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ATHENS, Greece – Greece headed into a month of political uncertainty afterpower-sharing talks collapsed Tuesday, triggering new electionsthat could determine whether the country retains its tenuousposition in Europe's currency. Nine tortured days of fruitless talks to build a coalitiongovernment fueled increasing doubt that Greece can make enoughreforms to prevent the world's largest currency union fromfracturing. "We expect the euro to remain under pressure as a result of this,and pressure on the borrowing costs, the bond yields, of countrieslike Spain and Italy to persist," said John Bowler, director of theEconomist Intelligence Unit's Country Risk Service. No date has been set for the elections, but they will have to beheld by mid-June — the month in which Greece must make morespending cuts to ensure it meets the terms of its internationalbailout. A caretaker government will be appointed until then. The uncertainty has created alarm across the continent, with keyleaders fearing that Greece could be forced out of the euro,triggering shock waves throughout the 17-country eurozone. What Greece now needs is reliability and the will to reform" GermanForeign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement. "They arethe only way back to growth and competitiveness. There is noalternative." "We want Greece to remain part of the eurozone," he said. "Thedecisions that lie ahead in Athens are not just about the futuregovernment of Greece. This is about a commitment by the Greekpeople to Europe and the euro." The protracted deadlock and the prospect of an anti-austerity partywinning the new vote hammered Europe's markets on fears that Greecemight have to leave the euro. Main European markets lost earlier gains, with the FTSE 100 indexof leading shares shedding 0.6 percent, Germany's DAX down 1percent and the CAC-40 in France 0.7 percent. Greek shares wereclobbered further after days of heavy losses, with the Athens stockmarket initially diving 4.86 percent before a slight rally to close3.6 percent down. The euro also fell, trading 0.3 percent lower at$1.2794. About 700 million ($898 million) in deposits have flown out ofGreek banks since the May 6 elections, President Karolos Papouliastold party leaders after being briefed by the central bankgovernor, George Provopoulos. "The situation in the banks is very difficult," Papoulias saidaccording to a transcript of the meeting's minutes released by hisoffice. "Mr. Provopoulos told me that of course there is no panic,but there is great fear which could turn into panic." Socialist party leader and former finance minister EvangelosVenizelos on Tuesday said the country is "unfortunately" headed foranother round of elections, "because certain people coldly puttheir short-term party interests above the national interest." Papoulias convenes a new meeting of party leaders on Wednesday toappoint a caretaker government until the election. On May 6, voters furious over the handling of the country'stwo-year vicious financial crisis took their anger out on theconservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK parties thatdominated Greece's political scene for the past 40 years, desertingthem for smaller parties on the right and left. New Democracy came in first but with a massive loss of support.PASOK saw its popularity plunge to the lowest level since it wasfounded in 1974, after the end of Greece's seven-year dictatorship.Those who saw their numbers surge were parties that promised topull Greece out of its bailout agreement, with forced spending cutsand tax hikes in return for billions of euros in internationalrescue loans. Political leaders traded accusations as to who was to blame duringthe failed power-sharing talks. The spotlight quickly fell on Alexis Tsipras, the young head of theRadical Left Coalition, or Syriza, whose party came a surprisesecond in the elections. Tsipras insisted he could neither join norsupport any government that would continue to implement the bailoutterms. Venizelos and conservative New Democracy head Antonis Samarasaccused him of being irresponsible, saying his policies would forceGreece out of the eurozone. But Tsipras remained adamant that the austerity measures meantGreece's recession-bound economy could never recover. "They wanted to leave the country without hope and for us to addour signature to these measures of poverty and desperation," hesaid. "We will not do them that favor." Venizelos and Samaras could have formed a government with the smallDemocratic Left party of Fotis Kouvelis, but all insisted Tsiprashad to be on board or at least lend his backing if the governmenthoped to push through yet more austerity measures Greece mustimplement next month. A last-ditch proposal by the president forthe creation of a technocrat government went nowhere. "I did what I could . Let all Greeks draw their conclusions, andall parties assume their responsibilities," Kouvelis said. Opinion polls show Syriza is likeliest to come first in the newvote, but without enough seats in parliament to govern alone.However, as first party, Syriza would enjoy an automatic 50-seatbonus and could hope to form a coalition with the help of otherleft and right-wing anti-austerity parties. "These upcoming elections will be a struggle between theleft-leaning forces of nihilism in league with opportunisticpopulists," New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said. "On theother side will be a European front, strong and determined." Many Greeks seem resigned to the need for new polls, even thoughthat will hold back the country's commitments to detail new harshcutbacks. "The solution is provided by democracy and democratic procedures,"said Athens resident Yannis Ekaterinaris. But others saw no hope of any change, saying a new election won'tsolve their problems. Dmitris Mardas, an associate professor of economics at ThessalonikiUniversity, said the timing of the vote would be especially painfulin June, key dates for Greece's tourism industry. "As far as the economy is concerned, this is the worst thing thatcould have happened," said Mardas. "It's just what we didn't need." ___ Associated Press writer Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this reportfrom Athens. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Western Jewelry Rings , Chain Bracelets For Men Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Stainless Steel Gothic Rings.
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