Greeks are withdrawing euros, afraid of the prospect of rapid devaluation if the country leaves the single currency, minutes of President Karolos Papoulias’s meetings with political leaders showed. Greece’s warring parties have refused to form a viable coalition, triggering new elections that could strengthen the hand of opponents of Greece’s EU bailout.

Central Bank head George Provopoulos said savers withdrew at least €700 million on Monday, the President told party chiefs. “Mr Provopoulos told me there was no panic, but there was great fear that could develop into a panic,” the minutes quoted the President as saying.

“Withdrawals and outflows by 4 p.m. when I called him exceeded €600 million and reached €700 million,” he said. “He expects total outflows of about €800 million, including conversions in German Bunds and other such things.”

The spectre of Greece quitting the single currency sent the euro and European shares to a fresh four-month low yesterday and raised the yields on Spanish and Italian debt, reflecting the risk that other European countries will be hurt.

Sources at two Greek banks told Reuters that withdrawals on Tuesday had taken place at about the same rate as Monday and the President’s numbers appeared to be broadly accurate.

Greeks have been withdrawing funds from banks for years, and there has so far been no sign of queues at banks in Athens, but withdrawals at such a pace in two days are unusual.

A senior bank executive said there had been withdrawals but there was no sign of a panic, such as in April 2010 when €8 billion were withdrawn just before Greece obtained its first bailout.

According to Central Bank figures, Greek businesses and households had €165 billion on deposit at the end of March, having withdrawn €72 billion since January 2010. Experts say some of that was due to capital flight and some due to Greeks eating into their savings because of the crisis.

Opinion polls show that voters enraged over five years of recession, record unemployment and steep wage cuts are likely to elect a Parliament as fragmented as the one they chose on May 6. But the vote, probably in mid-June, may well tip the balance of power toward leftist parties opposed to the bailout conditions.

Policymakers from European Union states and at the European Central Bank have warned that they would stop sending Athens the cash it needs to stay afloat if a new government tears up the bailout.

Many Greek voters still hope they can stay in the euro without abiding by the conditions imposed to obtain the bailouts, as promised by Alexis Tsipras, the charismatic 37-year-old leader of the surging leftist Syriza party.

“There is a bit of schizophrenia in our society right now. People want to stay in Europe – have the cake – but they also want to eat it – by attacking the creditors,” said Theodore Couloumbis at Athens-based think-tank Eliamep.

Many in Greece pin their hopes on newly elected French President Francois Hollande, who campaigned on a pro-growth platform. Socialist Hollande offered some hope for more flexibility towards Greece on Tuesday, saying after his first meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel:

“I hope that we can say to the Greeks that Europe is ready to add measures to help growth and support economic activity so that there is a return to growth in Greece.”

IMF chief Christine Lagarde had earlier in the day joined a string of EU policymakers who have over the past days lifted the taboo of openly discussing the prospect of an exit of Greece from the eurozone. She said it was important to be prepared for that possibility and warned that an exit would be “quite messy”.

Patience is wearing thin among EU policymakers exasperated that a country which accounts for barely two per cent of the eurozone’s economy should drag the bloc into deep crisis yet again.

“The 16 other governments in the eurozone really are at the end of their patience with Greece. There isn’t room or any willingness to move,” said one official involved in talks over Greece at the European Commission.

“The decisions are really in Athens’s hands. But it doesn’t look good.”

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