Economic policy

The incorporation of a set of measures by the Greek government in the 4th harsh memorandum in an effort to counterbalance the tough austerity provisions in the omnibus bill is a dead letter, as a parliamentary report reveals.

Greek ferry, bus and train services were disrupted and civil servants and doctors stopped work in nationwide walkout on Wednesday, as lawmakers debated austerity measures that lenders want the indebted country to implement.

Greek workers have walked off the job across the country for a nationwide general strike expected to disrupt public and private sector services. They are protesting new austerity measures to be imposed beyond the end of Greece's third bailout next year, Ekathimerini writes.

Public hospitals were functioning with emergency staff only Wednesday, while public transport was disrupted.

Lawmakers in Greece are starting a four-day debate on a new package of spending cuts that will extend the number of years Greeks have lived under austerity to more than a decade.

The latest round of measures will introduce pension cuts in 2019 and higher income tax in 2020, under an agreement with international bailout lenders for continued rescue funding.

Although it appears that there will soon - probably in early June - be an agreement between Berlin and the International Monetary Fund on the lightening of the Greek debt, Athens's road back to international bond markets remains a long one.

Two more labor unions said Thursday that they will take part in a general strike on May 17. They are the Hellenic Federation of Private Sector Employees (OIYE) and the Public Hospital Workers Union (POEDIN).

The strike is being held to express dissatisfaction with the latest austerity measures agreed by the government and the country's creditors.

A total of 140 austerity measures, reforms and other actions will be included in the mammoth omnibus bill the government will table in Parliament. The list Kathimerini has seen includes 77 regulations that must be legislated in record time and the adoption of another 58 that do not necessitate legislation. The other five prior actions have already been implemented.

Senior bank officials hail the provisional agreement between the government and its creditors as a major step toward the normalization of the economy and the credit system but estimate it will take more time for the country to join the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) program.

The Parliamentary Budget Office warned on Tuesday that the government's agreement with the country's creditors amounts to an extension of Greece's austerity that will weigh on the economy as it entails heavier tax burdens and fails to eliminate uncertainty, mainly regarding taxes.

Several thousand protesters gathered outside Greece's parliament to mark May Day, and unions braced for more austerity measures imposed by bailout lenders.

Two large union-organized rallies are planned in Athens on the holiday, with employees at many public services nominally on strike.