Greece Caves, Agrees to Full Austerity

Under creditor threats, Athens to find $1.8B more in cuts
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2012 7:27 AM CDT
Greece Caves, Agrees to Full Austerity
Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, right, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso make statements to the media at Maximos mansion in Athens, Thursday, July 26, 2012.   (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greece blinked today: In a showdown with creditors, the crisis-wracked country agreed to find the final $1.85 billion needed to reach the $14.2 billion in cuts required to get desperately needed aid money in September, reports Reuters. Greece had been asking for more time, but fed-up German and EU donors in turn threatened to pull the plug on the whole bailout. Instead, Greece will further cut pensions and wages.

Germany's finance minister reiterated today that Greece was out of wriggle room, reports the AP. "The aid program is already very accommodating. I cannot see that there is still scope for further concessions," he said. But Greek unions and labor groups continue to buck hard against the austerity program. "We agreed on one thing—that we disagree on everything," said the head of Greece's leading union umbrella organization, calling the newly elected government "charlatans." (More Greece stories.)

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