More protest in Athens over austerity plans

SEVERAL thousand pro-Communist union members marched through central Athens yesterday to protest against the government's latest austerity measures and plans to sell off state enterprises to appease international creditors.

Greece has seen near-daily protests against the belt-tightening that has slashed salaries and pensions in an attempt to stem its ballooning debt.

"People should have no illusions … (the government] and creditors will sit together to skin the Greek people alive," Communist party secretary Aleka Papariga told the crowd of 5,000.

Greece was roiled by political and market turmoil last week over new spending cuts and tax hikes. Prime minister George Papandreou sacked his finance minister and appointed his main party rival, Evangelos Venizelos, to the post. Germany, fearing that Greece would soon default, calmed market fears on Friday by retreating from its stance that banks and other private lenders should be forced to share the pain of a second financial bail-out for Greece.

Venizelos will face his European colleagues for the first time tomorrow at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers that is expected to approve payment of a fifth instalment from the 110 billion (97bn) rescue package approved for Greece in May 2010. The International Monetary Fund is widely expected to approve releasing its own share of the instalment in early July. If approved, the European Union and the IMF will provide Greece with a badly needed 12bn.

Also today, Papandreou will open a three-day parliamentary debate that will conclude on Tuesday with a vote of confidence. With 155 deputies in the 300-strong parliament, he is expected to win the vote. He is then expected to pass a 28bn (24.7bn) package of steep tax hikes and budget cuts before the end of the month.

The powerful state electricity company employees' union GENOP has announced it will begin rolling 48-hour strikes next week, threatening to cause blackouts, while public and private sector unions are expected to stage a 48-hour general strike on the date, yet to be determined, that the new austerity package will be voted on.

"We must vote this package, because our credibility with (Greece's creditors] is at stake and because we must ensure that servicing our debt remains sustainable," Venizelos told Greek media on Friday.