Reports indicate that the leaders of the Greek parties must respond by tomorrow morning at 11 AM (Monday Feb. 6) to the demands of the Troika for further economic austerity measures. These include more wage cuts. No doubt there will be more protests.

    The Greek Finance minister Evangelos Venizelos said talks with the Troika were very difficult and that . “We are on razor’s edge.” On some issues such as selling off state assets there was agreement but there was still disagreement over labor and fiscal policy for the year. 

 Imposing even more austerity and weakening labor even further is bound to create more social unrest. Greece faces a 19.1 billion bond payment March 20th. There may be general elections as soon as April. Parties that support further austerity measures may face voter anger and defeat at the polls. For more see this article. A German bank official noted: that the collapse of the Greek economy would be like opening a Pandora's Box that could kill any European area recovery. Some analysts think that even if the bailout goes through Greece will eventually default in any event.