NYTIMES: Greece Prepares to Vote on $23 Billion in New Cuts

Destabilized by scandals yet held together by a lack of alternatives, the Greek government prepared to push a raft of politically toxic new austerity measures through Parliament on Wednesday, a move aimed at securing international financing and ensuring that the debt-racked nation will

But some members of Prime MinisterAntonis Samaras’s fragile three-party coalition government were expected to break ranks and vote against the measures, reviving questions about how long the coalition can hold together.

On the streets, austerity-weary Greeks kicked off two days of nationwide strikes on Tuesday to protest the new measures, which will total $23 billion over the next four years.

The measures, which are expected to pass by a razor-thin margin in Parliament, are required to unlock $40 billion in rescue financing that the country needs to meet expenses. The European Union’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said in Brussels on Monday that lenders were on track to release the aid.

But with so many volatile elements in play, including a series of interlocking scandals in Greece that are gaining momentum, analysts said that it was unclear if the Samaras government could survive under the pressure. “All systems are in critical condition, even the smallest thing can destabilize the system or the government,” said Paschos Mandravelis, a columnist for the daily newspaper Kathimerini.

Even as they jockey over a new round of austerity, leaders are under fire for failing to crack down on high-level tax evasion, after they were handed a list two years ago of more than 2,000 Greeks said to have Swiss bank accounts.

Called the Lagarde list, after Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund chief who provided the information, it was published last week by the magazine HotDoc, prompting the arrest and rapid acquittal of the publication’s editor. The entire affair has done substantial damage to the already weakened Socialist Party, the second largest in Mr. Samaras’s coalition. Two Socialist finance ministers — Evangelos Venizelos, the current Socialist leader, and George Papaconstantinou, his predecessor — are under fire for failing to act on the list.

Most analysts said they believed the government would hold up for now. But two other rival parties are gaining ground in opinion polls. If the country were to hold new elections today, the leftist Syriza party — which has risen rapidly from virtual obscurity on a platform of repudiating Greece’s bailout but staying in the euro — would place first, followed by Mr. Samaras’s New Democracy Party, the polls suggest.

Since claiming power in June, Mr. Samaras has labored to restore Greece’s credibility with its European partners, particularly with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who has insisted that Greece remain a part of the euro zone.

“It’s clear that this government is making all the right noises,” said M