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International Debt Inspectors Return To Greece

DAVID GREENE, Host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene in for Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, Host:

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli is on the line from Athens with more. Hi, Sylvia.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Hi there, Steve.

INSKEEP: So we know about the demonstrations out on the streets. What about inside the meeting rooms? Are the talks going well between European financial officials and Greek officials?

POGGIOLI: Well, you know, the beginning could not have possibly been more embarrassing because the inspectors found the Finance Ministry in downtown Athens occupied by angry ministry employees and the talks had to be moved to an unknown location. Outside, protesters were shouting: Take your bailout and go home. But the government said the initial meeting was positive and instructive, but it did not release any details. The inspectors could stay here for a week to determine whether the government's new measures are effective and merits the next installment of the bailout plan.

INSKEEP: You said the government's new measures. What new measures?

POGGIOLI: Finally, there's a really strong international pressure for massive privatization of state-owned companies and tracks of land, but this is a very sensitive issue because it touches on national sovereignty and many Greeks fear their government is selling off the family jewels.

INSKEEP: Hmm. Well, let me ask about another aspect of this, Sylvia. So we've heard that Greeks are very unhappy with the conditions of this bailout. But of course other Europeans seem to be very unhappy about having to help pay - Germans especially, and of course they're the biggest economy in Europe. Yet the German parliament yesterday did approve expanding the eurozone bailout fund to help countries like Greece. Did people in Greece say thank you?

POGGIOLI: Well, the finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, welcomed the vote. But, you know, what's really interesting is today's newspapers from left to right barely mention it on the front page. They're focusing on the impact these new measures are going to have on Greek society. Even conservative papers like Kathimerini are very critical of the negative effect of so much belt tightening on the middle class. There's a growing chorus of people who say the government policy is ineffective, impoverishing the population without offering a way out. This is what they're focusing on here.

INSKEEP: Can a Democratic government impose these measures against so much protest?

POGGIOLI: And you know, probably the international inspectors are also pretty skeptical because before returning here they demanded written assurances from Greece that its new pledges will be met, and that's a sign of just how little confidence they have in the Greek government.

INSKEEP: Sylvia, thanks very much.

POGGIOLI: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: NPR's Sylvia Poggioli is in Athens. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.