Greece brings more austerity measures to parliament

By Idyli Tsakiri

GREECE (AA) - Greece will vote on new austerity measures on Thursday in order to conclude the second review of the bailout program.

On Saturday night, a bill calling for further pension cuts, higher taxation on freelancers and various other measures, was given to MPs to study.

According to an official statement made by the Ministry of Finance, the new austerity measures were a necessary part of the overall fiscal planning.

“These provisions are taken as a prerequisite for launching the debate on defining medium-term debt measures, measures that are necessary for its sustainability,” it said.

The bill, which is more than 900-pages long, is supposed to provide the state with about 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion), coming mostly from pension reductions, cuts in bonuses and tax-deductions.

More specifically, the tax-free limit will be reduced by almost 3,000 euros ($3,280), landing at 5,681 euros ($6,211) annual income.

Further pension cuts from 9 to 18 percent, cuts in the unemployment, poverty, child and natural disaster benefits were also included in the proposed bill.

In addition, new measures make collective dismissals easier while the government plans to reduce further the number of public sector workers.

According to the bill, the country’s growth forecast for the current year falls to 1.8 percent from 2.7 percent. The estimations for the following years are 2.4 percent in 2018 and 2.6 percent in 2019.

Greeks have already announced protests on Wednesday, a day ahead of the vote, demanding an end to the austerity.