ATHENS -- Greece was hit by its third general strike in six weeks Tuesday, as its trade union hope to persuade politicians to reject a major new austerity program that will condemn the country to more years of hardship in exchange for continued bailout funding.
Flights to and from the country stopped at 10:00 a.m. (0800GMT) at the start of a 48-hour strike that has closed schools, halted train and ferry services, and kept hospitals running on emergency staff only.
Two days of demonstrations are planned to start after 11:00 a.m. (0900GMT) Tuesday, continuing until lawmakers vote late Wednesday on the bill to slash C13.5 billion ($17.3 billion) from budget spending over the next two years.
Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is facing his first serious crisis since he formed the coalition government in June as Socialist and left-wing members lawmakers threaten to vote against the austerity package.
The deeply unpopular measures include new deep pension cuts and tax hikes, a two-year increase in the retirement age to 67, and laws that will make it easier to fire and transfer civil servants. The country is suffering in a deep recession set to enter a sixth year, and record high unemployment of 25 per cent.
If Parliament rejects the package, Greece will lose access to the rescue loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund that have kept it afloat since May 2010.
The country would then run out of money -- as soon as by Nov. 16, according to Samaras -- default on its debts and, most likely, abandon the 17-member eurozone. The ensuing hyperinflation and currency depreciation would intensify domestic misery.
The international repercussions would also be severe, amid fears that other troubled eurozone members could follow Greece's lead.
