The Minister’s resignation landed in Athens like the explosion of a ‘bomb-shell’ shortly after the Greek Prime Minister announced that the political leaders had agreed on the full austerity package on Thursday afternoon. Deputy Labour Minister Yiannis Koutsoukos (PASOK) submitted his resignation saying, he will not be able to implement the austerity measures. These measures “are not only tough but also painful for the working people” Koutsoukos said in a statement and questioned the motives of the Troika. “Our lenders’ ignored the Labour ministry well-founded arguments and proposals in a blackmailing way… Our initial fears for the deeper targets of the IMF have been confirmed. It is obvious that it serves certain interests, as it ignores the negative impact of the measures in the public fiscal economics and the recession.”
In the past Koutsoukos had served as the chairman of public sector union ADEDY.
Now Greek media wonder whether he will vote in favor of the austerity package when it come for voting in the Parliament, most probably on upcoming Sunday.
From Assoc Press 9/2/2012-Just hours after Greece gave in to painful new job and spending cuts, European ministers declared Thursday that Athens didn’t go far enough and demanded more within a week in exchange for a euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout to stave off bankruptcy.
The ministers gave the debt-ridden country until the middle of next week to find an extra euro325 million ($430 million) in savings, pass the cuts through a divided parliament, and get written guarantees that they will be implemented even after the elections of a new government in April, said Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who chaired Thursday’s meeting of finance chiefs of the 17 euro countries.
The new austerity plan, which makes sharp cuts to the minimum wage and thousands of public-sector jobs, ignited fresh criticism from unions and the country’s deputy labor minister, who resigned in protest after Greece agreed to the deal. Even debt inspectors conceded that the new measures would keep the country in a recession for a fifth straight year.
But Greece’s finance minister warned that the alternative will likely be worse.
“Unfortunately the choice we face is one of sacrifice or even greater sacrifice – on a scale that cannot be compared,” Evangelos Venizelos told reporters, after the meeting with ministers from the 16 other countries that use the euro.
So, even though everything was agreed to here, Juncker and the rest are still no satisfied and of course “skinny” says “Unfortunately the choice we face is one of sacrifice or even greater sacrifice.” Sorry but who is the we he is talking about? He can not even fit into his suits anymore and his own deputy minister walked out becuase the truth has come to light that the plan from the EU is to slash and burn our Patrida and I am starting to believe that if they wanted our first born our Moe,Larry and Curly would give it to them. This is not good. Not good at all. 🙁
http://youtu.be/Xg_3qEf3ahU The Three Stooges – Moe Larry & Curly
it looks as if IMF criticizes its own plan for GR But IMF officials had earlier hinted that it lacked any proposals for major institutional reform.
They were also seeking assurances that the agreed measures would not be affected by elections due in April.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16971733
PS We’ll end with a paranoia at the end of …euro
The demands made by the EU were based, in part, on the size of the Greek economy. Unfortunately the economy has shrunk and so the figures don’t add up any more. This has given rise to the call for even more cuts etc. However, the Greek economy will continue to shrink for the foreseeable future, so these figures can never add up. That is one of the reasons this entire fiasco will never work. Maybe it would be worth “biting the bullet”, telling Europe to go away and dealing with bankruptcy now rather than taking the money, blaming everyone else for the problems, and going bankrupt in the near future with an even bigger debt. For all the vitriol aimed at the EU they didn’t cause this mess in the first place.