ATHENS – More than half of Greeks say they will take to the streets if the government agrees new austerity measures with the EU and the International Monetary Fund, according to a poll released yesterday.
The debt-choked country is hoping to conclude a deal with the EU and IMF officials on more than €20 billion of deficit-cutting measures to get access to a multibillion-euro loan package and avoid default. European officials say an agreement is imminent and will be unveiled tomorrow. “The economic measures . . . are necessary for our country’s protection, for our future, for us to be able to stand on our feet,” prime minister George Papandreou told parliament. “Today the top priority is the survival of the nation. This is the red line.”
Union officials said Greece had been asked to slash its deficit from 13.9 per cent of gross domestic product last year to below 3 per cent by 2012 by raising value added tax, scrapping public sector bonuses amounting to two extra months’ pay, and freezing civil servants’ wages. In a poll for the newspaper Proto Thema, 51.3 per cent said they would take to the streets if these new measures were agreed. Nearly half said they wanted a national unity government to handle the crisis.
“I don’t think these measures will get us out of the crisis. There is no salvation for Greece,” said Vassilis Fragiskakis (32) owner of a glass factory that employs 35 and has seen business suffer in the last two months. “It’s tragic.”
Investors fear that public opposition may yet thwart the austerity programme. The euro dropped to $1.3275 from $1.3290 after the poll was published.
However, in another poll by Kappa Research, just over half said it had been right to ask the EU and the IMF for help, and Mr Papandreou was still the most popular choice for prime minister, with 42.7 per cent support.
Private and public sector unions have said they will step up protests.Thousands are set to march in the May Day protest today, and the public sector union called for a four-hour work stoppage for Tuesday, on top of a nationwide strike set for Wednesday.
The main opposition party, the conservative New Democracy, said austerity measures would further deepen the recession.
But finance minister George Papaconstantinou said the government would not buckle, in a country where many reforms have been scrapped in the wake of street protests. “No one should doubt our will to clash with vested interests, big or small, to achieve the national goal,” he told a conference. “We will not back down, we will not bow to any political cost.” He called for a meeting of the main party leaders to discuss the deal, his office said.
The Socialist government, elected in October on a promise to tax the rich and help the poor, has already announced three sets of austerity measures since revealing last year that the budget deficit had shot up to more than twice previous forecasts.
Economists estimate the austerity measures could contribute to an economic contraction steeper than last year’s 2.0 per cent. Ratings agency Moody’s cited this concern as a factor in its decision to cut the credit ratings of nine Greek banks.
“People stand here reading the front pages of newspapers and swear because they don’t know what tomorrow will bring,” said Dimitra Pitsopoulou (52) from inside a central Athens news stand. “We’ve lost all hope . . . The only way out of the crisis is to boost the private sector, which is supporting the entire economy, leave it out of these measures.” – (Reuters)