"Greece seeks time, not aid" by Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson | Associated Press, August 23, 2012
BERLIN — Greece’s prime minister struck a conciliatory tone Wednesday before a closely watched visit to Germany, maintaining in interviews with two influential newspapers that his country does not want more money, just more time to deliver on promised economic reforms and spending cuts.
Antonis Samaras heads to Berlin on Friday for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the largest single contributor to Greece’s $300 billion bailout packages. German officials and some lawmakers in Merkel’s coalition government have made clear they are in no mood to grant significant concessions.
‘‘Let me be very clear: We are not asking for extra money,’’ Samaras told Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper in an interview published Wednesday. ‘‘We stand by our commitments and the implementation of all requirements. But we must encourage growth, because that reduces the financing gaps.’’
‘‘All we want is a little ‘air to breathe’ to get the economy going and increase state income,’’ Samaras added, without specifying any timeframe. ‘‘More time does not automatically mean more money.’’
Some German politicians have talked openly in recent weeks about the possibility of Greece leaving the euro, and the vice chancellor, Economy Minister Philipp Roesler, has said that the idea of a Greek exit has ‘‘lost its horror.’’
But Athens says the country must remain in the 17-nation currency zone — something that opinion polls have shown the vast majority of Greeks want.
Asked by Bild whether leaving the euro and returning to the drachma would be better, Samaras replied that ‘‘the consequences would be a catastrophe for Greece.’’
No.
"A return to the drachma could make Greek products more globally competitive in the long term"
And it would get them out from under this borrow more money to get out of debt insanity.
"A return to the drachma could make Greek products more globally competitive in the long term"
And it would get them out from under this borrow more money to get out of debt insanity.
‘‘It would mean at least five more years of recession and push unemployment above 40 percent,’’ he was quoted as saying. ‘‘A nightmare for Greece: economic collapse, social unrest, and an unprecedented crisis of democracy.’’
UNREAL
********************************
Greece’s economy is struggling through a fifth year of recession with unemployment above 23 percent....
We call that a DEPRESSION!
We call that a DEPRESSION!
In a separate interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Samaras said his government would achieve the promised budget cuts over two years — a prerequisite for Greece to receive the next tranche of aid. If the payment does not occur, ‘‘Greece will go bust,’’ he said.
After meeting with Merkel on Friday, Samaras will travel to Paris for talks with President Francois Hollande of France.
Related: Hollande Most Hated President in French History
It's the austerity, stoo-pid!
Both meetings are seen as key diplomatic way stations ahead of an assessment of Greece’s efforts by inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Union, and European Central Bank....
Related: Hollande Most Hated President in French History
It's the austerity, stoo-pid!
Both meetings are seen as key diplomatic way stations ahead of an assessment of Greece’s efforts by inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Union, and European Central Bank....
Related:
Then why are people so annoyed?
"PROTESTS IN GREECE -- Riot police used tear gas to disperse Muslim protesters during a rally in central Athens Sunday. Hundreds of protesters staged a rally to protest against a US-made film that mocks Islam's prophet, Mohammad, the first such demonstration in Greece (Boston Globe September 24 2012)."
Oh, never mind that.
"Opposition parties argued that the government was merely rubber-stamping demands by rescue lenders and rushing them through Parliament to avoid a thorough debate and limit dissent among its own lawmakers. ‘‘You come here and pass these [measures] like we’re a factory, a washing machine of sin to mortgage the future of this country,’’ said Panagiotis Lafazanis, parliamentary spokesman for the leftist main opposition party, Syriza. ‘‘These measures have no legitimacy and will fall flat.’’
They are the only party that rejected the austerity for bad bank deals.
They are the only party that rejected the austerity for bad bank deals.
"Protests over austerity measures expand to Athens" by Liz Alderman and Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, September 27, 2012
ATHENS — After weeks of relative calm, protests erupted Wednesday across Greece and demonstrators surrounded the Spanish Parliament for a second day to protest the austerity program of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Greek trade unions called a nationwide strike to contest billions of dollars in new cuts to salary and pension being discussed by the government and its international creditors. It was the first such walkout since a conservative coalition led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras came to power in June.
Samaras is negotiating a $15 billion austerity package that is needed to persuade Greece’s so-called troika of lenders — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission — to release nearly $40.7 billion in financial aid that the country needs to stay solvent.
