The explosion was outside the tax office in Maroussi, a suburb north of the
city centre.
The device is believed to have been made from gas canisters, a method usually
employed by radical anarchist groups.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Party leaders have failed to break the deadlock for a week after May 6
election delivered an anti-austerity verdict and fragmented the political
landscape, putting seven parties including a neo-Nazi group in parliament.
New elections will have to be called in June if a coalition cannot be formed
by Thursday when parliament is scheduled to convene.
Opinion polls have indicated that Syriza, which completely rejects the EU-IMF
bailout deal, would win a repeat election.
“Syriza wants elections,” Mr Kouvelis said, adding that the country
was “clearly” heading for a new ballot.
Outgoing government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis, speaking on another TV channel,
warned that “a political void has been created which is extremely
dangerous.”
The crisis has raised the spectre of Greece defaulting and leaving the
17-member eurozone – a threat that will be high on the agenda when eurozone
finance ministers meet in Brussels on Monday.
Governments have issued Athens with a clear warning, last week withholding
some funds already supposedly signed off for the post-election period.
European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso warned that broken promises
render agreements void and raise the prospect of Greece leaving the euro
club.
President Papoulias produced a letter from outgoing prime minister Lucas
Papademos on the state of the Greek economy that said the state only has
enough cash to pay salaries and pensions until late June.
“The note was mainly on state reserves and the banking system,” the
government spokesman told Mega TV channel. “A protracted electoral
campaign affects revenue and spending, and a billion euros that was supposed
to enter state coffers did not,” Kapsis said, referring to scheduled
loans withheld by Brussels until after the election.
Mr Papademos has already warned that Greek banks need to be urgently
recapitalised after taking major losses in a bond exchange last month that
erased nearly a third of Greece’s huge debt.
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