Greek budget passes despite protests
- 11 years ago
Success for the Greek government who passed a budget proposal during a late night parliamentary session Sunday.
The vote was passed by a comfortable margin with 167 of 299 ministers approving the measure.
The budget was part of a pre-cursor required by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund who are loaning the country more than 30 billion euros in aid.
Some government ministers leaving the session said they felt confident the move would help insure that the loan money gets delivered sooner than later.
But not everyone supported the measure. Demonstrators staged protests outside parliament all day.
At one point, a group of protesters tried to block traffic on one of the main thoroughfares... and eventually came to blows with police.
With unemployment at 25% many Greek citizens say budget cuts will only deepen the crisis.
For now, all eyes are on Brussels... Eurozone finance ministers are meeting there later Monday to discuss the loan although no firm date to release the money is expected.
The vote was passed by a comfortable margin with 167 of 299 ministers approving the measure.
The budget was part of a pre-cursor required by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund who are loaning the country more than 30 billion euros in aid.
Some government ministers leaving the session said they felt confident the move would help insure that the loan money gets delivered sooner than later.
But not everyone supported the measure. Demonstrators staged protests outside parliament all day.
At one point, a group of protesters tried to block traffic on one of the main thoroughfares... and eventually came to blows with police.
With unemployment at 25% many Greek citizens say budget cuts will only deepen the crisis.
For now, all eyes are on Brussels... Eurozone finance ministers are meeting there later Monday to discuss the loan although no firm date to release the money is expected.