Greece passes further cuts

ATHENS, Greece – Greek lawmakers passed a deeply resented new austerity bill Thursday, caving in to the demands of international creditors in order to avoid a national bankruptcy, as a second day of riots left one protester dead and more than 100 people wounded.

The austerity measures passed 154-144 in the 300-member parliament despite dissent from a prominent Socialist lawmaker who voted against a key article of the bill. The vote was expected to pave the way for a vital $11 billion payout from creditors within weeks so Greece can stay solvent.

Unions kept the country’s services crippled on the second day of a general strike, in opposition to the new measures that include pay and staff cuts in the civil service as well as pension cuts and tax hikes for all Greeks.

Greece now heads into a series of tough negotiations in Brussels involving the 17 finance ministers of the eurozone and European leaders. The meetings kick off today. Eurozone finance ministers will gather with the finance ministers of the full 27-nation European Union in talks on Saturday, and the EU heads of state and government on Sunday.

Greece has avoided bankruptcy only with a $152 billion bailout loan from its 16 eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund since May of last year.The meetings on Greece this weekend are crucial because the efforts so far to get the country back on track financially have been failing. In July, eurozone leaders tentatively agreed to a second $150 billion bailout for Greece, conceding that the first was not enough.

That second bailout would also see banks and other private bondholders give Greece easier terms on its debt. European banks that hold Greek bonds are fighting efforts to make them accept larger losses, and many experts are concerned about the ability of European banks to handle a Greek default.

But Greece’s international creditors are warning that even the second bailout may not be enough to save the country from bankruptcy, according to a draft of a debt inspectors’ report obtained Thursday by the AP in Berlin.