Greek left attacks 'barbarous' austerity - will the Euro be the price

Greece is heading for a clash with international lenders as the radical leftwing party that came second in the weekends election called for the ripping up of a barbarous austerity programme underpinning its bailout and questions mounted about the countrys future inside the Euro.

Alexis Tsipras, the 37-year-old leader of the Syriza party that surged in popularity in Sundays poll, outlined a five-point plan to be put to conservative and socialist leaders on Wednesday as he attempts to build a coalition, demanding the reversal of fiscal and structural measures that have enabled Greece to slash its budget deficit.

However, in an unusually blunt intervention, Jrg Asmussen, a European Central Bank executive board member, for the first time raised the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro an option the ECB had previously refused to acknowledge in public ... READ MORE

Released by the Financial Times - 8 May 2012