New Package of Budget Cuts Agreed Upon In Greece

A basic agreement was reached after weeks of debate by Greece’s coalition government on Thursday.

New austerity measures proposals, the third package of them in three years, were not met with great approval and a social unrest beleauged the nation, The New York Timesreports.

Prime MinisterAntonis Samaras will soon present the proposed actions to a slew of foreign leaders who have stipulated the package in return for funds and credit.

The country may have to wait weeks before any funding will roll through from international and European investors, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Evangelos Venizelos, the socialist leader said many details remained and “intensive political negotiations” would continue which was assumedly in reference to the discussions the Greeks await with the troika, which is comprised of the country’s three main lenders- the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

The Samaras government has been pushed by the troika to create a package which would bring the country’s deficit down to 13.5 billion euros in order to recieve the next installment of rescue funds.

The package-to civil servants’ salaries, pensions, and state spending- is likely to amount to about 11 billion euros. More tax measures are expected which have not been disclosed at this time.

Venizelos’ party and the Democratic Left party have opposed the proposals for broad pension and salary cuts:

“We will struggle until the end to ensure that the measures are not horizontal and are the last.”

According to Venizelos, a former finance minister, the Greek departure from the euro could be calamitous to the single currency bloc he warned:

“They are not aware of the problems of social cohesion.”