Reforms head for final vote
Lawmakers are scheduled to give the final overall vote on the government’s pension reforms today after the conservatives survived a censure motion tabled in Parliament last week over the changes. Pension reforms, which include merging scores of funds into just 13 and offering incentives to remain in employment, have triggered weeks of strike action among workers that brought the country to a halt on several occasions. Protest action will continue this week. Bank of Greece employees will stay off the job today while lawyers have also launched a 48-hour strike that ends tomorrow. Opposition parties are also expected today to propose the holding of a referendum on the reforms. Late on Friday, the conservative government survived the censure motion tabled by PASOK with 151 government deputies and one independent member of Parliament rejecting the motion. A total of 138 deputies voted in favor while 10 abstained.
