Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has confirmed that politicians have managed to agree a new austerity deal worth $170bn. Talks have been held for the past few days among the coalition leaders, formed of a wide variety of parties and ideologies (far-right Laos party, New Democracy and Pasok), making the task even harder.

Negotiations lasted for 8 hours on Wednesday, however they appear to have been unproductive as the parties involved were unable to agree on one key point: pensions. In fact, the new bailout plan includes huge cuts on pensions, public jobs and an overall cut of 1.5% in GDP. The agreement within the coalition will then be followed by further talks with the Troika (IMF, European Central Bank and EU) in order to effectively implement the changes and try to resurrect a country that seems unable to get back on its feet.

Furthermore, the Troika is demanding assurances that the agreed measures will not be affected whatsoever by the coming general elections, which will take place in April. This means that no matter what Greek people want, the cuts must be implemented before any change in the political scenario happens.

After a series of strikes and mass demonstrations, which often turned into riots, these measures have created even more anger among the Greek population, which has been asked to pay for the mistakes made by a political class that have managed to ruin the entire country, its history and its pride too.

With 199 votes in favour and 74 against, coalition parties have seen more than 40 of their deputies choosing not to back the new bailout cuts, considering the last of the austerity measures unsustainable for the Greek population, which have already faced cuts before. The deputy rebels (22 from the socialist party and 21 conservatives), following their firm dissent, have also been expelled by their parties. This occured during hours of frenetic consultations within the coalition aimed at finding an agreement which could guarantee the majority in the parliament.

Thousands of people have already joined a new wave of violent protests which have seen buildings set alight in the capital city as well as Volos and five more cities, with hundreds of people injured and at least 70 protesters currently being held in jail. Some of the demonstrators have also tried to break into Athens city council, but this attempt was unsuccessful.

The new austerity measures do not however guarantee a safe future for Greece yet, as the German minister of finance, Philipp Roesler, has promptly admitted. In fact, the bailout cuts agreed represent only the 'conditio sine qua non' Greece can try to avoid the default. It is therefore essential for the Hellenic peninsula to fulfil all its obligations and adhere to the Troika's guidelines.

In this catastrophic scenario, the Euro has managed to rise to within 0.5% of a two month high against the dollar, carried by the positive trend of the major European markets, with the exchange rate hitting 1,324 US dollars.