17th Sep 2013 12:39
Rome/Athens(Alliance News) - The Greek population cannot suffer more cuts in the name of austerity, Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos warned on Tuesday, amid talk that Athens might need yet another bailout to plug its finances.
"We cannot think about new cuts to pensions and wages. From 2010 to 2012, Greek incomes fell by over 35 per cent, something that is unique and unacceptable in peacetime," Venizelos told the Italian news agency ANSA, during a visit to Rome, where he met his Italian counterpart Emma Bonino.
His comments came as Greek riot police scuffled with hundreds of protesting social security staff trying to break through a police barricade outside the Ministry of Labour in central Athens.
Since 2010, Greece has received 250 billion euros (350 billion dollars) in international loans.
After six years of recession, unemployment is close to 30 per cent while public debt stands at 160 per cent of gross domestic product.
Athens has said that if it required a new bailout in 2014, it would be a much smaller package of around 10 billion euros.
Venizelos said Greece had carried out "four-fifths" of the effort to straighten its finances, noting that it would achieve a primary surplus - that is, excluding debt repayment costs - by next year. The economy is also expected to pick up in 2014.
But he called for more help from European partners.
"We need new forms of solidarity, new forms of redistribution within the eurozone," he said.
Tens of thousands of Greeks, including teachers and doctors, have launched strikes against job losses.
High school and university teachers in Greece began rolling, five-day strikes on Monday. Social security staff have joined the action and state hospitals were only treating emergency cases after doctors walked out.
Protests are expected to peak on Wednesday as primary school teachers, lawyers, suburban rail workers and rubbish collectors join a 48-hour walkout.
The government plans to suspend 25,000 public servants this year, and to fire 15,000 by the end of 2014.
Decisions on fresh financial relief for Greece and other bailed-out nations are not expected until later this year.
As the biggest economy in the eurozone, Germany funds the largest share of euro area rescue packages, and in effect has the biggest say over them.
Copyright dpa