Greece faces auditor verdict, fresh protests

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek civil servants blocked the doors of government ministries on Thursday in protest against austerity measures, disrupting the start of talks with the EU and IMF on an aid tranche Athens needs to avoid bankruptcy.

The Socialist government announced unpopular pension cuts, lay-offs and taxes last week to lure back the EU, IMF and ECB inspectors, who left Greece earlier this month over disagreements on the steps needed to plug fiscal gaps.

Dozens of finance ministry employees gathered in front of the finance ministry on Thursday to protest against the measures, shouting: "Take your bailout and leave."

The protesters stopped some officials from the EU/IMF/ECB troika from entering the building, and the mission chiefs met Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in another government office.

Civil servants also blocked the entrances of other public buildings including the interior, justice, health and agriculture ministries, a police spokesman said.

"The occupations are carried out today to coincide with the return of the troika to our country and as we face new barbaric measures," public sector union ADEDY said in a statement.

Before returning and resuming talks on Thursday, the EU/IMF mission demanded written assurances from Greece that the new pledges will be met, highlighting a lack of trust after repeated failures to meet fiscal targets and foot-dragging about privatizations.

Prime Minister George Papandreou urged his cabinet ministers on Thursday to step up efforts to meet EU/IMF targets.

"We are moving as fast as we can to finish pending issues and you should not allow issues in your area to linger," he told ministers.

But in a further sign of the difficulty to implement reforms in Greece, the cabinet postponed a decision on Thursday on one of the measures announced last week, the decision to put tens of thousands of public sector workers on the road to redundancy.

"We must discuss the details with the troika," government spokesman Ilias Mosialos said.

Other government officials said the cabinet had drafted three alternative scenarios that will be discussed with the inspectors before being finalized at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Athens has promised its EU and IMF lenders that it would put 30,000 public sector workers in a so-called labor reserve this year, lifting a taboo on the sacking of civil servants to meet a condition for continuing to get bailout aid.

But Greek officials say enforcing the measure is very complicated in a country where the constitution protects civil servant's jobs.

BAILOUT AID

The EU, IMF and ECB inspectors are set to comb through new austerity plans for at least a week. Most analysts expect they will approve the new, 8-billion euro tranche of aid. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said euro zone finance ministers would decide on the aid on October13.

"I think euro zone finance ministers will in the end release the next tranche of bailout payments for Greece," said Joerg Kraemer, economist at Commmerzbank. "They will not dare turn off the tap on Greece right now, it's a political decision."

Without new funds, Greece could run out of cash to pay state wage and pension bills as soon as next month. A default on debt repayments could wreck the balance sheets of banks across Europe and unleash a crisis in the global financial system.

Bailing out Greece has become a tough political proposition for other euro zone leaders to sell to their own voters.

A Greek official said Papandreou, who has already taken his case to Germany this week, might go to Paris on Friday after German deputies approved a stronger euro zone bailout fund. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the visit was not yet confirmed.

Papandreou's PASOK party trails the conservatives by 5.8 points, according to the latest opinion poll. The conservatives want a renegotiation of the bailout deal to allow lower taxes and less austerity, something the troika has rejected.

Labor unions have called new anti-austerity walkouts and protests that may shake the lawmakers' resolve to approve the rest of the measures, expected to come to a vote next month, after the property tax was backed by parliament on Tuesday, while police fired teargas at protesters outside..

Taxi owners who oppose the liberalization of their trade continued their 48-hour strike on Thursday. Hospital workers protesting cuts walked off the job for three hours. Trade union ADEDY, which represents the country's 730,000 civil servants, called a rally and said it would march on parliament.

($1 = 0.735 Euros)

(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou, Renee Maltezou and Deborah Kyvrikosaios; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Angus MacSwan)