Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos appeared to the public late on Saturday night in a public address aimed to garner public support for the heavily unpopular economic reforms required to secure additional EU capital and prevent national bankrupcy which could in itself lead to the collapse of the EUR.
The country is set to receive a massive 130bn-euro bailout pacakge to avoid debt default. During his prime time address, PM Papademos warned the country that a failure to agree and pass the bill in parliament could “set the country on a disastrous adventure”. Mr Papademos dramatically warned that the country is “just a breath away from Ground Zero”.
Analysts close to the troubled nation believe there are a number of MPs from the governing coalition parties who will vote against the bill, however there remains enough support in parliament to carry the vote through in time for a Monday session with EU finance ministers.
If the measures are not approved, other eurozone nations and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) say Greece will get no money from them and will face bankruptcy in March, the BBC’s Europe correspondent Chris Morris reports from Athens. Athens has to repay nearly 14.5bn euros in maturing debt on 20 March.
The obstacles in bill include a number of hot and sore topics that affect the day to day operation of the country and lifesytle of the greek population. Amongst some of the cuts knows as ‘austerity measures’ :
- 15,000 public-sector job cuts
- liberalisation of labour laws
- reduction of the the minimum wage by 20%
- negotiation of a debt write-off with banks.
