by Costas Paris
Wall Street Journal
February 10, 2012
The hardest working politicians in Europe today are the Greek party whips whose leaders have agreed to support a new rash of austerity.
They’re cajoling their parliamentary deputies to line up behind austerity legislation that trade unions have labeled “a tombstone” for Greek society. Each of them has to be looking at their price they might have to pay in the next general election, tentatively coming sometime in late Spring.
“If they had the choice no one would vote for the austerity bill,” says a senior socialist party official.
Euro-zone governments have told the Greeks that merely passing the new austerity package won’t be enough to persuade them to approve a new €130 billion bailout plan. They want a “strong show of support” among Greece’s law makers.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Thursday night that Greece must choose between the lesser of two humiliations: totally give in to the creditors’ demands or let Greece default and be kicked out of the euro.
Many deputies are being pushed by their leaders to back the bill although such a move could put an end to their political careers. An anti-austerity protest rally outside the building foreshadows the message they will get on election night.
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