Greek government survives vote
- from the Irish Times
Greece's ruling conservatives yesterday survived a censure motion tabled in parliament by the main socialist opposition over the government's pension reforms that have sparked a wave of strikes and protests.
The motion was rejected by all 151 government deputies and one independent member of parliament.
138 deputies voted in favour while 10 abstained. "It takes political will to push through much-needed reforms and we have the will," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told parliament before the vote.
"I ask for a vote of confidence for the future of our nation. This government is determined to forge ahead."Greek government survives vote
Greece's ruling conservatives yesterday survived a censure motion tabled in parliament by the main socialist opposition over the government's pension reforms that have sparked a wave of strikes and protests.
The motion was rejected by all 151 government deputies and one independent member of parliament.
138 deputies voted in favour while 10 abstained. "It takes political will to push through much-needed reforms and we have the will," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told parliament before the vote.
"I ask for a vote of confidence for the future of our nation. This government is determined to forge ahead."
The motion has delayed by several days the final procedural steps before the contested pension reform law, passed through parliament last week, takes effect. The law affects mostly women and in particular working mothers. It merges scores of funds into just 13, cuts many special and supplementary pensions and offers incentives to work more years.
The government has defended its reforms, saying they aim to overhaul a social security system experts say would collapse in 15 years if left unchanged.
Reuters
© 2008 ireland.com
The motion has delayed by several days the final procedural steps before the contested pension reform law, passed through parliament last week, takes effect. The law affects mostly women and in particular working mothers. It merges scores of funds into just 13, cuts many special and supplementary pensions and offers incentives to work more years.
The government has defended its reforms, saying they aim to overhaul a social security system experts say would collapse in 15 years if left unchanged.
Reuters
© 2008 ireland.com
Skopelos and Virgin
-by Skorda
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.
Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.
The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.
Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.
Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
reform
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