Greek Parliament Approves Austerity Plan

The Greek Parliament finally consented to Prime Minister George Papandreou's package of austerity measures - the only factor standing in the way of Greece receiving the $17 billion from the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund that it needed to survive the summer without defaulting. The 155 to 138 vote approved tax increases, wage cuts, and the privatization of 50 billion euros, or about $72 billion, in state assets. However, many are concerned that the measure will not be enough, but a second bailout is in the works for the July 3rd meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels. The bill was met with outrage as thousands of residents protested in the streets, turning violent at some points and prompting the police to release tear gas (Donadio).
If Parliament failed to approve these measures, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund vowed to withhold the next installment of funds from the financial bailout that began last year. Without the austerity plan, Greece faced a deepened recession, heightened unemployment, and crumbling living standards. In their current state, Greece is unable to raise money in the private market and will not be able to pay its bills without

One protestor said that Greeks' lives "are going to change forever" if the measures passed. "If you belong to middle class, that doesn't exist anymore. There's only rich and poor" (Donadio).

Anastasia Arvanitiki, another protestor who marched outside of Parliament in Syntagma Square, said, "What they're voting on is exactly the opposite of what they were elected to do" (Donadio).

The vote was conducted in a roll call fashion after several hours of debate. Most Socialist legislators said they would support the measures, but only because they believed their patriotic duty was more important than party ideals. The only Socialist to oppose the measure was Panagiotis Kouroublis. Alexandros Athanassiadis surprised everyone by voting in favor of the program after expressing his extreme opposition to the planned privatization of the Public Power Corporation. Athanassiadis said that Papandreou's pledge to guarantee transparency in the selloff of the utility ultimately swayed his vote. Elsa Papadimitriou, a legislator from New Democracy voted for the measure after breaking ties with her party and declaring her independency. She said her vote was "the most difficult but valuable decision of my political career" (Donadio). Ministers resorted to threatening dissenters with expulsion from the party if they did not follow suit and vote in favor of the bill (Chu).

Papandreou and Samaras, the leader of the main opposition party, New Democracy, publicly berated each other for letting down the country just prior to the vote (Donadio).

The nation's unions also protested the measures by engaging in a 48-hour general strike. This marks the first time the unio