Greek Parliament Passes Austerity Package
While the international media zoomed in on Libya on Thursday, another important story was unfolding in Athens, where two days of strikes and protests failed to sway parliament members from passing a bill of austerity measures the Greek government insisted was necessary to avoid an even more catastrophic economic mess.
While the international media zoomed in on Libya on Thursday, another important story was unfolding in Athens, where two days of strikes and protests failed to sway parliament members from passing a bill of austerity measures the Greek government insisted was necessary to avoid an even more catastrophic economic mess.
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The government’s bill is needed to secure EU and IMF bailout loans.
The member of the ruling socialist party who voted against it, Louka Katseli, has been expelled from the party by Prime Minister George Papandreou.
Civil servants, shopkeepers, dock workers, taxi drivers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, construction workers and others were all due to take part in the strike, which began on Wednesday.
An estimated 50,000 protesters gathered on Syntagma Square, in front of parliament, on Thursday.
The bill includes plans for further cuts to pensions and salaries and temporary lay-offs of 30,000 public sector workers.
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Ending down 16.23 percent by the end of Monday, Athens' stock market experienced its worst daily performance since at least 1985, when modern record keeping began.
While Greece is not the first country to defy the IMF’s prescriptions, it is uniquely poised to underscore, once and for all, capitalism's incompatibility with democracy.
If there was any lingering question about where the majority of Greeks stood on the deal drummed up by European creditors to try to contain Greece's ongoing financial crisis, Sunday's referendum on the bailout package soundly dispelled it.
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