February 19, 2012
Debt-stricken Greece is battling against the clock to implement the drastic budget cuts needed to convince finance ministers from the eurozone to finally sign off its €130bn lifeline at Monday's crucial meeting.
With Greece less than five weeks away from the date when it has to meet debt repayments of €14.5bn, the government of Lucas Papademos worked furiously over the weekend to fulfil conditions demanded by its "troika" of creditors, the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The full gamut of fury over budget measures that have cut pay and pensions by up to 40 % was on display in Syntagma square where demonstrators gathered in front of parliament. The plaza – the arena of ferocious clashes between riot police and protestors a week ago – was festooned with banners decrying the "memorandum [agreement] of wretchedness."
"Neither this government nor any of the politicians in that building," said Kostas Berses, 55, pointing to Athens' sandstone parliament, "were invested with the power to pass such undemocratic measures. They have reduced us to a poverty house where nothing is resolved and every day despair just grows. Greeks want to be able to decide their own luck, their own fate."
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