VIENNA, Nov 16 – Greece has not fulfilled commitments for its European Union-backed aid package, Austrian finance minister Josef Proell said on Tuesday, adding that his country had not yet submitted its contribution for December. Greece sealed a deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund earlier this year which opened a door to a multi-billion euro bailout in exchange for extra budget cuts of €30 billion over three years. On Monday, the EU statistics agency Eurostat revised upwards Greece’s 2009 budget deficit for a third time, to 15.4 percent of gross domestic product compared with a previous estimate of 13.6 percent. “From the Austrian point of view, there is no reason to release the (aid) contribution in December with the (Greek) numbers as they are at present,” Proell told a ministers’ meeting in Vienna according to the national Austria Press Agency (APA). He said Greece had not kept its promise to get its finances in order and that Austria’s 190 million euro ($265 million) contribution was not automatic.
The Daily Telegraph puts it more bluntly: