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Greek government survives Socialist no-confidence vote

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' conservative government has overcome a censure motion in parliament over unpopular pension reforms.

Lawmakers in Greece's 300-seat, unicameral parliament voted 152 to 138 late on Friday against the no-confidence motion introduced by the main opposition Socialists. Ten deputies abstained from the vote.

Passing the reforms has proved the first major test for the governing conservatives since their re-election by a narrow margin more six months ago.

Socialist party leader George Papandreou submitted the motion on Wednesday, accusing the government of harming the interests of Greeks and mismanaging the pension system.

"You are asking the Greek people to pay for your own sins," he said on Friday. "You decided to increase the retirement age for women, to reduce pensions ... and exclude thousands of Greeks and immigrants from health care."

Hundreds of Socialist supporters braved steady rainfall to hold a peaceful protest outside parliament during the debate.

"The government has tricked the people and stolen from pension funds' reserves," Papandreou told protesters.

Karamanlis has made reforming Greece's fractured and debt-ridden pension system one of his government's main aims since his re-election in September.

He has warned that inaction would lead to the pension system collapsing in five to 10 years.

Under the proposed changes, 133 pension funds, many of which are debt-ridden, will be merged into 13, while workers will be given incentives to retire later.

"There can be no solution without funds being merged," Karamanlis said. "The government is obliged to proceed with the reforms."

The plans have led to widespread protests and three nationwide general strikes, as well as dozens of other work stoppages.

Workers -- from power company employees and journalists to bakers, doctors and air traffic controllers -- have walked off the job at some point.

On Friday, workers at the Bank of Greece were on strike.

The pension reform bill has been approved in three parliamentary votes on separate batches of articles.

One final, procedural, vote on the overall plan is expected to take place next week.
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