While various Papas in the Greek elite issue soothing statements, Big Mama EU continues to wield a big stick. So too do the Greek People.

Greek police clashed with demonstrators in central Athens again yesterday after a march organized by trade unions to oppose Prime Minister George Papandreou’s drive to cut the nation’s humungous budget deficit.

Hooded youths threw an eclectic range of hard objects at riot police – a direct way of saying that they don’t want Mama EU’s nasty medicine. Equally, the markets are getting increasingly jittery about the two Papas in charge of chucking sand on the flames of default paranoia.

The other major fear is that the Papas problem will soon be joined by the Tapas meltdown. And the nerves are not being calmed by the increasingly hawkish Fitch attitude to Greek banks’ credit-worthiness.

The Slog has posted before on the aggressive attitude of Fitch in relation to the UK. The £ may have a fight on its hands to stay afloat, but the odds are still on a major collapse in the Euro’s price as the deficit virus spreads.