Troika demands putting gov't coalition at risk

The troika's insistence on further interventions by the Greek government in the labor sector are not only holding up a desperately needed second 31.5-billion-euro tranche of aid, but are putting the ruling government coalition at risk, Greek analysts said on Tuesday. The troika (EU-ECB-IMF) officials are now inserting measures that were not in the original Memorandum signed by Greece and its international creditors, such as demanding the government sack several thousand public employees and act to further weaken the country's labor laws. ''The delay in concession of the second tranche of aid will have negative repercussions on the country's economy and international image,'' Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos told a congress organized by the International Herald Tribune and Kathimerini newspaper. What left-wing leader Alexi Tsipras has dubbed ''the troika's schizophrenic measures'' could topple the fragile balance within the ruling coalition, which is made up of Samaras' conservative Nea Dimokratia party, the PASOK Socialists, and Fotis Kouvelis' Democratic Left party. While several PASOK MPs are agitating for their party to quit government and call for a no-confidence vote, other MPs from across the board declare themselves ready to vote on any and all austerity measures, except those that modify labor contracts, as they ''would mean the destruction of whatever worker rights are still left in Greece,'' according to the MPs. The number of these rebellious MPs is growing large enough to cause the government serious problems, according to media indiscretions.