The Greek parliament have approved a painful set of austerity measures, defying violent protests in central Athens and a general strike which shut down much of the country.
The struggling government of Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou won the parliamentary vote with 154 votes in favour and 144 against, despite the decision by one deputy in the ruling party to oppose one article in the package.
The victory should ensure the European Union and International Monetary Fund release a vital €8bn loan tranche, which the government needs to keep paying its bills past November.
The mix of deep pay and pension cuts, tax hikes and changes to collective bargaining agreements has been bitterly opposed.
At least 70,000 people joined protests in Athens' Syntagma Square in front of parliament today.
Groups of black-clad youths clashed with rivals from PAME, a communist-affiliated labour group, and police later cleared the square.
At least 74 people were taken to hospital with injuries and one man died of a heart attack on the fringes of the protest, but officials said he had not been hurt in the incidents.
Mr Papandreou now flies to Brussels for a meeting of European leaders on Sunday to try to prevent the debt crisis spinning out of control.
A second summit is also expected to be held on Wednesday.
"We are at a critical point, not only for us but for European history. I have never, in my memory, heard before from leaders of major European countries that there is danger of Europe coming apart," Mr Papandreou told a cabinet meeting before the vote.
"It is time for all of us now to assume our collective responsibility."
As night fell, streets were strewn with rubbish and debris after hours of sporadic clashes but the square in front of parliament was cleared of demonstrators.
The head of the Greek Communist party, Aleka Papariga, condemned the violence, which she said had been deliberately provoked by groups of "hood-wearers".
"This was a pre-meditated attack," she told reporters, saying the rioters served the interests of what she termed "specific mechanisms".
"No matter what happens, we're not leaving," she said. "There's no other way out, people have to take the situation into their own hands."
Report calls situation "extremely worrying"
Greece's long-term debt situation is "extremely worrying", according to leaked extracts from an eagerly awaited report on the country's bailout programme.
The content of the report will play a major part in critical negotiations in Brussels this weekend over the future of the single currency.
Greece needs the next slice of its original bailout to avoid going bankrupt.
While the Troika report on Greece will recommend disbursement of the €8bn, it also paints a worrying picture of the country's debt situation.
Extracts of the report say that the €109bn second bailout, agreed last July, may not now be enough, and that reforms have been too slow and insufficient.
The tone of the report will have a critical bearing on this weekend's summit. Eurozone leaders will negotiate on five key issues - among them, what to do about Greece, how to recapitalise Europe's banks, and how the eurozone should be governed in the long term.
Since all the elements are linked, a negative Troika report could complicate negotiations, since creditor countries like Germany and The Netherlands are adamant that long-term cash transfers must be conditional on countries abiding by their programme.
A meeting between all the principle players in Frankfurt last night, including the French and German leaders, has already failed to break the deadlock on a core issue, which is how to give the European bailout fund sufficient firepower to prevent contagion from engulfing Italy and Spain.
France wants the European Central Bank to keep buying up the sovereign bonds of vulnerable economies, but Germany is set against it.