Earlier this month, the European Central Bank said it intends to buy unlimited quantities of debt from European nations. That had kept the peace in the financial markets until Wednesday, when political instability spooked investors....
The proposed cuts in Greece have ignited new anger, with many talking openly of increased impoverishment as the nation grapples with a third round of austerity measures in three years. The demonstrations were peaceful throughout the morning, as civil servants, teachers, medical personnel, bank employees, and lawyers marched to the Athens center....
That is basically like EVERYBODY!
But violence broke out shortly after 1 p.m., as a group of protesters wearing black face masks hurled gasoline bombs at police officers on Vasilissis Sofias, a wide avenue abutting the Parliament building. Firebombs were also thrown at the Finance Ministry and into the lush National Gardens.
We call them agent provocateurs.
Officers wielding batons responded with bursts of tear gas, scattering demonstrators and tourists as police helicopters circled overhead and flares exploded. Many cursed the police with cries of ‘‘traitors!’’ and ‘‘Merkel’s pigs!’’ — a reference to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, which is widely blamed for insisting on strong austerity measures....
I don't know why Germany is being blamed. Because they don't want to wreck their economy for the sake of the EU and the bankers?
--more--"
ATHENS — With thousands of police reinforcements on duty to shield
her from rowdy protesters who see her as the archvillain of the euro
crisis and their national pain, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was
greeted by the Greek prime minister as ‘‘a friend of Greece’’ and tried
to reassure the Greek people she was here not ‘‘as a teacher, to give
grades’’ but rather as ‘‘a real partner.’’
But furious Greeks held rallies and protests that included a job
walkout by civil servants, including teachers and doctors. A small group
burned a flag bearing a Nazi swastika while four protesters in
Nazi-style uniforms drew cheers as they rode past a police cordon....
About 7,000 police were on hand in Athens during protests against austerity plans (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters).
--more--"
"COLD SHOULDER -- Residents of northern Greece dumped ice Wednesday outside the Parliament in Athens as a demonstration against rising prices for heating oil. Greece's main union has called a 48-hour general strike for Nov. 6-7 in protest of austerity measures unveiled by the government in an effort to secure bailout loans (Boston Globe November 1 2012)."
"Greece to offer 4-year austerity plan; Unions start actions against further cuts" by Nicholas Paphitis | Associated Press, November 06, 2012
"COLD SHOULDER -- Residents of northern Greece dumped ice Wednesday outside the Parliament in Athens as a demonstration against rising prices for heating oil. Greece's main union has called a 48-hour general strike for Nov. 6-7 in protest of austerity measures unveiled by the government in an effort to secure bailout loans (Boston Globe November 1 2012)."
"Greece to offer 4-year austerity plan; Unions start actions against further cuts" by Nicholas Paphitis | Associated Press, November 06, 2012
Journalists demonstrated in Athens Monday, the second time in less than a week that they have gone on strike (Orestis Panagiotou/European Pressphoto Agency).
You know, when you have JOURNALISTS on your side.....
ATHENS — Greece’s conservative-led coalition detailed a new four-year package of austerity measures late Monday, facing down escalating protests by unions and dissent from its left-wing government partners.
ATHENS — Greece’s conservative-led coalition detailed a new four-year package of austerity measures late Monday, facing down escalating protests by unions and dissent from its left-wing government partners.
The bill, to be voted in parliament late Wednesday, will impose
further wage and benefit cuts on Greeks who are heading into a sixth
year of recession and are already struggling with 25 percent
unemployment.
Unions had already called a 48-hour general strike starting Tuesday in anticipation of the measures.
Police late Monday cordoned off streets around main government buildings in preparation for potentially violent protests....
Other measures include a two-year increase in the retirement
age to 67, a new round of tax increases, and making it easier to fire
and transfer civil servants.
If lawmakers reject the measures, Greece could lose vital rescue
loans that have kept it afloat since May 2010 — raising the threat of
bankruptcy and a euro exit.
The next loan installment of $40.4 billion out of a total of $308
billion is already overdue and without it, conservative Prime Minister
Antonis Samaras has said Greece will run out of euros on Nov. 16.
After nearly three years of successive income cuts and tax hikes, Greeks have little stomach for more.
