ATHENS: Greeks went on a 48-hour nationwide strike on Friday to protest against tax and pension reforms, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appealed to fractious lawmakers to approve the overhaul as part of a multi-billion euro bailout.
Lowering its annual pension bill, one of the most expensive in the euro zone, is a condition for Athens to qualify for a fresh instalment of the latest international bailout, worth up to 86 billion Euros ($98.3 billion), which it agreed a year ago with its EU partners.
The strike left ships docked at port, disrupted public transport and kept civil servants and journalists off the job. Thousands of protesters with the Communist-affiliated group PAME marched before parliament holding banners that read: “Rise up now!” and “Resist”.
Saturday’s Greek Cup final between league champions Olympiakos Piraeus and AEK Athens was postponed at the request of police, who did not have resources to oversee the game. No new date was announced..
Major labour unions plan protests outside parliament on Sunday, when the reforms are due to be put to the vote.
Tsipras, who is clinging to a slim majority of three seats in the 300-member assembly, appealed to members of his Syriza party to approve the package. Whether Greece signed up to a bailout or not, he said, reform of the pension system was still needed.
“It was a necessity born from the need to make it viable. Without this intervention, the pensions system would collapse,” he said.
In the meantime, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, urged euro zone finance ministers to start talks on Greek debt relief together with discussions on reforms, according to a letter published by the Financial Times.
Tsipras has called for debt relief of some form to help Greece as it introduces the reforms.
