Protests of "OUTRAGED": The EU Reaffirms Adjustments Despite the Growing Social Rejection

The European Union insisted yesterday defending the austerity measures and adjustments as the only path to growth and job creation, but for the first time recognized the "legitimacy" of the movement of the outraged and suggested concrete measures against the irresponsibility of the financial sector.

After the Social Summit held yesterday in Brussels, the presidents of the European Council and European Commission (EC), Herman van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, echoed some of the claims of the movement of indignation and, in particular, criticisms of the role played in the crisis by some financial institutions.

Protesters gather in London's financial district on Wednesday ahead of the G20 summit.

Besides these two Community institutions participated in the social summit representatives of employers and unions in Europe.

During the meeting, community leaders and the European employers stressed the message that austerity will restore confidence in the economy, which in his opinion the basis for growth and job creation.

When asked about the manifestations of "outraged" that took place on Saturday around the world, Barroso and Van Rompuy said they understood their claims and were legitimate.

Meanwhile, social unrest, strikes and announcements of new mobilizations were continued yesterday amid the continent.

Thus in Greece, the ferry service to the islands was yesterday arrested and piles of garbage piled up in the streets of Athens to meet its 16 th day of strikes that paralyzed the country. Meanwhile, the new unions were protesting cuts to start a decisive week for the future not only of Greece but also the 17-nation eurozone.

The tax collectors and customs officers abandoned their jobs and employees occupied the buildings of the ministries of Labour and Finance in the capital. Greece faces a crucial vote on Thursday for new measures of adjustment, while other eurozone countries are racing to find a solution to the debt crisis for the weekend.

Another country with their red bills and gloomy forecasts is Portugal, which looks to 2012 with economic forecasts increasingly pessimistic, pointing to a decline in its economy by 2.8 percent, six percentage points more than expected to now. Meanwhile, the growing social pressure and there is a general strike by trade unions announced yesterday.

Portugal's conservative government released the bleak macroeconomic forecast in recent history, which also reflected a significant increase in the unemployment rate of 12.5 estimated for this year to 13.4 percent for the next.

Finance Minister, Vítor Gaspar, presented these projections, included in the 2012 State Budget, the harder the last few decades.

"Injustice" and "violence" of the plan have caused the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP, communist-oriented) and the General Union of Workers (UGT, socialist) yesterday agreed to call a general strike, which date announced tomorrow. The two plants, which have about a million members in a country of 10.5 million inhabitants, and jointly called for a general strike for the first time in 22 years last November 24, that time was against policy of the socialist government of Jose Socrates.