©Reuters. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses lawmakers in parliament, before voting on a bill allowing foreign private universities to set up branches in Greece, in Athens, March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek students threw Molotov cocktails at police who responded with tear gas in central Athens on Friday, hours before parliament approved legislation that will allow foreign private universities to open branches in the country.
Thousands of students have been protesting peacefully for weeks against the reform which they say will devalue public university degrees, but the anger exploded just as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged lawmakers to vote on the bill.
“We’re afraid that … if we can graduate we’ll never be able to get a job anywhere,” said Stratos Katselis, 25. “No young person today can make any kind of plan for the future. All of us see, they are dead ends.”
Mitsotakis, who won a second term in June last year, said the law will help reverse the exodus of tens of thousands of Greek students to universities abroad, a drag on an economy that is still recovering from a decade-long financial crisis.
The bill will also help align Greece with the rest of the European Union and increase competition in higher education, he said.
The bill is likely to pass as the Conservative government controls 158 lawmakers in the 300-seat legislature.
“Parliament is not only called to vote on a fundamental bill, but to pass a radical and courageous educational reform for growth and social justice,” Mitsotakis said. “It will finally allow non-state and non-profit institutions to operate in our country.”
The students, with the support of some teachers and university staff, are not convinced. One group walked away from the demonstration and threw Molotov cocktails at police, who dispersed them with tear gas, Reuters witnesses and a police official said.
The bill is part of the government’s reform program which also includes a law on same-sex marriage passed last month.
Greece spends 3%-4% of its annual economic output on education, below the EU average. But Mitsotakis said the bill includes increased funding for state universities.