http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/greek-public-servants-strike-over-deal/st...Greek public servants strike over deal
17 HOURS AGO JULY 14, 2015 1:23PM
People demonstrate in front of the stairs leading to the Greek parliament in Athens during an anti-EU demonstration in Athens calling for a 'NO' to any agreement with the creditors on July 13. Source: AFP
ANGRY Greek public servants are preparing to go on a 24 hour strike tomorrow in the first large scale protest of the draconian bailout conditions agreed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last night.
Mr Tsipras has been told to railroad a succession of laws through the parliament tomorrow to show the European creditors the country is serious about implementing a raft of pension and tax reforms and the transfer of €50bn of the country’s assets, including the sale of the banks, in return for a €86bn bailout.
But political rebellion to the emergency legislation is gathering pace as deep cracks show in parliament. Defence minister Panos Kammemos, who heads the government’s junior coalition partner Independents Greeks (ANEL), said his party could not agree to many of the European demands including the €50bn fund, and European oversight of many Greek activities.
Government workers are also furious at the bailout conditions, which include reversing legislation that was introduced in the early months of the Syriza government. One of the most contentious is the reversal of a bill that allowed for the rehiring of tens of thousands of employees in the Greek public sector including school guards and cleaners. The deal also calls for deeper cuts to pensions, larger tax increases and privatisations, as well as tackling corruption and tax avoidance.
Mr Tsipras, whose Syriza party and ANEL coalition has an 11-seat majority may also face a no-confidence vote by the staunch left wing members of his party. He may be forced to form a national emergency government comprising politicians from the centre left and centre right to gain enough support for his measures that go against all of the anti-austerity and anti-humiliation platforms on which he was elected.
A leftist protester burns the flag of the governing Syriza party in front of the Greek parliament. Eurozone leaders struck a deal on July 13 on a bailout to prevent debt-stricken Greece from crashing out of the euro, forcing Athens to push through draconian reforms in a matter of days. Source: AFP
Mr Kammemos, who has refused to form any national coalition with the populist To Potami or conservative New Democracy parties, said Mr Tsipras was blackmailed into making the European agreement under intense pressure. He revealed European creditors had even threatened the collapse of the Greek banks and the loss of all savings deposits of Greeks in a ‘’complete deposit haircut’’ unless he accepted the austere package that was more draconian than that roundly rejected in the national referendum.
Mr Kammemos told Greek media: “This deal is beyond what was agreed during the political leaders’ summit under the President of the Hellenic Republic, which the Greek Parliament ratified. To that agreement, as a sign of good will and even though it was against our conscience, we said yes. But to this deal, which brings new data, which talks about 50 billion euros as collateral of public assets, which talks about decrees for changes of laws like the Criminal Procedure Code, which will lead to house foreclosures, which refers to a complete collapse, even of constitutional ideals, we cannot agree,”
He added: “This coup went to the point where the Greek Prime Minister was threatened with the banks’ collapse and complete deposit haircuts.’’
Other potential partners in a national emergency coalition government such as To Potami, the socialists Pasok and New Democracy were preparing to back Mr Tsipras.
Meanwhile, an International Monetary Fund spokesman said Greece defaulted on another payment due to the IMF on Monday, pushing the country’s arrears up to €2 billion.
Although eurozone finance ministers are negotiating a bridge loan to help tide the country over until it can reach a final deal, Greece’s dwindling resources leave it with little room to pay the IMF, although the increasing arrears doesn’t change Greece’s immediate circumstances.
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