Burning Greece: Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a Bank of Cyprus branch during clashes in Athens, early Monday. Greek lawmakers on Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after rioters in central Athens torched buildings, looted shops and clashed with riot police. (AP/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Greece's parliament
early Monday approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout
creditors to save the debt-crippled country from bankruptcy, after rioters in
central Athens
torched buildings, looted shops and clashed with riot police.
The historic vote paves the way for Greece's
European partners and the International Monetary Fund to release €130 billion (US$171
billion) in new rescue loans without which Greece would default on its debt
mountain next month and likely leave the Eurozone - a scenario that would
further roil global markets.
Sunday's clashes erupted after more than 100,000 protesters marched to the
parliament to rally against the drastic cuts, which will ax one in five civil
service jobs and slash the minimum wage by more than a fifth.
At least 10 buildings were set on fire, including a movie theater, bank and
cafeteria, and looters smashed dozens of shops in the worst riot damage in
years. Dozens of police officers and at least 37 protesters wee injured, 23
suspected rioters were arrested and a further 25 detained.
As the vote got under way early Monday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos urged
calm, pointing to the country's dire financial straits.
"Vandalism and destruction have no place in a democracy and will not be
tolerated," Papademos told parliament. "I call on the public to show
calm. At these crucial times, we do not have the luxury of this type of
protest. I think everyone is aware of how serious the situation is."
Since May 2010, Greece
has survived on a $145 billion bailout from its European partners and the IMF.
When that proved insufficient, the new rescue package was approved. The deal,
which has not yet been finalized, will be combined with a massive bond swap
deal to write off half the country's privately held debt.
But for both deals to materialize, Greece has to persuade its deeply
skeptical creditors that it has the will to implement spending cuts and public
sector reforms that will end years of fiscal profligacy and tame gaping budget
deficits.
As protests raged Sunday, demonstrators set bonfires in front of parliament
and dozens of riot police formed lines to keep them from making a run on the
building. Security forces fired dozens of tear gas volleys at rioters, who
attacked them with firebombs and chunks of marble broken off the fronts of
luxury hotels, banks and department stores.
Clouds of tear gas drifted across the square, and many in the crowd wore gas
masks or had their faces covered, while others carried Greek flags and banners.
A three-story building was completely consumed by flames as firefighters
struggled to douse the blaze. Streets were strewn with stones, smashed glass
and burnt wreckage, while terrified passers-by sought refuge in hotel lounges
and cafeterias.
"I've had it! I can't take it any more. There's no point in living in
this country any more," said a distraught shop owner walking through his
smashed and looted optician store.
Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis said rioters tried to storm the City Hall
building, but were repelled. "Once again, the city is being used as a
lever to try to destabilize the country," he said.
Conservative New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said the rioting
"hurts the entire country."
"We are seeing scenes from a future that we must do our utmost to
avert," he said.
Papademos' government - an unlikely coalition of the majority Socialists and
their main foes, New Democracy - had been expected to carry the austerity vote,
even if by a narrow margin.
Combined, they control 236 of Parliament's 300 seats although at least 20
lawmakers from both main parties said they would not back the private sector
wage cuts, pension reductions and civil service layoffs dictated by the draft
austerity program.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the measures were vital to the
country's very economic survival.
"The question is not whether some salaries and pensions will be
curtailed, but whether we will be able to pay even these reduced wages and
pensions," he said. "When you have to choose between bad and worse,
you will pick what is bad to avoid what is worse."
The new cutbacks, which follow two years of harsh income losses and tax
hikes amid a deep recession and record high unemployment, have been demanded by
Greece's
bailout creditors in return for a new batch of vital rescue loans.
"By Wednesday, finance ministers from eurozone countries must finally
approve the financing and support program for Greece," Venizelos said.
"If that doesn't happen, the country will go bankrupt."
Greece's
eurozone partners, meanwhile, kept up the pressure for real reform.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as telling the Welt am
Sonntag newspaper Sunday that Greece
"cannot be a bottomless pit."
Highlighting previous promises he said weren't kept, Schaeuble said
"that is why Greece's
promises aren't enough for us any more."
Asked whether Greece has
a long-term future in the eurozone, Germany's Vice Chancellor Philip
Roesler said "that is now in the hands of the Greeks alone."
"It is not enough just to give financial aid - they must tackle the
second cause of the crisis, the lack of economic competitiveness," told
said ARD television. "For that, they need ... massive structural reforms.
Otherwise Greece
will not get out of the crisis."
Introducing the legislation Sunday, Socialist lawmaker Sofia Yiannaka said
the intense pressure from Greece's
EU partners to pass the measures was the result of delays in implementing
already agreed reforms.
"The delays have our imprint. We should not blame foreigners for them,"
she said. "We have finally found out that you have to pay back what you
have borrowed."
Leftist parties and the small rightist LAOS - a former junior coalition
partner - had vowed to vote against the new austerity.
"You are not trying to save Greece, but a handful of
industrialists," Communist Party spokesman Thanassis Pafilis said.
"And you disgracefully blame the struggling people who created the wealth
we have. You are trying to send them back to the Middle Ages. We will not allow
it." (nvn)
