Prime Minister Emil Boc said he and his Cabinet were resigning “to defuse political and social tension,” the Associated Press reported.
Opposition leaders are calling on President Traian Basescu to step down as well. Crin Antonescu, who heads the opposition Liberal Party, called it “the most corrupt, incompetent and lying government” [The current U.S. administration and congress]since the 1989 revolt against communism, the report said…
But in Romania and elsewhere, such deep cuts are deeply unpopular. Italy was racked with strikes in December before its lawmakers hiked taxes and put off pension payments. In Greece, workers clad in black are holding marches almost daily, Anthee Carassava has reported for The Times. Greeks argue that the austerity measures just aren’t fixing its tottering economy:
“One minute we’re being told to do one thing; then, they tell us something else. Then, they modify that with something different, and in the end, it’s scrapped and replaced with something even more brutal,” said Nikos Tassos, a carpet salesman in Marathon.
“It’s nerve-racking,” he said. “Does anyone really know where this is all heading?”