On Monday, doctors launched a three-day strike that will leave state
hospitals functioning on emergency staff, while news broadcasting was
canceled by a 24-hour journalists’ strike.
During a general strike Tuesday and Wednesday, schools, tax offices,
and public administration will shut down, and there will be no train or
ferry services across the country. Flights will be disrupted for three
hours Tuesday....
On Sunday, Samaras warned conservative lawmakers about the risks if the measures are rejected.
While acknowledging Greeks had already lost 35 percent of their
income in the past two years, he added: ‘‘We would lose at least twice
that amount within a few weeks — about 80 percent of our standard of
living’’ if the country was forced out of the euro.
Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras is demanding elections — although
the country has already had two popular votes and four governments in
the past year.
His Radical Left Coalition party is leading opinion polls, which have
also seen a rapid rise in popularity for the militant far-right Golden
Dawn party, which has been linked to violent attacks on immigrants....
Looks like no one likes banker's parties!
Looks like no one likes banker's parties!
--more--"
Of course, those right wing nationalists must be taken care of first!
"On streets of Athens, racist attacks increase" Associated Press, November 13, 2012
ATHENS — Authorities are trying to curb a rising wave of extreme-right rage against foreigners as Greece sinks further into economic misery.
The details of the assaults vary, but the cold brutality of each attack is the same: Dark-skinned migrants confronted by thugs, attacked with knives and broken bottles, bats and iron rods.
Rights groups say there has been an explosion in racist violence over the past year, with a notable surge since national elections in May and June that saw dramatic gains by the far-right Golden Dawn party.
The severity of the attacks has increased too, they say.
Simple fist beatings have escalated to assaults with metal bars, bats, and knives. Another new element: ferocious dogs used to terrorize the victims.
Meaning they are acting like guards at Gitmo.
‘‘Violence is getting wilder and wilder and we still have the same pattern of attacks, committed by groups of people in quite an organized way,’’ said Kostis Papaioannou, former head of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights.
Now they are just acting like Israelis.
--more--"
"Greek unions strike ahead of austerity vote" by Nicholas Paphitis | Associated Press, November 07, 2012
ATHENS — Greek trade unions launched a general strike and nationwide protests on Tuesday against a new package of austerity measures, to be voted on this week, which would condemn Greece to more years of hardship in exchange for rescue loans.
Flights to and from the country stopped for three hours at the start of a 48-hour strike that closed schools, halted train and ferry services, and left Athens without public transport or taxis while state hospitals ran on emergency staff.
More than 35,000 people marched in two separate demonstrations in Athens organized by labor unions. Another 20,000 gathered to protest in the country’s second largest city of Thessaloniki.
Police were on alert for violence, with most major antiausterity protests turning into riots the last three years.
The demonstrations will culminate Wednesday, when lawmakers vote on a $17.3 billion package of spending cuts and tax increases over the next two years.
The outcome of the vote is far from certain due to disagreements in the five-month-old coalition government and a reluctance among center-left lawmakers to approve yet more austerity measures. But the rejection of the savings package would leave Greece facing the threat of a default on its mountain of debt that could force it to eventually exit the euro bloc.
This is the biggest political crisis Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has faced since forming the coalition in June. His small Democratic Left coalition partner has said it will not back the measures, while a handful of lawmakers from the third coalition party, the Socialists, are expected to vote against the package.
‘‘The government’s majority is narrowing and the general strike further puts pressure on MPs to vote against the government’s plans,’’ said Martin Koehring of the Economist Intelligence Unit. ‘‘On balance, however, we expect the package to be approved by MPs because the alternative would be the government running out of cash . . . and facing default and potential euro exit.’’
*****************
The main opposition Radical Left Coalition has urged demonstrators to surround Parliament during Wednesday night’s vote.
‘‘The new measures must not pass for they will turn the country into a financial and social desert,’’ a party statement said. ‘‘They’ll lead us decades back, without medicine or state health care, without schools and universities, without a future, with endless armies of unemployed, suicides, and desperate people.’’
The deeply unpopular measures include new deep pension cuts and tax hikes, a two-year increase in the retirement age to 67, and laws that will make it easier to fire and transfer civil servants. The country is suffering a deep recession set to enter a sixth year, and record high unemployment of 25 percent.
It's a depression.
