Issue No.
13380
SHOCK and awe was the reaction of most of the press and all of the public to the Draconian economic measures announced by the government on March 3, and strong, protracted labour action is the expected reaction. Five months after he swept to power on a platform of salary raises - with an over 10-percentage-point lead over the conservatives - George Papandreou was forced to slash and burn the budget, staging the biggest attack ever on civil service wages and pensions, and digging deep into everyone else’s pockets with steep tax hikes.
The most important trips of Papandreou’s political life followed the announcements: Berlin on March 5, Paris on the 7th and Washington the 9th. It appeared that the 5 billion euro borrowing at a whopping 6.4 percent bond yield on March 4, a day after the EU applauded the Greek bloodletting, was intended to underscore the need for a Franco-German aid package to back the tens of millions that Greece will need to borrow later. The argument was that the Greeks did all they could - and more - to self-flagellate themselves, and yet the market speculators still made a killing.
Of course, if the French and Germans shut the door, Papandreou was pretty much sure to strike a deal with the International Monetary Fund, putting Greece in the firm embrace of Uncle Barack, or Uncle Sam.
The vital national issues of the Aegean, the Cyprus problem and the Fyrom name dispute were all on the agenda of the crucial Obama-Papandreou meeting. There was widespread concern in the press that given Greece’s unprecedented politico-economic weakness, Athens might be forced to make equally, or even more, painful geostrategic concessions.
Unforgettable day! A torrent of measures changes our lives, proclaimed Eleftherotypia on March 4, outlining all the taxes and the salary cuts. That included slashing the Easter and summer bonuses by 30 percent each, a 12 percent cut on all other civil service bonuses and a freeze on all civil service pensions. There were serious concerns that the cuts might be adopted by the private sector as well, though some reported that this would deal a mortal blow to the already severely tested insurance system.
Does Greece belong to the Greeks? The speculators won and are imposing their measures, said the weekly To Pontiki. Some leftwing columnists, like Yiorgos Delastik in Ethnos, saw collusion between the government and the EU in imposing incredible austerity. He noted that the Greek Stability and Growth Plan was approved by the EU and not even enforced yet when the EU - and their market masters - demanded even harsher measures that would break the back of labour and plunge Greece into recession.
ATHENS NEWS 28/08/2009, page: 10
