Greek police have fired teargas at protesters outside parliament as MPs prepare to debate new austerity measures required for the EU and IMF 130bn Euro bail-out deal. Demonstrators around Syntagma Square in Athens responded by throwing yoghurt, stones then petrol bombs.
Greek leaders believe the country has no choice but to adopt the new wave of austerity measures, but their eurozone colleagues are skeptical Greece will follow through.
The austerity measures include 300 million euros in pension cuts and a 22 percent drop in the minimum wage. The bill as well aims to cut Greece’s bloated state sector workforce by about 15,000 people by 2015. Finance Min Venizelos spoke around 8 pm: he said ”the country produces nothing and that is its main problem. He adds that conspiracy theories about foreigners are very convinient but don’t change anything.”
Tensions within the European Union increases, Greece is heavily indebted to eurozone countries ( 41 bn Eu to France, 15 bn Eu to Germany, 9 to France etc).
