Yiannis Roubatis is a former member of the European Parliament and now heads EurActiv Greece.
Greeks woke up today to face the most violent social and fiscal adjustment in a democratic country at times of peace in the post war years in Europe. The still incomplete deal on a reform program that theoretically would assist the country avoid a chaotic default, contains provisions that will dramatically change the lives of every living person in Greece. It will even determine the future for hundreds of thousands still unborn children who will be asked to foot the bill for the mistakes made both by their parents and their friends and allies in the European Union and across the Atlantic.
The last two years, the Greek political order that came about after 1974 at the end of the seven year dictatorship in Greece has come unraveled, failing to meet the challenges before them. The collapse of traditional political parties was speeded up by the serious mistakes made by the so called Troika – the European Commission, the European central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - whose dogmatic approach of tax increases, wage and spending cuts and social security changes send the country into a deep recession.
The failure of the socialist government to put in place the fiscal and structural changes agreed in the first adjustment program worsened the situation even more. As a result, the ever-increasing recession led to an official unemployment rate of 19%, with the hidden unemployment reaching 23%. The official figures are staggering for the most dynamic sectors of the population: 40% for Greeks aged 16-24, 22% for Greeks 24-34. The effects of such unemployment rates on the pension system are even more disturbing when one takes into account the needed recapitalisation of the pension funds under the PSI agreement. With Greece’s population over 65 reaching 24% in 2010 and estimates for a population of 33% over 65 in 2050, the pension system and the needed social net will soon be a distant memory.
A vicious cycle has been created as new deficits lead to cuts which in turn create more deficits which lead to more cuts. The new incomplete agreement leads to dramatic changes to the Greek labor market. In essence, under the provision of this agreement, in order for Greece to become competitive, almost all of the labor laws will have to be scraped. Collective bargaining will soon be abandoned and will be replaced by so called “individual agreements” where the workers, in addition to salary cuts, will have to accept procedures that will provide no protection at all from the whims of their employers.
These are just some of the issues that are contained in last night’s agreement. There is a lot more on structural changes of state institutions, tax procedures, PSI connected issues and references to a new medium term program to be discussed with the Troika in June. Once again, austerity measures are not matched with any specific growth measures. In essence, what is taken for granted is that the changes in the labor market, tax collection, structural changes, etc. will lead to a more competitive Greece which will become attractive to Foreign Direct Investments and other kinds of investment.
In the meantime, the outdated state institutions will have to make do with the ever widening social unrest, the ever increasing poverty where more than 28% of the population is under the poverty level, the effects of the financial crisis on the health of the people. If Germany and others wanted to make an example of what happens to a rogue partner in the European Union they got one.
The problem is that this example is made up of millions of people that are been punished for the collective mistakes of their leaders and the mistakes of their colleagues in the other European states. The time is not far away for Greek citizens, but also for the citizens of other countries that face some of the same problems, to ask serious questions about European solidarity, European determination to stick to democratic procedures and European willingness to move the European experiment to a real united Europe.
COMMENTS
European solidarity?
You expect other hardworking europeans to pay your bills,while you drink ouzo all day.
Greece is a corrupt, third world country that has no business being in the European Union.
You are the cancer that is killing Europe.
Mr Genti, I strongly advise you to read more, search more and get better informed, honestly, because judging by your reaction, you seem like a poor little naive ignorant little human being to me, almost like a waste of space. Shake your head and come back with a decent agrument please.
Helen,
Greece lied to get in the Eurozone, was caught lying by Eurostat again and again afterwards.
This is a country where greed, tax evasion and scandalous waste is accepted and even promoted.
Greece is disliked and even hated by its neighbours.
Are these decent enough arguments for you?
And please enough with "we invented democracy BS"
Mr Genti,
indeed, it seems it is true, Greece lied to get into the Eurozone, as most of other Eurozone countries, except maybe Sweden...
Indeed, in Greece "greed, tax evasion and scandalous waste" was accepted for too long, but I guess had we not been greedy, tax-evading scandalously wasting Greeks we could not afford buying Italian or German or French made cars or any other products or sign ridiculously large contracts for EU-made items (for which, very kindly, many of the EU governments happily paid money under the table)....
As to whether our neighbours dislike or hate us, I would suggest they take a very good into the mirror first, it usually works...
My kind regards,
Eleni
Yiannis Roubatis and his colleages develop a Greek version of EurActiv with hardly any resources, in the worst possible economic circumstances. Congratulations! EurActiv.gr is a contribution to keeping the public debate open between - notably - Athens and Brussels / EU circles. This is also helping EurActiv in Brussels and elsewhere to have a balanced coverage of the crisis, helping other medias in turn.
Now two more personal comments of mine:
- as some reactions here and elsewhere show, there is a risk to go from tough arguments, understandable, to unecessarily agressive tone. Let's by all means address issues head on, but avoid both nationalism and prejudices, bringing no lasting solutions.
- I was in Athens last June, and contributed to the following article on moral and financial bankruptcy:
http://www.euractiv.com/euro-finance/businessmen-underline-greeces-moral-bankruptcy-news-505620
What surprise me most is not the depth of the crisis or - unfortunately - the personal tragedies. Rather, it is the slow process. A proud people might accept sacrifices, but not uncertainty and a lack of perspectives.
