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Greek PM pushes through parliament bills linked with debt deal, anti-austerity protests resume

22 February 2012 20:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos pushed through the parliament on Wednesday a string of draft bills linked with the new debt deal clinched in Brussels this week to avoid a Greek default, as trade unions and leftist opposition parties resumed anti-austerity rallies in Athens, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Following a "very satisfactory outcome" in euro group’s meeting on early Tuesday that sealed a second bailout deal to Greece to avoid a bankruptcy in March, "much remain to be done in coming weeks," to secure the success of efforts, Papademos stressed during a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias.

Papademos briefed Papoulias on the agreement and the steps ahead, underlining that "it creates conditions for growth and the recovery of the Greek economy."

Under the deal, debt-laden Greece will receive a new 130-billion-euro (172.29 billion U.S. dollars) rescue loans package by the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the second in two years, to face an alarming debt crisis that threatened to lead the country to a disorderly default and the eurozone in deep recession.

In addition, the agreement paved the way for a partial write off of the country’s debt load by private creditors, known as the Private Sector Involvement (PSI) plan, aiming to make the Greek sovereign debt sustainable by 2020.

In return, Athens pledged to introduce quickly a new set of painful austerity and reform measures. On Wednesday Greek lawmakers were already debating a first bill regarding the details of the implementation of the PSI plan that is expected to be put to vote on Thursday.

In parallel, the government pushes through the assembly separate draft bills on supplementary 3.2-billion-euro (4.24 billion dollars) fiscal measures for this year that include new cuts on state spending in the defence and health sectors and fresh cutbacks on pensions.

All bills detailing the "necessary actions" linked to the debt deal, are due to be ratified by the Greek assembly by early March, to open the way for the bond swap process and the implementation of Tuesday’s agreement.

"We were never asked, we vote no," protesters chanted outside the parliament building on Wednesday afternoon in the first symbolic anti-austerity rally staged by the two main labour unions of private and public sector workers, GSEE and ADEDY, after the finalization of the new bailout program. More protests are planned for next week.

"The new multi-billion euro aid and ’haircut’ on the Greek debt come at enormous cost for Greek people. In exchange, we face a ’haircut’ on workers’ rights, the destruction of welfare state, the condemnation of thousands low income employees and pensioners to poverty through cuts after cuts. There are other ways to solve the crisis," said unionists under heavy rain.

Similar slogans against "bankers and governments that created the crisis and now ask people to pay for it," were written on banners waved during a second demonstration organized by the Greek Communist Party in central Athens.

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Greek PM pushes through parliament bills linked with debt deal, anti-austerity protests resume

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