Greek parliament passes austerity budget

ATHENS. December 7. KAZINFORM The Greek parliament approved on early Wednesday the country's 2012 budget designed to tackle a severe debt crisis, amid fresh anti-austerity protests that briefly turned violent on Tuesday; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

With the support of the three parties backing the one-month old interim government of Lucas Papademos, the budget that includes further austerity measures, easily cleared the 300-member assembly in the roll-call vote.

With 299 lawmakers present, 258 voted in favor of the budget while 41 voted against.

However, the implementation of the policies outlined in the budget, according to local analysts, is expected to be a difficult task for the administration of the technocrat premier, given the negative climate within Greece and across the euro zone as the crisis adds pressure on neighboring economies.

Despite Wednesday's positive outcome, even parliamentarians who approved the budget expressed scepticism whether deficit cutting targets could be achieved.

Addressing the chamber shortly before the vote, Antonis Samaras, leader of the conservative New Democracy party that supports the government, forecast that recession would exceed 6 percent this year.

"The targets are bold, but feasible, if we will work in a spirit of cooperation," said Papademos during his address, reiterating a pledge that the coalition government will pave the way to end the crisis, before leading Greece to early general elections in early 2012.

According to the draft budget, the Greek economy will shrink by 5.5 percent this year and the contraction will continue for a fifth consecutive year in 2012 with a rate of up to 2.8 percent; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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