The debate on the new austerity measures they envisage begins today in the Athens Parliament budget cuts of 13,5 billion for the next two years. The cuts, which will be voted on tomorrow, will mainly affect the salaries and pensions of civil servants and are a necessary condition for obtaining the go-ahead for the third tranche of aid worth 31,5 billion euros.
Meanwhile, the climate in Greece is getting hotter: it starts this morning, in parallel with the debate on the bill, a 48-hour general strike that threatens to paralyze the country, with numerous protest demonstrations expected in the center of Athens and the serious danger of even violent clashes.
In all of this, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will have to jump through hoops to keep the heterogeneous majority that supports him together, with the Dimar deputies having already announced their intention to abstain from voting, while in Parliament there are those who ask that it is not the weakest categories that pay the bill for the cuts, but the tax evaders.
To complicate the situation even more, it is the notorious one list of tax evaders, which contains 2059 names, including, in all likelihood, those of some prominent politicians. On the list, which disappeared and then reappeared, the mystery remains thick, but the looming risk is that of a real political crisis, given that some MPs threaten not to vote if the matter is not clarified first.
