Greece endorsed a painful 2013 budget of spending cuts demanded
by its international creditors, as thousands of demonstrators
gathered in Athens to vent their anger at the government's handling
of the financial crisis.
The budget, which includes sweeping cuts to pensions, wages and
social services, is the second of two crucial steps Greece has taken
in the past week in an effort to persuade the International Monetary
Fund and other Eurozone countries to release the next 31.3bn tranche
of bailout funds. A comfortable majority, 167 lawmakers of the 300
seat Parliament, voted for the budget late last night.
"We took a decisive step with greater unity, from now on:
recovery and growth," said Premier Antonis Samaras after the vote.
However, in Syntagma Square near the city's parliament building
last night, protesters chanted slogans such as "Take your bail out
and leave", while others held banners that read "Plan B: yes to
work, and no to the Euro" and "Down with the junta of Prime Minister
Samaras". Crowds were far less than last Wednesday, when at least
80,000 protesters had gathered to oppose the country's latest
package of austerity measures, worth 13.5bn, also demanded by the
country's creditors. Despite much debate over whether they would
accept the measures, Greek MPs narrowly passed the package, and two
of the ruling parties - New Democracy and PASOK - expelled seven MPs
for voting against it.
Mihalis Vergitsis, a high school teacher who attended last
night's protests, said continued industrial action and protests were
pivotal in influencing political developments.
"The strength of this government is already weakening: they could
barely vote in favour of austerity so it will be very difficult for
them to implement the measures," he said. "We must fight: pensioners
and workers can't be the ones shouldering the entire burden of this
crisis."
Athens has been banking on a meeting of Eurozone finance
ministers today to approve the release of the next bailout tranche
in order to repay 5bn worth of maturing debt on Friday, among other
payments.
Without help, Mr Samaras, has warned the country would go
bankrupt by the end of November.
"I'm going to Brussels armed with 167 votes," Finance minister
Ioannis Stournaras said after the vote. "I expect a political
statement in favour of the loan disbursement."
Meanwhile, Germany's Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the
17 countries that make up the Eurozone need more time to approve the
release of the loan.
First, the "Troika" of auditors from the European Union and
International Monetary Fund need to complete their report on
Greece's progress and then, the Parliaments of some of the Eurozone
countries will need to approve the loan.
"We are not responsible for the urgency (of the situation). All
those concerned have known the deadlines for a long time," he
explained in an interview with a German newspaper. "All of us in the
eurozone and the IMF want to help Greece but we will not let
ourselves be put under pressure."
The country's creditors are still trying to resolve a deadlock on
how they meet Greece's future financing needs.
