Stung by fury on the streets, criticism within his own party and rising poverty, the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, addressed an emergency session of his socialist MPs yesterday as parliament prepared to debate one of the toughest budgets in the near-bankrupt nation's modern history.
Amid mounting hostility over austerity measures that last week sparked some of the ugliest scenes of violence since the eruption of Europe's debt-crisis in Athens, he appealed for calm in navigating what he has increasingly come to call a "state of war".
"These are critical times for Greece," said Kostas Panagopoulos, a political analyst. "It is going through its worst period in 30 years."
An attack in broad daylight on Kostas Hadzidakis, a minister in the former conservative government, has highlighted fears that Greeks are at a tipping point. He was set upon as he walked through Athens during one of the capital's biggest ever anti-austerity demonstrations. Protesters were seen shouting "thieves, thieves" and "let the parliament burn" as they punched him in the face, threw stones at him and tried to attack him with sticks.
Official unemployment reached a record high of 12.4% last week, further proof that seven months after its €110bn bailout by the EU and IMF the recession-hit country is nowhere near exiting its worst economic crisis since the second world war. "There's an invisible red line of what Greeks are prepared to tolerate in terms of sacrifices, and I think we are crossing it," said Aliki Mouriki, a sociologist. "The assault on Hadzidakis by middle-aged men who didn't even bother to hide their faces reflects the desperation and anger of people who would normally never have done such a thing."
Under pressure to make reforms to ensure the next instalment of emergency international aid, the government has passed legislation overhauling wage agreements, eradicating labour laws and streamlining the public sector. Opposition among socialist MPs has mounted as rights fought for over decades have been stripped away. Increasingly the 58-year-old Papandreou, a moderniser by nature, has faced a battle from within his own party as the conviction grows that Greece has lost its sovereignty as international creditors call the shots.
"Greece has become the guinea pig of Europe in terms of cuts and sacrifices enforced on its people," said Stathis Anestis of the General Confederation of Greek Workers, the country's biggest union.
In sharp contrast to those who reside in opulent villas on the outskirts of Athens, more than two million Greeks, a fifth of the population, now live below the poverty line. Observers fear that, with a growing number being forced to survive on handouts from charities and the Orthodox Church, class warfare is brewing. Graffiti daubed across central Athens have recently incited Greeks to "eat the rich" and "make us their crisis". Attacks on symbols of wealth, especially luxury cars, have risen.
Although the IMF approved an extra €2.5bn loan on Friday, few believe Greece will escape more measures as the battle to avert bankruptcy and rein in its mammoth public debt deepens.
"Greeks need to hear that their sacrifices are leading somewhere, that there is something better at the end of the road," said Panagopoulos. "The government has to offer hope over the next three months, otherwise it will lose the game."
by Helena Smith
source: GUARDIAN 