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    June 28, 2011

Greece Heads For 48-Hour Standstill

   VOA News
   Demonstrators march against austerity measures in front of the Greek
   parliament in Athens, June 28, 2011. Photo: Reuters
   Demonstrators march against austerity measures in front of the Greek
   parliament in Athens, June 28, 2011.

   Workers across Greece walked off their jobs Tuesday at the start of a
   48-hour general strike as lawmakers debate a new round of austerity
   reforms.
   An official with the Greek air traffic controllers' union said the
   airports would close four hours in the morning and again in the
   evening, both Tuesday and Wednesday. Hundreds of flights were canceled
   or re-scheduled due to the work stoppage.
   The strike is set to disrupt or stop most public services. Doctors,
   ambulance drivers, journalists and even actors at a state-funded
   theater are set to join the protest.
   Video footage of Greek protesters
   Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says French banks have
   agreed to help Greece overcome its debt crisis by stretching out most
   of their existing loans to the Greek government, which is trying to
   pass an austerity plan to avert bankruptcy.
   President Sarkozy said Monday his government has persuaded the banks to
   give Greece more time to repay 70 percent of private French loans that
   mature in the next three years.
   Athens would have to repay the remaining 30 percent of private French
   loans immediately on maturity. French banks are among the biggest
   holders of Greek sovereign debt.
   Sarkozy encouraged other European Union nations whose banks have lent
   heavily to Greece to use the French plan as a model for preventing a
   Greek debt default. France presented the plan at a Monday meeting of EU
   officials and international bankers in Rome, but Italian officials said
   no decisions were taken.
   Greece faces a debt default as early as next month unless it secures
   $17 billion from a bailout package offered by the International
   Monetary Fund and EU last year. To qualify for the payment, Greek
   parliament must pass a series of unpopular austerity measures by
   Thursday. Lawmakers began to debate the package Monday.
   The measures, proposed by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's
   Socialist government, include five years of drastic spending cuts, tax
   increases and sell-offs of state-run companies. Papandreou hopes to
   push the measures through parliament using his party's slim five-seat
   majority in the 300-member assembly.

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