Greek crisis continuing with refusal to sign austerity pledge

GREECE’s creditors failed on Saturday to persuade the leader of the main conservative party to drop his refusal to sign a pledge that he will back austerity measures under a bailout deal aimed at saving the country from financial ruin.

Antonis Samaras — leader of New Democracy, one of three parties in a new national unity coalition struggling to avert a disastrous default — says there is no need to provide a written guarantee because his word can be trusted.

But international lenders, weary of Greece’s failure to deliver on fiscal targets during two years of financial crisis, insist on the written statement, fearing its politicians may otherwise try to wriggle out of their commitments, especially with an election likely in February.