:53.86]that reforms can work in Greece.
[02:57.49]The country is now in its fifth year of recession.
[03:02.48]German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to parliament in Berlin Thursday.
[03:09.74]The leader of Europe's biggest economy said
[03:13.53]borrowing to get growth would be a step backward.
[03:17.51]ANGELA MERKEL (Translation): "Growth through structural reform
[03:22.34]is important and necessary.
[03:24.83]Growth through debt would throw us back to the beginning of the crisis."
[03:29.51]And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
[03:34.79]For transcripts, MP3s and now PDFs of our programs for e-readers,
[03:42.00]go to voaspecialenglish.
[03:45.73]And follow us on Facebook, YouTube and iTunes
[03:50.37]at VOA Learning English.
[03:54.30]I'm Mario Ritter.