Thousands take to streets as Greek lawmakers debate tax, pension reform

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens and other major cities across Greece on Sunday as lawmakers were debating a thorny tax and pension reform bill promoted by the government as part of measures aimed to unlock further bailout aid to the debt-ridden country.

According to police estimates, some 7,000 demonstrators, mainly members of the Greek Communist Party KKE-affiliated trade union PAME, launched Sunday's rallies in the center of Athens to protest the controversial pension and income tax system overhaul and mark Labor Day as celebrations were postponed from May 1 due to the timing of the Orthodox Easter.

GSEE and ADEDY, Greece's largest private and public sector trade unions, representing some two million employees, followed with another demonstration and concert on Syntagma Square in front of the parliament building, while several other trade unions of journalists, teachers and policemen held separate marches.

Sunday's protests came after a 48-hour general strike paralyzed the public sector nationwide on Friday and Saturday and were the culmination of a long series of strikes and protests against the reforms organized by several professional sectors in recent months, from suited lawyers to farmers.

Under stringent security measures, protesters chanted anti-austerity slogans and waved banners urging for "resistance to catastrophic policies which lead to the dissolution of the welfare system" a few hours before the parliament vote scheduled for Sunday midnight and ahead of a new emergency Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on the Greek issue on Monday.

The Left-led government accelerated procedures for the ratification of the bill which foresees new pension cuts and hikes in contributions to social security funds and taxes before Monday's Eurogroup meeting.

Cabinet ministers argued that the approval of the key bill will strengthen Greece's bargaining position in talks regarding the much delayed first review of the third bailout agreed last summer which must be concluded to clear the way for the release of the next tranche and the start of dialogue on debt relief.

Addressing the parliament on Sunday, Deputy Finance Minister Yorgos Chouliarakis defended the reforms stressing that the government's priority was to restore stability and prevent the collapse of the ailing social security system by fairly distributing burdens.

The government argues that through the much-delayed reforms the poorest and middle class will benefit and high earners will bear their fair share.

Opposition parties and labor unions who strongly oppose the bill, claim that the increases on payments to funds, the reduction of the minimum annual income tax-free threshold to about 8,600 euros (9,800 U.S. dollars) and the new increase of tax on several products and services among others will affect also those who are already struggling to keep afloat after six years of austerity and recession.

"Capitalists and governments try to take back all those achievements which have been watered with the blood of workers in our country and worldwide. We should not do them the favor," KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas said during Sunday's protests.

"It seems that hope lost its way and we, the youth, are seeking our own path abroad most likely. There is no other solution," Maria Konstantinidi, a 31-year-old landscape engineer told Xinhua, referring to the brain drain and the main slogan of the Radical Left SYRIZA party in the January 2015 general elections "Hope is coming".

SYRIZA and its right-wing Independent Greeks coalition partners came in office pledging to tear up the painful bailouts the previous governments had signed since 2010, but in July 2015 as Greece was teetering on the brink of default agreed to a new painful three-year bailout program, acknowledging there was no other credible alternative.

The pension and tax reforms are key parts of the first 5.4 billion euro worth set of measures international creditors request since autumn in exchange of the disbursement of the next tranche and the start of negotiations on debt relief.

Despite protesters' pressure on the 153 lawmakers of the two-partite ruling coalition government to vote against the bill, no surprises were expected in the 300-seat plenary on Sunday night, according to political analysts in Athens. (1 euro=1.14 U.S. dollars) Endit