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Greece will remain squarely in the focus of investors and economists until at least Wednesday this week, when the country’s international creditors are due to decide whether to proceed with negotiations for a second bailout that would prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts by March 20.

Last Friday, clashes broke out in Athens as labor unions launched a nationwide strike to protest against the new austerity measures being demanded of their country, including slashing the minimum wage in the private sector by 22 percent, abolishing permanent jobs in state enterprises and cutting 150,000 jobs in the public sector by 2015.

Last Thursday, an agreement was reached by political parties that support the current Greek caretaker government on more than €3 billion in additional cuts to the 2012 budget.

But that same day euro-zone finance ministers added extra demands, saying the leaders of the coalition had to, by this Wednesday, sign a written pledge to back the austerity program and identify exactly from where €325 million of the €3 billion in cuts would come before the €130 billion new aid package would be approved.

“In short, no disbursement [of aid] without implementation,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who serves as chairman of the euro-zone finance ministers’ meetings.

On Friday, Georgios Karatzaferis, the leader of the right-wing LAOS party, a coalition member, announced he would not support the austerity program, thereby further fanning the flames of uncertainty.

Several other lawmakers have also signaled they will vote against the reforms, and it was still not clear as of press time if the government would muster enough votes to push the reforms through.

Greece’s unemployment rate soared in November to 20.9 percent, compared with an 18.2 percent rate just a month earlier, and up sharply from one year ago, ELSTAT, the government statistics agency, reported last Thursday