Man, is THIS piece chalk-full of goodies. On the one hand, it stands to reason that chickens will come home to roost, and austerity is the inevitable result of ongoing refusal to address insolvency. On the other hand, it's Socialists with a "Capital S" demanding the measures, and the measures are not even a remedy, but a mechanism whereby Greece can secure another EU bailout and cede more national sovereignty in the process.
Then you've got your typical union thugs and community organizers fomenting agitation, vandalism, and violence in the street. It looks like the Leftist agitators and the sheep who've long since ceded their dignity and self-determination to the nanny state would prefer to choose national suicide.
What a mess.
Greece faces ‘suicide’ vote on austerityGreece will be committing “suicide” if its parliament fails to back sweeping austerity measures aimed at averting a catastrophic default, according to the head of the country’s central bank.
The stark warning by George Provopoulos, governor of the Bank of Greece, further heightened the stakes ahead of a knife-edge vote on Wednesday in the Greek parliament.
It came as Athens’ police fired tear gas after protests at the severity of the measures imposed by the European Union and International Monetary Fund turned violent.
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He added: “For parliament to vote against this package would be a crime – the country would be voting for its suicide.”
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The Greek parliament’s approval of a €28bn ($40.1bn) package of
tax increases and spending cuts is crucial to securing a second international bail-out to replace a €110bn programme agreed a year ago.On Tuesday night Greece’s socialist government was attempting to rally dissident deputies with close ties to trade unions, hoping to achieve a parliamentary majority on Wednesday.
Theodoros Pangalos, deputy premier, warned that the next €12bn loan tranche from the current international bail-out loan would not be disbursed unless parliament backed the new measures.
“If we don’t get the money, we face a terrible scenario ... a return to the drachma, with banks besieged by terrified crowds wanting to withdraw their savings,” he said. “We will see tanks protecting banks because there won’t be enough police to do it,” he added.Greek policymakers hinted that they had no contingency plans in the event of a defeat. “
We don’t have a Plan B, we don’t have a plan omega – the last letter of Greek alphabet,” said one.
The “catastrophe talk” was intended to bring wavering deputies on board and avoid having to resort to votes from conservative splinter groups, a socialist official said.The socialists have a majority of six in the 300-seat parliament. Only one socialist deputy has said he will vote against the package but a further five were considering whether to abstain, the official said.
Thousands of trade unionists gathered outside the parliament building in Athens demanding that the package be withdrawn. Riot police used teargas against extremists who were attacking shops and setting fire to rubbish bins in streets.
Meanwhile, a 48-hour walk-out by public sector workers shut state-owned banks and government offices, city transport and most ferry services to the Aegean islands. Work stoppages by air traffic controllers delayed dozens of international flights using Athens airport.
The Indignant Citizens movement, running a protest camp in Syntagma square, asked supporters to stay in the streets throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
“This is the climax of a month-long protest against measures that are just too harsh for people to take ... we plan to be here non-stop,” said Manolis, an civil engineering student.
