This is Greece! But Greece isn’t Giving Up Yet!
Sergei Yolkin
2012
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On Thursday, Archbishop Ieronymos Liapis of Athens and all Greece, the First Hierarch of the Local Church of Greece, warned that rising poverty in the crisis-hit country could trigger a “social explosion”, as the government raced to push through more cost-cutting reforms needed to conclude debt deals and avoid a default in March. He wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, “Homelessness and even hunger… phenomena seen during (World War Two)… have reached nightmare proportions. Patience amongst Greeks is running out, giving way to a sense of anger, and we can’t ignore the danger of a social explosion any longer. The medicine we’re taking has proven fatal for the nation. More painful and more unjust measures are now set to follow along the same hopeless course”.
Greece is promising rescue creditors tougher austerity measures as it nears agreement for a second bailout worth €130 billion (5.184 trillion Roubles. 171.1 billion USD. 108.1 billion UK Pounds) with its partners in the 17-nation Euro Zone and the International Monetary Fund, and a related deal with private creditors that’ll see €100 billion (3.99 trillion Roubles. 131.6 billion USD. 83.15 billion UK Pounds) wiped off the national debt. Without those agreements, Greece faces bankruptcy next month, as it’s unable to cover a €14.5 billion (578.5 billion Roubles. 19.1 billion USD. 12.06 billion UK Pounds) bond repayment due on 20 March. Under pressure from the government and rescue creditors, leaders of Greece’s unions and employers resumed talks to slash labour costs in the private sector. The two sides said they made progress, but haven’t yet reached an agreement after their three-hour meeting, and said they would inform the government and rescue creditors of their respective positions.
Debt inspectors from the EU, IMF, and European Central Bank… known as the troika… are currently visiting Athens, and insist the cuts are needed to boost Greece’s sluggish competitiveness. Greek government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told privately-run Mega Channel TV, “This is a very difficult negotiation and, of course, there are differences of opinion, so we’ll see where that leads. As a country, we’ve reached the brink of official bankruptcy. We’ve been borrowing for so many years; now, we have our backs to the wall, so, we have difficult decisions to make”.
The Greek Church stepped up a charity drive this week, during a cold snap that left much of the country in sub-freezing temperatures and a growing number of homeless people at risk. Unemployment in Greece surged to 19.2 percent, with the jobless rate for people under age 25 at 47.2 percent, according to figures for October from the EU statistics agency, Eurostat. Also on Thursday, workers from the state-run National Health Service gathered in protest outside the Health Ministry to protest spending cuts in healthcare, including a new round of wage reductions that took effect on 1 February. One group of protesters carried an empty coffin outside the central Athens building.
2 February 2012
Derek Gatopoulos
Associated Press
As quoted in Deseret News
Editor’s Note:
Vladyki Ieronymos takes the same foursquare position on Social Justice and Economic Fairness that His Holiness does! I’ll bet you that’s one reason why Abba Ephrem rots in a prison cell. Remember Abba Ephrem? Don’t forget that Langley supports Abba Ephrem’s imprisonment and that they toppled Ecumenical Patriarch Maximos Vaportzis in 1948… to put a disastrous American-sponsored hierarch on the throne in the Phanar. The Church does NOT support the POV that we need to slash the working people so that the filth in McMansions get through this crisis with no pain or sacrifice whatsoever. The Mitt Romneys of this world CAN afford to dig deeper, but they REFUSE to… and call that refusal GOOD. Reflect on that…
I support Vladyki Ieronymos without reservation… as should all decent people. As for the bondholders… “let them eat brioche”… they’ve throttled ordinary folks long enough. They could close off part of their McMansion to save on the heating bills, dontcha know! That’s what they’re always telling us…
BMD
