Greek deputy minister quits over austerity cutsFebruary 10, 2012 - 19:50 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Greek Deputy Employment Minister Yiannis Koutsoukos has resigned over drastic new austerity measures agreed by the coalition government, AMNA reported. In a letter to the government, the 59-year-old former trade union leader said he would not support the "painful" measures that would hurt working Greeks. He did not say whether he would back the new austerity reforms in parliament. Koutsoukos is the first casualty in Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' three-month-old coalition government, and walkout is a major sign of trouble in the majority Socialist party which has traditionally strong links with unions. Koutsoukos is a former leader of the civil servants union ADEDY, which is planning various protests and rallies outside parliament at the weekend, when the new austerity program is set to be voted. Pasok MP Christos Protopapas, a former deputy employment minister and leader of the GSEE union, also announced that he would not vote for provisions to slash the minimum wage. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |