Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, right, speaks to Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras during a parliament meeting for vote on 2013 country's budget in Athens, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Greece's lawmakers were set today to pass next year's austerity budget, extending tough spending cuts measures that have already left Greeks struggling as the country tries to slash its debts and pull itself out of a severe recession.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Greek riot police officers, right, push the last remaining protesters off the street, following an anti-austerity rally in front of the Parliament in central Athens, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Thousands of protesters converged on the Greek capital's main square outside the Parliament on Sunday evening, as lawmakers debated the 2013 budget, which includes pension and salary cuts demanded by the country's international creditors in order for them to approve the next vital batch of rescue loans. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A man holds a poster with a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel wearing a swastika reading "one week at the hell" and "Greece drinks the poison" in front of the Parliament in Athens on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Hundreds of protesters were converging on the Greek capital's main square outside Parliament on Sunday evening, as lawmakers debated the 2013 budget, which includes pension and salary cuts demanded by the country's international creditors in order for them to approve the next vital batch of rescue loans. Lawmakers were to vote at midnight or shortly after, and the legislation is expected to pass. The vote comes four days after a separate bill of deep spending cuts and tax hikes for 2013-14 squeaked past with a narrow majority in the 300-member Parliament following deep disagreements among the members of Greece's three-party coalition government. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Protestors shout slogans during a march in Thessaloniki on Sunday Nov. 11, 2012. Lawmakers were to vote at midnight or shortly after, and the legislation is expected to pass. The vote comes four days after a separate bill of deep spending cuts and tax hikes for 2013-14 squeaked past with a narrow majority in the 300-member Parliament following deep disagreements among the members of Greece's three-party coalition government.(AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)
Greek riot police officers move to push the last remaining protesters, not seen, off the street, in front of the Parliament in central Athens, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Thousands of protesters converged peacefully on the Greek capital's main square outside the Parliament on Sunday evening, as lawmakers debated the 2013 budget, which includes pension and salary cuts demanded by the country's international creditors in order for them to approve the next vital batch of rescue loans. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel symbolically hangs from a gibbet in front of the Parliament, seen in background, in central Athens, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. The writing on the noose reads in Greek: 'Rascals'. Thousands of protesters converged peacefully on the Greek capital's main square outside the Parliament on Sunday evening, as lawmakers debated the 2013 budget, which includes pension and salary cuts demanded by the country's international creditors in order for them to approve the next vital batch of rescue loans. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, right, speaks to Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras during a parliament meeting for vote on 2013 country's budget in Athens, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. Greece's lawmakers were set today to pass next year's austerity budget, extending tough spending cuts measures that have already left Greeks struggling as the country tries to slash its debts and pull itself out of a severe recession.(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras thanks his party's lawmakers of New Democracy as government's ministers applaud after his speech at a parliament meeting for vote on 2013 country's budget in Athens, early Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. The vote by lawmakers on the 2013 budget which would once more cut pensions and salaries so Greece can qualify for its next vital batch of rescue loans. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget early Monday, an essential step in Greece’s efforts to persuade its international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan installment without which the country will go bankrupt. The budget passed by a 167-128 …