国际英语资讯:Feature: Greek retirees demonstrate against fresh round of pension cuts_时事

国际英语资讯:Feature: Greek retirees demonstrate against fresh round of pension cuts

"New haircut on pensions through recalculations" read the front page of "Eleftheros Typos" (Free Press).

According to Dimos Koubouris, President of the Federation of Pensioners of IKA, the largest social insurance fund in Greece, the average reduction in supplementary pensions since 2010 have reached 82 percent, and in main pensions 45 percent.

The reductions are added to cuts in welfare spending and the extra burden pensioners have shouldered in recent years by supporting their jobless children and grandchildren.

According to a recent survey of the Greek National Statistics Authority (ELSTAT), 52 percent of households in Greece today live on the pensions of their older members.

According to Labor Ministry data, the average pension in Greece today stands at 664 euros per month and supplementary pension at 168 euros before tax.

"I have grandchildren and a sick child. What can I do?" Ms Katerina asked, speaking to Xinhua on Thursday shortly before the protest ends with the burning of copies of minister Katrougalos' letter.

"In a symbolic action we will return their letters, Mr Katrougalos' letter, back in the same way he burned our life," Koubouris addressed the crowd through a loudspeaker outside the Labor Ministry.

国际英语资讯:Feature: Greek retirees demonstrate against fresh round of pension cuts1

"All pensioners will burn these letters, sending the message that our struggle will continue, sending the message that our struggle will grow stronger until we reverse these policies, until we get back the pensions we have paid for. They are ours. We have paid for these pensions with our blood," he said.