Greece came to a standstill on Thursday as trade unions declared a 24-hour general strike.
At the same time as workers in Athens protested against the new round of austerity cuts negotiated between the Greek government and the so-called “Troika” of international lenders, European leaders debated their response to the crisis in a two-day summit in Brussels.
According to EU officials, no concrete decisions on Greece, other than “a few words of appreciation”, should be expected in the summit’s conclusions.
In addition to public and private sector workers, other professionals such as pharmacists, taxi drivers, bank employees, lawyers and other judicial personnel, are joining forces to protest against the new austerity measures and cutbacks.
Yesterday, a journalists’ strike caused an information blackout in Greece.
Public transportation also ground to a halt on Thursday with limited journeys taking place throughout the day, while ferry-boat services between Greek islands and international and domestic flights were also disrupted, as both seamen and air traffic controllers’ unions declared industrial actions.
In a joint statement, the public and private sector trade unions – ADEDY and GSEE – called on their members to shut down their stores and participate in the walkout as a reaction to the drastic reduction of incomes, tax rate increases and the significant decrease in demand, which is destroying companies and jobs.
The two trade unions also called for public rallies and demonstrations in cities across Greece to “condemn the austerity” and “let the voices of the people and not the creditors be heard,” according to a GSEE spokeswoman.
“If the government goes ahead with its policy and puts the new measures to parliament we shall continue our struggle,” she added.
Effects of the crisis
The new measures are demanded by the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank, as a condition for continuing financial assistance to Greece, through a gigantic bailout program.
They have caused increased desperation and anxiety to the four million Greek workforce, whose two biggest trade unions (ADEDY and GSEE), represent over half the population.
“Salaries, pensions and benefits have been cut again and again for two and a half years and the ’monster’ of the debt and deficits remains invincible, constantly demanding new sacrifices,” the unions said in a statement last month.
At the same time, unemployment in Greece has hit an all-time high, with more than a quarter of the country’s working age population now out of work, according to official figures released earlier this month.
Even worse, recent IMF reports estimate that the general unemployment rate will reach 25.4 per cent in 2013, while youth unemployment remains consistently above 50 per cent.
The Greek economy has been in a recession for five years now, and accumulated GDP contraction is expected to exceed 25 per cent between 2008 and 2013.
House prices have plummeted between 20 per cent and 50 percent, while non-performing mortgages now exceed 15 per cent.
Greek police data reveals a significant increase across the spectrum of violent crimes such as theft, robbery, rape and murder, and the number of homeless people has also grown by 25 per cent in two years.
Thousands of apartment blocs, even in the middle-class neighbourhoods of Athens, will not have heating this winter because the landlords are unable to pay service charges.
Hospitals lack even basic supplies. The Greek state owes €6.7 billion to its suppliers, who in turn, are unable to pay their own bills and employees.
Greek banks, having suffered huge losses due to the recent debt restructuring, are essentially unable to provide credit to the economy, which is verging on the brink of a full-blown depression.
More money required
Under such dire conditions, it is no wonder that the Greek coalition government is getting ready to face its second general strike since the elections in June.
Last month’s massive protest and general strike saw tens of thousands of protestors on the streets, some involved in violent clashes with police.
Meanwhile, the country’s cash reserves are expected to run out completely sometime next month, according to a Greek ministry of finance official, if Greece does not receive the EU/IMF’s latest loan tranche of €31.5 billion, which the country desperately needs, in order to pay state salaries and pensions, and recapitalise its ailing banks.
Despite successive rounds of measures, Troika officials claim that Greece still underperforms in meeting its reform obligations and has not yet completed the review, which will turn on a green light for the release of the next tranche.
On Tuesday, Greek Finance minister, Giannis Stournaras, making a dramatic statement, told the Greek Parliament that if Greece does not receive the next tranche of the multi-billion euro bailout quite soon, it will asphyxiate completely.
Stournaras was keen to highlight that Greece has €90 billion more to receive out of the overall €240 billion bailout package.
“If everything works out according to plan, this money will suffice. If not, nothing will suffice,” he added. However, earlier this week, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, speaking at the International Herald Tribune conference, appeared considerably more optimistic and confident about the future of the country’s financial recovery.
He expressed his conviction that the new austerity measures will be the last ones for Greece and that in a year from now the Greek economy will be able to stand back on its feet, transforming itself into a success story.
In a similar tone, the Troika issued a statement yesterday saying that Greek authorities and its staff teams “agreed on most of the core measures needed to restore the momentum of reform and pave the way for the completion of the review.
“Discussions on remaining issues will continue from respective headquarters and through technical representatives in the field with a view to reaching full staff level agreement over the coming days.”
Moreover, a senior EU official told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday, on the condition of anonymity, that there is “quasi-consensus and strong resolve among Eurozone governments to keep Greece in the Eurozone.”
For Greek workers, and most of all, for the more than 1.2 million unemployed in the country, this sunny picture painted by Samaras and the Brussels Eurocrats is as distant from their daily lives as the planet Mars.
