Rumors of budget cuts have been trickling out for the last four months. Now a 94-page draft memorandum, yet to be officially released, appears to detail Greece’s new austerity measures in full.

The draft states an increase of 5 percent on personal taxes made last year will be retained through 2018. Twenty thousand employees are due to be cut from the public payroll in 2013, with 5,000 more in 2014. The retirement age will rise from 65 to 67, interest on deposits will rise from 10 percent to 15 percent and various tax exemptions will be eliminated.

Heavier taxes will be levied on farmers, certain payrolls will be reduced by up to 35 percent, and the number of employed associate professors will be cut drastically from 15,226 to 2,000. Traffic ticket penalties will rise 25 percent and special seasonal unemployment benefits will be scrapped.

The measures stem from a series of demands made by the troika, the banking group lending money for Greece’s recovery effort. The troika is composed of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

Amid all this economic pain, one wonders if and when revolution is coming to Greece.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

 Your support matters…

Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.

You can help level the playing field. Become a member.

Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.

Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG
In this Article:
#austerity#greece