Greece's government faces collapse as general strikes rock Italy and Belgium
The year that was meant to bring relief to the eurozone’s crisis is instead ending in strikes, stock exchange runs and political collapse on some of its key battlegrounds.
Greece’s government now looks unlikely to survive December.
And successful general strikes in Belgium and Italy are the latest step in the biggest workers’ fightback in either country for several decades.
In Greece, Tory prime minister Antonis Samaras threw down the gauntlet to the left last week by bringing forward the presidential election. Unusually, parliament has been kept open over Christmas so that MPs now have three chances to elect a president.
The first vote was set to take place on Wednesday of this week—surrounded by protesters and alongside a three-hour strike across the public sector. The second is due the following Tuesday.
To pass either of these, Samaras’ candidate must get a supermajority of two thirds of MPs. But this is out of the question with his wafer-thin majority. The decisive vote on 29 December sees the bar set only slightly lower.
The government’s only real hope is that the opposition—particularly radical left party Syriza—blinks first.
Plummeted
Once Samaras announced the vote, the Athens stock exchange plummeted by 20 percent—its worst fall in 27 years.
And the cost of borrowing soared for the government, particularly on the three-year bonds that were meant to symbolise its recovery.
This increases the pressure on Syriza not to trigger a new general election by opposing Samaras. But a new wave of protests means there has also been pressure from below for it to stand firm.
These were given a huge symbolic boost last week when jailed anarchist Nikos Romanos won the right to attend university classes. Romanos had been on hunger strike for 31 days and thousands had marched in his support.
Meanwhile a general strike of workers in all three main union federations shut down Belgium on Monday—and hit the Eurostar trains into London.
read on: http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/39626/Greeces+government+faces+collapse+as+general+strikes+rock+Italy+and+Belgium
Love Always
mudra
The year that was meant to bring relief to the eurozone’s crisis is instead ending in strikes, stock exchange runs and political collapse on some of its key battlegrounds.
Greece’s government now looks unlikely to survive December.
And successful general strikes in Belgium and Italy are the latest step in the biggest workers’ fightback in either country for several decades.
In Greece, Tory prime minister Antonis Samaras threw down the gauntlet to the left last week by bringing forward the presidential election. Unusually, parliament has been kept open over Christmas so that MPs now have three chances to elect a president.
The first vote was set to take place on Wednesday of this week—surrounded by protesters and alongside a three-hour strike across the public sector. The second is due the following Tuesday.
To pass either of these, Samaras’ candidate must get a supermajority of two thirds of MPs. But this is out of the question with his wafer-thin majority. The decisive vote on 29 December sees the bar set only slightly lower.
The government’s only real hope is that the opposition—particularly radical left party Syriza—blinks first.
Plummeted
Once Samaras announced the vote, the Athens stock exchange plummeted by 20 percent—its worst fall in 27 years.
And the cost of borrowing soared for the government, particularly on the three-year bonds that were meant to symbolise its recovery.
This increases the pressure on Syriza not to trigger a new general election by opposing Samaras. But a new wave of protests means there has also been pressure from below for it to stand firm.
These were given a huge symbolic boost last week when jailed anarchist Nikos Romanos won the right to attend university classes. Romanos had been on hunger strike for 31 days and thousands had marched in his support.
Meanwhile a general strike of workers in all three main union federations shut down Belgium on Monday—and hit the Eurostar trains into London.
read on: http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/39626/Greeces+government+faces+collapse+as+general+strikes+rock+Italy+and+Belgium
Love Always
mudra
