ATHENS: Greece's parliament on Monday passed a swathe of reforms demanded by international lenders in exchange for fresh bailout funds, a success for the government but a blow to thousands of people protesting outside.
The bill introduces a new electronic process for foreclosures on overdue loans and arrears to the state, opens up closed professions, restructures family benefits and makes it harder to call a strike.
About 20,000 people rallied outside parliament during the vote. Bus, subway and city rail services were disrupted and some flights were grounded as workers went on strike to protest against the bill.
"Parliament shouldn't approve these measures. The government must take them back. They have exhausted us," said 55-year-old Georgia Koutsoukou, one of the demonstrators.
As the vote was in progress, police fired teargas to disperse protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs at them. The unrest was brief.
The vote means the government has succeeded in securing the reforms before a Jan. 22 meeting of euro zone finance ministers, who are expected to assess if Greece has done enough to conclude the third review of its current, 86 billion-euro ($106 billion), programme that expires in August.
Concluding the review will help unlock about 6.5 billion euros in bailout loans.
"Today's vote is pivotal for the country to successfully emerge from bailouts in seven months," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told parliament, urging his lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament to approve the bill.
The government's majority increased by one, to 154 seats, following the vote, after an independent deputy said she would join the ruling Syriza party's parliamentary group.
But the legislation is a bitter pill to swallow for Tsipras' Syriza whose roots are in left-wing labour activism.
The new law raises the threshold to call a strike to just over 50 percent, from one-third previously. Business owners and Greece's creditors hope the measure will limit the frequency of strikes and improve productivity, which lags about 20 percent behind the European Union average.
Greek parliament approves more bailout reforms despite protests
Greek parliament approves more bailout reforms despite protests
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of arming rebels in escalating war of words
- The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea
- The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian police said they had seized thousands of rounds of ammunition sent by Eritrea to rebels in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, an allegation Eritrea dismissed as a falsehood intended to justify starting a war.
The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea, longstanding foes who reached a peace deal in 2018 that has since given way to renewed threats and acrimony.
The police said in a statement late on Wednesday they had seized 56,000 rounds of ammunition and arrested two suspects this week in the Amhara region, where Fano rebels have waged an insurgency since 2023.
“The preliminary investigation conducted on the two suspects who were caught red-handed has confirmed that the ammunition was sent by the Shabiya government,” the statement said, using a term for Eritrea’s ruling party.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) was looking for a pretext to attack.
“The PP regime is floating false flags to justify the war that it has been itching to unleash for two long years,” he said.
In an interview earlier this week with state-run media, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said the Prosperity Party had declared war on his country. He said Eritrea did not want war, but added: “We know how to defend our nation.”
The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998, five years after Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia. They signed a historic agreement to normalize relations in 2018 that won Ethiopia’s Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Eritrean troops then fought in support of Ethiopia’s army during a 2020-22 civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
But relations soured after Asmara was frozen out of the peace deal that ended that conflict. Since then, Eritrea has bristled at repeated public declarations by Abiy that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access — comments many in Eritrea, which lies on the Red Sea, view as an implicit threat of military action.
Abiy has said Ethiopia does not seek conflict with Eritrea and wants to address the issue of sea access through dialogue.