If Parliament rejects the package, Greece will lose access to the rescue loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund that have kept it afloat since May 2010.
The country would then run out of money — as soon as by Nov. 16, according to Samaras — default on its debts, and, most likely, abandon the 17-member eurozone. That would create hyperinflation as the new currency plummets in value, intensifying Greeks’ misery.
A Greek exit from the euro would also have severe international repercussions, fueling fears that other troubled eurozone members could likewise leave the currency bloc....
--more--"
Related: Austerity bill OK’d by Greek lawmakers
Ahead of the vote, about 80,000 protesters braved torrential rain to shout antiausterity slogans. The rally eventually turned violent outside Parliament, with hundreds of rioters hurling gasoline bombs and chunks of marble at police."
"Greeks strike, march in protest against austerity" by Elena Becatoros and Nicholas Paphitis | Associated Press, February 21, 2013
ATHENS, Greece — Tens of thousands of anti-austerity demonstrators took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday as unions staged a general strike to protest government spending cuts and tax hikes....
Unions are pressing for the renewal of binding collective labor contracts, instead of individual deals that allow employers greater leverage in defining salary levels. They are also asking the government to support the crumbling labor market, where about 1,000 jobs have been lost daily since 2010.
‘‘The government wants to further lower our salaries and destroy unions,’’ said unionist Vassilis Epicarithis, an aircraft engineer.
The 24-hour nationwide walkout disrupted domestic flights, kept ferries and long-distance trains idle, and crippled public services. It was the first general strike of the year, renewing confrontation between labor groups and the conservative-led government that has pursued punishing austerity policies to cut debt — a key condition imposed by international bailout creditors.
State schools and tax offices closed down, public hospitals functioned on emergency staff, court cases were stalled as lawyers walked off the job, and even neighborhood street fruit and vegetable markets were cancelled. Private doctors and dentists also joined the strike.
That is like EVERYONE except the POLICE, and I have a feeling they are not fare behind.
In Athens, police said about 25,000 people marched toward Parliament with banners such as ‘‘We won’t become slaves in the 21st century,’’ in a demonstration organized by the main public and private sector unions. Earlier, some 15,000 members of a Communist Party-affiliated labor union protested peacefully along the same route....
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, some 17,000 protested peacefully....
A new round of tax increases this year and a surge in unemployment to 27 percent have angered unions, as Greeks battle a rapid increase in poverty during a sixth year of recession.
In recent weeks, the Samaras government has twice used rare emergency powers to force an end to strikes by workers on ferry services and the Athens subway.
‘‘The Greek people have no tolerance left,’’ Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of the civil servants union ADEDY, said. ‘‘For us, the time has come for a major confrontation with the government . . . and policies that are taking our country from bad to worse and leading people to poverty and desperation.’’
Unions are also angry at a government decision to scrap collective wage agreements across the public sector as part of an overhaul of state pay scales that will usher in further salary cuts.
Unemployment is expected to reach 30 percent this year, while national output will contract a further 4.1 percent, according to a study by a government funded research agency published last week. By the end of the year, the Greek economy is forecast to have shrunk 25 percent since 2008, a year before the crisis started.
--more--"
"Closing of state broadcaster leaves Greece in turmoil" by Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, June 13, 2013
ATHENS — Greeks were in shock and their fragile coalition government was in disarray Wednesday, a day after Greece unexpectedly shut down the state broadcaster, the most drastic move to slash the country’s bloated public sector since Athens applied for a foreign bailout in 2010.
Thousands of protesters, including many of the 2,900 workers laid off from the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp., known as ERT, rallied outside its headquarters northeast of Athens early Wednesday as ERT’s symphony orchestra played for them.
The crowds dispersed and reassembled later in the morning.
Private television channels suspended their news coverage as of 6 a.m. Wednesday in solidarity with ERT employees, while newspaper headlines conveyed the shock felt by many Greeks at the closing of the 75-year-old institution.
The banners adorning street kiosks read, “War Over ERT,” “Fury Over Sudden Death,” and “An Execution to Please the Troika,” a reference to the trio of foreign lenders that administer the bailout money.
The country’s two main labor unions, Gsee and Adedy, called a 24-hour strike for Thursday to protest the government’s decision to close ERT. Staff members at daily newspapers also plan to walk out Thursday.
