Statement on Greek People's Struggle against Austerity Package

Partido Lakas ng Masa Statement on Greek People's Struggle against Austerity Package

We Stand in Solidarity with the Greek Peoples’ Struggles Against the Implementation of the Austerity Package

Under threat of economic collapse and a humanitarian catastrophe, after five months of ‘negotiations’ which have been described as “mental water-boarding”, the Greek government has accepted the punitive funding deal that represents the interests of the big banks and European finance capital and which imposes further austerity and debt on the people of Greece.

Under the deal the VAT system will be made more regressive, pensioners will suffer further cuts, the power sector utility ADMIE will be privatized along with other public assets to service an unserviceable and illegitimate debt and collective bargaining will be eroded. Impacts will include the foreclosures, evictions and liquidation of thousands of homes and businesses who are not in a position to keep up with their mortgages and loans. The “troika” of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund will control the way Greece’s budget is computed. The deal also forces the Greek government to retrospectively annul the anti-austerity Bills that were passed in the last few months that Syriza has been in government. These austerity measures had to be adopted before discussion can even begin on a third €85 billion bailout for Greece. The deal contradicts the entire election program on which Syriza was elected.