Hundreds of Greek pensioners and workers marched in central Athens on Friday, protesting against plans to overhaul an ailing pension system as the government sought backing for its proposals at home and in European capitals.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said the pension system is on the verge of collapse; but reforming it would challenge his resolve to implement measures demanded by Greece’s international creditors, who must sign off on the plan.
About 100 protesters supporting the communist-affiliated union PAME unfurled a huge banner outside the prime minister’s office, slamming the plan as “a guillotine for the pension system.”
Photo: EPA
Hundreds more public sector workers and pensioners marched in the city’s center.
Tensions flared briefly when the crowd broke past a line of police in riot gear and headed towards Tsipras’ office. Police responded with tear gas.
“The government tricked the workers and the farmers into thinking that it would create a better society with more justice and less unemployment,” 74-year-old pensioner Babis Kattis said. “Pensioners are about to become beggars.”
Greek Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos began a tour of European capitals to discuss debt and pension problems with counterparts in Rome, Lisbon, Paris, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Berlin.
According to the proposals Greece sent its lenders on Monday, all six main pension funds are to be merged into one, meaning that main pensions could be cut by up to 30 percent.
It sets a lower limit at 384 euros (US$419.39) per month and sets a ceiling of 2,300 euros on the maximum monthly pension outlay. The average monthly pension is now about 850 euros.
“The crisis has blown up the foundations of the social security system,” Katrougalos said. “We want to give the social security system hope, so that the average pensioner does not lose hope that they will continue receiving a pension.”
Greece must implement the reforms to conclude the first review of its multibillion-euro bailout.
The government plans to submit the proposal to parliament by the end of the month and vote on it in early February, a government official told Reuters.
It secured the cautious backing of four employers’ associations on Thursday, who said they were not opposed to “a small, temporary rise in social security contributions.”
However, opposition political parties have said they would not back the plan when it is tabled in parliament and the country’s biggest private sector union GSEE said on Friday it planned labor action against the reforms “to avoid the worst.”
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