Tear gassing of Greek pensioners adds pressure on government

Greece’s left-wing government has imposed new cuts on pensions this year as part of its bailout commitments to international lenders, with the International Monetary Fund pressing for tougher measures.

The latest round of cuts follows six years of bailout-related austerity measures, while nearly a quarter of Greeks remain unemployed and no longer eligible for state benefits.

“This is a fight for our life. The country has been driven to desperation,” pension protest organizer Dimos Koumbouris told the Associated Press.

“They have torn our income to shreds — taking money that people earned with hard work. We have to protest today and keep protesting. There’s no other option.”

Years of cuts have pushed nearly half of pensioners’ monthly income below the official poverty line, according to a survey published last week by the National Pension Network, an organization that represents Greece’s main retiree associations.

And 52 per cent of Greek households rely on pensions directly or indirectly to meet monthly expenses, the survey found.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government is facing mounting public discontent as it prepares to approve a new round of unpopular measures in the winter — including loosening employment rights and mortgage protections.

His government is pinning its hopes on a strong rebound in the economy next years after eight years of recession or near-zero growth.

According to preliminary 2017 budget figures released Monday, Greece is set to post growth of 2.7 per cent in 2017, from a 0.3 per cent contraction this year.

But unemployment is forecast to remain high next year, at 22.4 per cent, and the national debt at a staggering 175 per cent of annual output — 318.7 billion euros ($358 billion) — from its peak of 179 per cent in 2016.

An opinion poll published Sunday found 85 per cent of Greeks believed the country was headed in the wrong direction, with 51 per cent backing an early general election, and 42 per cent picking the conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis as most suited to be prime minister, compared with 23 per cent backing Tsipras.

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Nicholas Paphitis and Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Athens contributed. Follow Gatopoulos at http://twitter.com/dgatopoulos

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Online: IMF statement on Greece http://bit.ly/2cX4cyg

Derek Gatopoulos, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Tear gassing of Greek pensioners adds pressure on government

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