Greek lawmakers looked set to agree to a deeply unpopular bailout deal yesterday to avert what Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos warned would be “economic chaos,” while Germany demanded that Athens change its ways to stay in the eurozone.
The austerity bill sets out 3.3 billion euros (US$4.35 billion) in wage, pension and job cuts as the price of a 130 billion euro rescue package from the EU and IMF — Greece’s second since 2010.
Greece needs the funds before March 20 to meet debt repayments of 14.5 billion euros and the bill has stirred anger on the streets and turmoil within the coalition government.
Addressing the nation late on Saturday, Papademos warned that failure to back the bill would mean a disorderly default and “set the country on a disastrous adventure.”
“It would create conditions of uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion,” he said. “The country would be drawn into a vortex of recession, instability, unemployment and protracted misery and this would sooner or later lead the country out of the euro.”
However, eurozone paymaster Germany ratcheted up the pressure, saying Europe needed action, not words.
“The promises from Greece aren’t enough for us any more,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview published yesterday in Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
“Greece needs to do its own homework to become competitive — whether that happens in conjunction with a new rescue program or by another route that we actually don’t want to take,” he added.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
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