Greek government is hanging by a thread

Greek government survives no-confidence vote

By Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

The coalition government of Greece, dominated by the center-right New Democracy party, survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote initiated by the left-wing Syriza party. It won only by a narrow margin, 153 votes out of 300 against the censure motion. The government has been rocked by the decision to close down the state-owned broadcaster, ERT. 

In June, one of the junior coalition partners, DIMAR, left the government in protest against the move. The vote cost the government's parliamentary bloc one member, a Socialist, who sided with the opposition. ERT employed 2650 people, and the government eliminated the jobs as part of the bailout plan approved by the EU and the International Monetary Fund. According to the plan, 4,000 public sector jobs have to be cut by the end of this year. Greece has a chaotic and highly competitive TV market, and the government decided it did not want to pay for a bloated, inefficient state-owned station. About a quarter of its former employees are being rehired at lower salaries to start over in January. Greece needs to do the same to its entire bureaucracy, but the government is hanging by a thread as it is.