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Kouvelis Says Austerity Killing Greece

Former Communist leader Fotis Kouvelis
Former Communist leader Fotis Kouvelis

Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the tiny Democratic Left (DIMAR) that is a junior partner in Greece’s uneasy coalition government, has told international lenders that the country can’t stand any more of the pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions it keeps demanding and which he keeps supporting.
He appealed to the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) that is putting up $325 billion in two bailouts to prop up the country’s otherwise dead economy “to realize and accept that Greek society has gone beyond the limits of what it can endure,” and could handle no further austerity, although he has said repeatedly that he supports it even though it has worsened the country’s six-year recession and put 1.3 million people out of work, all in the private sector.
He said he doesn’t want any workers in the hugely bloated public sector, his party’s key constituency for voter support, to lose their jobs though as demanded by the Troika which wants the number of civil servants cut by 150,000 over the next three years. In a written statement issued as talks between government officials and the Troika were underway, he said Greece needed “support for growth,” but offered no solutions.
He called for the immediate reduction of the 23 percent Valued Added Tax (VAT) on restaurants and cafes that he supported, and for tax debtors to be given more time to pay, a reduced tax on heating oil as the winter is ending and it’s too late to help people, and for people who can’t pay banks, credit cards and loans to get some help.
Meanwhile, the ruling New Democracy Conservatives and the other coalition partner, the PASOK Socialists, owe banks 250 million euros ($325.4 million) to banks, aren’t paying and aren’t being chased to do so while the banks are hounding people buried under austerity. The parties have also ignored a prosecutor’s plea to talk to him and explain why they aren’t.
Emphasizing what he called “the explosive dimensions” of rising unemployment, Kouvelis said a “safety net for social protection” was imperative. He has occasionally given public statements of defiance to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ orders to keep following Troika demands but always relented. DIMAR now is hovering at about 4 percent support, barely above the level needed to win seats in Parliament.

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