We _have_ to make the issues more transparent and the decision-making faster in the EU. Greece is only one acute example of this slowness, there are many others.
Christophe Leclercq
(Founder of EurActiv,
but reacting here in personal capacity)
As someone who has worked for the Greek State and has seen how things are run in a couple of ministries upclose and personal, I need to bring up this lovely Greek proverb "you can tell the stink of the fish by its head". It is nothing but a game of power and prestige, Greece went from bean soup to caviar incredibly fast - it was admittedly hungry.
There is a particular group of people to blame for a big part of the tumble-down, they have committed financial crimes against the nation and to my knowledge the gears of sending the case to Hague are in motion, it will just take a couple of years - or more.
I DO blame the political system of Greece for this outcome, I have repeated myself so many times it gets boring: there is noone to protect the Constitution, it does not belong to the people anymore, I am not sure who it belongs to. The Parliament has been going wild the last two decades and the people are stuck to the rainbow of the past; green-blue-red . I do, however have faith in Papademos for he is a well-educated man of a highly respected status internationally, not your next best hippo (pun intended). He should be a turn for the better and although harsh, he has never sounded unreasonable to me.
Mr Genti,
Sadly you seem ignorant of history and very provocative; which makes perfect sense given that ignorance is the mother of impudence, as Antiphon (Antiphon 480 BC - 411 BC, was an ancient Athenian statesman and orator, and the oldest of the Attic orators) once said. Even though one can understand your ignorance, nonetheless we cannot excuse your impudence and thus we should awaken you from your slumber. Please have a look at this video, that may be a couple of years old but its pretty indicative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJW01LeRrk&feature=player_embedded
If this does not help you to understand your unrighteous and misleading comments or at least show some kind of repentance, then it is clearly all about sour grapes...
Last but not least I am proud to be a Greek. By the way which country are you from? I am really curious...
Greetings from sun-shining ouzo-drinking Greece.
Mr Genti,
Sadly you seem ignorant of history and very provocative; which makes perfect sense given that ignorance is the mother of impudence, as Antiphon (Antiphon 480 BC - 411 BC, was an ancient Athenian statesman and orator, and the oldest of the Attic orators) once said. Even though one can understand your ignorance, nonetheless we cannot excuse your impudence and thus we should awaken you from your slumber. Please have a look at this video, that may be a couple of years old but its pretty indicative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJW01LeRrk&feature=player_embedded
If this does not help you to understand your unrighteous and misleading comments or at least show some kind of repentance, then it is clearly all about sour grapes...
Last but not least I am proud to be a Greek. By the way which country are you from? I am really curious...
Greetings from sun-shining ouzo-drinking Greece.
Mr Genti,
Sadly you seem ignorant of history and very provocative; which makes perfect sense given that ignorance is the mother of impudence, as Antiphon (Antiphon 480 BC - 411 BC, was an ancient Athenian statesman and orator, and the oldest of the Attic orators) once said. Even though one can understand your ignorance, nonetheless we cannot excuse your impudence and thus we should awaken you from your slumber. Please have a look at this video, that may be a couple of years old but its pretty indicative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJW01LeRrk&feature=player_embedded
If this does not help you to understand your unrighteous and misleading comments or at least show some kind of repentance, then it is clearly all about sour grapes...
Last but not least I am proud to be a Greek. By the way which country are you from? I am really curious...
Greetings from sun-shining ouzo-drinking Greece.
Let's get a few things straight.
There is no vicious cycle here. This economic crisis in Greece is about a financial unwinding. Greece borrowed more than it could ever pay, and so it is now crying for more money.
The Greek political leaders are not solely to blame. ALL GREEKS are to blame. Who voted for these leaders? Who pushed for 13th, 14th, 15th month salaries that could not be afforded? Who demanded for ridiculous pension plans?
Furthermore, what do you say about a country that has no manufacturing ability? Greece doesn't even have the technical know-who to make a washing machine, or an iron! What can you do with a country where its only major industries are tourism, olives and expensive (read RIP OFF) food-outlets. Greece has backward education institutions, 3rd world services, public servants who don't even know how to use spreadsheets or do budgets.
Greece is has always been, is now and always will be a dysfunctional, backward, self-indulgent, lazy country. This is not been racist, this is telling the truth. This has not the first time Greece has gone through such financial crises; Pericles' stealing the all the gold from the Parthenon and the Acropolis, cutting notes in half in 1922, to now the latest idiocy. Greeks has a long history of over spending and being financially reckless.
Its time to let GREECE and ALL GREEKS SINK OR SWIM!
A lot of hate speech and racism from non Greeks in this post. Did you even read the note before posting? "EurActiv reserves its right to remove comments regarded as offensive, racist, or homophobic as well as hate-speech in general. Spamming or posts with an obvious commercial character will be removed as well. Thank you for your understanding."
EurActiv reserves its right to remove comments regarded as offensive, racist, or homophobic as well as hate-speech in general. Spamming or posts with an obvious commercial character will be removed as well. Thank you for your understanding.