In defiance of the government’s decision, ERT employees continued to broadcast Wednesday from the defunct organization’s offices via digital television and the Internet.
The surprise decision Tuesday to shut down ERT came a day after representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund returned to Athens for new talks on the progress of the country’s efforts to overhaul its economy. Greece’s pledge to lay off public workers was high on the agenda.
On the streets of Athens, the reaction Wednesday was a mix of shock, anger, and nostalgia.
“This is worse than the junta,” said Thomas Dedes, a 67-year-old retiree, referring to the military dictatorship that ruled Greece in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “What’s next? Tanks in front of Parliament?”
“You can’t just shut down state television,” said Irini Milaki, 50, a schoolteacher. “What kind of democracy are we? We don’t deserve to be European.”
Others expressed disbelief at the speed of the move on ERT.
“It takes longer to shut down a taverna,” said Costas Tasopoulos, 45, a restaurant manager. “The government might drag their feet on other things, but when it comes to cutting jobs and salaries, they move like lightning.”
--more--"
"Greek unions strike to protest closing of state television" by Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, June 14, 2013
"Greek unions call strike to protest cuts" by Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, July 11, 2013
ATHENS — Greek unions stepped up their opposition Wednesday to a new round of austerity measures promised to the country’s foreign creditors, calling a 24-hour general strike for Tuesday while local government employees occupied city buildings to protest plans for wage cuts and layoffs.
The country’s two largest unions, which represent about 2.5 million workers, called the fourth general strike of the year to protest a new raft of economic changes, including a contentious streamlining of the country’s civil service. The government submitted the changes to Parliament for debate late Tuesday, and a vote was expected by July 19.
“Let the government and the troika finally understand that we are people and we won’t become numbers,’’ the GSEE private sector union said in a statement, referring to Greece’s three international creditors: the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
Despite strong union opposition, the government must push the changes into law if it is to clinch the first installment of a $8.7 billion aid payment approved Monday by the 17 finance ministers of the eurozone countries.
Greece’s foreign lenders are meting out the aid in doses to keep the pressure on Athens to deliver on pledges.
The changes that have fueled the most vehement protests are plans for layoffs in the civil service by the end of next year and a so-called mobility plan that would give reduced pay to 12,500 public sector workers for eight months before transferring them to other positions or laying them off.
Municipal police officers, school janitors, and teachers would be among the first to be affected by the program. Municipal police officers occupied offices in Athens on Tuesday, while other local authority employees, including street cleaners, met to plan protests.
Then the government has lost.
Last month, a decision by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to close the state broadcaster, ERT, putting some 2,700 people out of work, led the junior partner in the coalition to quit, shaking the stability of the fragile government. The upheaval illustrates just how difficult it will be for the authorities to slash the civil service payroll.
Dismissed ERT workers have continued to occupy the broadcaster’s headquarters, running a pirate broadcast via satellite. Negotiations have stalled between the former employees and a new minister installed in a cabinet shake-up last month to oversee the creation of a new state broadcaster. The minister, Pantelis Kapsis, blamed the breakdown on “10 ERT unionists.”
Also Wednesday, an interim channel called Greek Public Television, or EDT, began transmitting its logo on ERT’s old frequency. Kapsis said that the channel would start airing films and documentaries “in the next few hours” and that an unspecified number of people would be hired for a temporary news program until the debut of the new broadcaster, to be known as Nerit, in the coming months.
The former ERT employees were defiant, dismissing the interim broadcaster as “an illegal creation.”
--more--"
"Police in Athens kick off week of protests; Planned cuts rile Greek workers" by Derek Gatopoulos | Associated Press, July 16, 2013
ATHENS — Sirens blaring, striking municipal police officers brought traffic to a standstill across central Athens on Monday as part of mounting protests against new government cuts.
The officers parked their motorcycles and patrol cars outside Parliament, government buildings, and the offices of the governing center-right New Democracy party and its Socialist coalition partner. The noisy start-and-stop protest lasted more than five hours.
It launched a week of planned demonstrations against the latest round of austerity measures that will impose staff cuts on teachers and local government. Municipal authorities across Greece — including the Athens municipal police, who are generally tasked with checking parking violations and checking street vendors — have suspended services for three days, while unions have called a general strike for Tuesday.
