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ATHENS — The head of the 188-country International Monetary Fund says school-deprived kids in sub-Saharan Africa "deserve moresympathy" than recession-hit Greeks. European officials keep warning Athens to fulfill its austerity commitmentsor give up bailout funds, while also urging companies to girdthemselves for a Greek exit from the Eurozone, whose members sharethe euro currency. Those are not the supportive words Greece would like to hear fromits European peers and creditors. But the warnings, not to sayscorn, may be having their intended effect. As Greece gears up for new elections June 17, there are signs thatvoters are being driven back into the arms of traditional politicalparties largely supportive of Athens' painful bailout agreements. A week after European officials and bankers sounded fresh warningsof a Greek exit from the Eurozone, five polls showed theconservative New Democracy party picking up support, slightlyovertaking Syriza, the radical leftist group that shook Europe withits pledge to scrap Greece's commitments to an additional threeyears of austerity in exchange for emergency loans. The polls put the conservatives ahead of the upstartMarxist-Leninist group, helping boost the Athens stock exchange by6.5% in one day this week, up from a 22-year low. But in a sign of how volatile the situation is, daily trackingpolls also showed a sudden uptick in popularity for Syriza leaderAlexis Tsipras after he lashed back at comments by IMF boss Christine Lagarde that were published last weekend. Tsipras has said that Greece cantear up the bailout agreements and still remain in the Eurozone. In an interview, Lagarde expressed scant sympathy forausterity-weary Greeks, who are battling rising problems ofhomelessness and hunger. Instead, she berated the country for itsrampant tax evasion. "The last thing we seek in Greece is her sympathy," Tsipras said. Brash and boyish, with no experience in government, Tsipras hasnonetheless helped redraw Greece's political landscape. His party'ssurprise second-place finish in the inconclusive May 6 vote brokethe vise-like grip that conservatives and Socialists have held onthe political system for more than three decades. With the unemployment rate topping 21% during a fifth year ofrecession, many voters spurned the two mainstream parties in favorof Tsipras and his pledge to abandon austerity while maintainingGreece's Eurozone membership, goals that European officials insistare incompatible. Since the elections, however, some Greeks have come to questionSyriza's assumption that Germany, Europe's paymaster, would blinkfirst and ease Athens' bailout terms rather than jeopardize thefuture of the common currency. Statements out of Berlin andBrussels that the Eurozone could weather a Greek exit have beenseen as part of a European strategy to put voters off Syriza. The vast majority of Greeks want their country to stay in theEurozone. Nearly 7 in 10 say they are willing to withstand evengreater austerity for the sake of safeguarding that membership,according to recent polls. Tsipras also alienated some of his compatriots by brushing offrepeated overtures from rival parties to form a coalitiongovernment, preferring instead to force repeat elections that couldput him at the helm of government. Senior officials in his party have alarmed people with talk ofnationalizing local banks and using customers' deposits to pay downthe country's huge debt. "If it weren't for these mistakes, everyone would be lining up tovote for him," said Maria Kordatou, a loyal conservative whoswitched to Syriza in the May vote. "But we're all rethinking now." She said that voters would ultimately tilt to New Democracy, notout of real hope or conviction that it could offer something more,but because it was the lesser of two evils. Although polls show that New Democracy could edge to a victory June17, the party would almost certainly fall short of clinchingoverall control of Greece's 300-seat Parliament. That could force acoalition government with the Socialists, an awkward alliance thatwas tried in November but ended in April, when elections werecalled. "It is a tight race, and the scare factor is already weighing in,"said John Loulis, a prominent Athens-based political analyst. A pro-bailout coalition would provide a respite from fear of a eurobreakup, but the marriage of convenience is unlikely to last a fullterm to fulfill austerity commitments amid swelling popularresistance, Loulis said. "Don't bet on it. It'll be a weak and short-lived coalition," hesaid. "And rest assured, Tsipras will be waiting around the cornerto take charge with the first fumble." Carassava is a special correspondent. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Herbal Sex Pills , SEX Male Enhancement, and more. For more , please visit Extenze Male Enhancement today!
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