In Greece, Restlessness Amid a Push for Cuts

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The New York Times
Tuesday, September 18, 2012

In Greece, Restlessness Amid a Push for Cuts

By LIZ ALDERMAN

ATHENS — Public opposition to austerity budgets deepened in Greece on Monday, with judges stopping work, doctors going on strike and public transport staff and schoolteachers planning action for later this week. The moves are a prelude to a general strike called by the country’s main labor unions for Sept. 26.

The protests are gaining steam even as Europe’s fears of a Greek exit from the euro zone seem to be subsiding. On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said she wanted Greece to stay in the euro union, reiterating what appears now to be her steadfast position after months of hesitating on the issue. “I think that everyone who is politically sensible will want that, too,” she said during a news conference in Berlin.

The Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, renewed efforts on Monday to come up with a tough new 11.5 billion euro ($15 billion) austerity package. The additional cuts are needed to meet the terms of Greece’s 130 billion euro bailout and to unlock a 31.5 billion euro loan installment that Athens hopes to receive in October to stay solvent.

Faced with rising discontent, Mr. Samaras has been asking Greece’s international creditors for more time to impose any new cuts, lest the economy, which contracted by 6.2 percent in the second quarter, sink further.

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