German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday night’s parliamentary vote in Greece was “a very important step” towards re-floating the Greek economy but stressed there “would not and cannot be any changes” to a string of conditions for aid imposed by eurozone partners.
With Athens bearing the scars of some of the most violent protests seen there in years, Mrs Merkel’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble added that measures including a 22 per cent cut to the Greek minimum wage “are not about torturing anyone”.
Other tough conditions to money being handed over range from completing a restructuring of the country’s existing debts to delivering on a promised programme of privatisations.
Athens needs to find another €325m in spending cuts
All the while, the precise terms for invasive European Union “monitoring” of Greece’s revenues and expenditure over the coming years still have to be hammered out.
But to begin with, as eurozone finance ministers ready to reconvene in Brussels today night, there will have to be written guarantees from Greek party leaders that the latest austerity will be implemented – even after elections.
These commitments “must be given by Wednesday (tomorrow),” government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said after announcing a long-anticipated April vote.
Athens needs to find another €325 million in spending cuts, which an EU source said would likely come from defence spending.
EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn hailed “a crucial step forward towards the adoption of the second programme”, referring to a €130-billion package of loans initially agreed in October.
Mr Rehn said Greece had signalled a “determination” to end a “spiral of unsustainable public finances,” which would in return unlock “unparalleled financial assistance from Greece’s partners”.
He said this would prove “a concrete expression of their continued solidarity and genuine concern” despite “unacceptable” violence that left dozens injured and a landmark Athens cinema in smouldering ruins.
An estimated 80,000 protesters gathered in Athens, police said, matching the biggest turnouts achieved against earlier austerity packages last year, while around 20,000 demonstrated in Greece’s second city of Thessaloniki.
With thousands of police guarding the Parliament, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warned before lawmakers voted: “If we collapse, we won’t be able to fix anything anymore ... the package is the country’s only hope.”
Athens was coming to terms yesterday with scenes of devastation described as the worst for several years.
Rioters attacked “emblematic buildings, about 10 neo-classical edifices,” the Athens city hall’s top maintenance official Andreas Varelas said.
“I am ashamed, it’s hooliganism,” lamented a 55-year-old security guard who took part in demonstrations that left 45 buildings burnt out and 67 people under arrest.