February 10, 2012
Greek workers erupted in fury and the government wobbled after the country’s foreign creditors demanded more budget cuts in exchange for a bail-out that is needed to ward off what could be a disorderly default next month.
Financial markets were hit and the mood darkened before a parliamentary vote on Sunday that Greek political leaders have cast as a referendum on whether the country would remain a member of the single European currency.
As the vote drew near, Lucas Papademos, the Greek premier, scrambled to shore up his coalition. Late on Friday the cabinet finally approved the bill.
Earlier, five ministers had resigned in protest at the wage and pension cuts that international lenders have demanded before they will sign off on a €130bn bail-out.
Four were from the rightwing Laos party, whose leader, George Karatzaferis, said he would oppose the measures in Sunday’s vote. He blamed Germany, the eurozone’s biggest economy, for trampling on the countries of the southern Mediterranean.
“We were robbed of our dignity, we were humiliated. I can’t take this. I won’t allow it,” Mr Karatzaferis said, adding that Greece “could do without the German boot.”
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