Greek leaders plead for cutbacks

ATHENS, Greece - Warning of a "catastrophe" that would leave Greeks subsisting on food stamps and the country wallowing in bankruptcy, Greek leaders urged lawmakers Saturday to pass more painful spending cuts on the eve of a crucial vote to qualify for a massive bailout.

In a televised address, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos defended the austerity measures, which would earn the country a 130 billion euro ($171.6 billion) bailout deal and stave off bankruptcy.

He and other key supporters of Greece's coalition government - including Socialist leader George Papandreou, Conservative leader Antonis Samaras, and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a Socialist - used stark images of a country under bankruptcy in an effort to sway the public and, more importantly, persuade members of parliament debating the measures to vote for the deal.

"The deal will ensure our country's future inside the euro," Papademos said.

A bankruptcy, he said, "would lead to uncontrollable economic chaos and social explosion." He added that Greeks would lose savings, the state would be unable to pay salaries and pensions, and there would be shortages in imports such as medicines and fuel.

"If we do not dare today, we will live a catastrophe," Papandreou said during a parliamentary debate session.

"What do you want, a country where food will be handed out with food stamps and where we will have no fuel?" Samaras angrily told a dissenting deputy.

Several dissident lawmakers were unconvinced. At least 13 Conservative deputies and seven Socialists declared that they would not vote and two more Socialist deputies resigned, bringing the total to three. Their replacements will be seated Sunday.

Typical of the dissidents' arguments was the one put forward by veteran Socialist Vasso Papandreou (no relation to the Socialist leader), a former minister and member of the European Commission. "If we say we do not pay the bond that matures on March 20, all [Europeans] will rush to find a solution," she said.

Debt-stricken Greece does not have the money to cover a 14.5 billion euro bond repayment on March 20 and must reach a vital debt-relief deal with private bond investors before then. The country's woes have threatened its future in the 17-country zone that uses the euro currency.