The strike is set to disrupt flights, national rail travel, and public hospitals.
Greece’s international creditors demanded the job cuts before approving new bailout loan installments worth $8.9 billion from a massive rescue fund worth $312 billion.
The latest batch of loans will be paid out between July and October.
Public sector workers, while slapped with repeated salary and benefit cuts, have been spared firings until this year.
Oh, that's so nice!
The measures are to be voted on by Parliament this week — the first major political test for conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras since a left-wing party abandoned his coalition government last month, leaving it with a reduced majority.
Samaras’s 13-month-old coalition has promised to fire 15,000 public sector employees by the end of 2014 and transfer another 12,500 to new positions this year, most following an eight-month suspension on reduced pay.
He is facing renewed opposition from the left-wing Syriza party, which has made a campaign promise to rehire dismissed public servants and at the weekend voted to overhaul its party structure to prepare for potential early elections.
Government officials met with protesting mayors Monday and insisted there was room for changes in the new austerity bill to be voted late Wednesday, but they ruled out backing the major amendments demanded by local government.
‘‘We are not opposed to reform. . . . What we do oppose is abolishing entire institutions like the municipal police and personnel to guard state schools,’’ said Costas Askounis, leader of the protesting Central Union of Municipalities.
Greece has been kept out of bankruptcy since it started receiving rescue loans in 2010 from other euro countries at the International Monetary Fund, but austerity measures demanded in return have caused a dramatic increase in poverty and unemployment.
As Greece goes deeper into debt.
Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, considered an architect of bailout austerity measures in the eurozone, is due to visit Athens on Thursday.
Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange fell 0.5 percent on Monday, while markets elsewhere in Europe rose slightly.
--more--"
"Greek protesters take campaign to Acropolis" by DEREK GATOPOULOS | Associated Press, August 03, 2013
ATHENS — Greek civil servants protesting mass staff cuts took their campaign to the gates of the ancient Acropolis on Friday, after the government announced that 500 workers at the culture ministry would be suspended next month.
State archaeologists gathered in front of the site, but did not block the entrance. Several museums around the country, including the popular Archaeological Museum on the island of Santorini, were closed in protest.
Elsewhere, civil servants continued a second day of work stoppages and held a protest rally in central Athens.
The government has promised its international rescue lenders it will suspend 25,000 public sector workers by the end of the year, with about one-third of them likely to be eventually fired.
Despina Koutsoumba, head of the Association of Greek Archaeologists at the ministry, said employees were preparing to step up protests. On Friday, Greece’s civil aviation union called a three-day strike for Aug. 9-11, which would close country’s airports to nearly all aircraft.
--more--"
You know things are really bad when even the elite are getting scared and the sand turns to mud.
Of course, those right wing nationalists must be taken care of first!
"On streets of Athens, racist attacks increase" Associated Press, November 13, 2012
ATHENS — Authorities are trying to curb a rising wave of extreme-right rage against foreigners as Greece sinks further into economic misery.
The details of the assaults vary, but the cold brutality of each attack is the same: Dark-skinned migrants confronted by thugs, attacked with knives and broken bottles, bats and iron rods.
Rights groups say there has been an explosion in racist violence over the past year, with a notable surge since national elections in May and June that saw dramatic gains by the far-right Golden Dawn party.
The severity of the attacks has increased too, they say.
Simple fist beatings have escalated to assaults with metal bars, bats, and knives. Another new element: ferocious dogs used to terrorize the victims.
Meaning they are acting like guards at Gitmo.
‘‘Violence is getting wilder and wilder and we still have the same pattern of attacks, committed by groups of people in quite an organized way,’’ said Kostis Papaioannou, former head of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights.
Now they are just acting like Israelis.
--more--"
"Greek unions strike ahead of austerity vote" by Nicholas Paphitis | Associated Press, November 07, 2012
ATHENS — Greek trade unions launched a general strike and nationwide protests on Tuesday against a new package of austerity measures, to be voted on this week, which would condemn Greece to more years of hardship in exchange for rescue loans.
Flights to and from the country stopped for three hours at the start of a 48-hour strike that closed schools, halted train and ferry services, and left Athens without public transport or taxis while state hospitals ran on emergency staff.
More than 35,000 people marched in two separate demonstrations in Athens organized by labor unions. Another 20,000 gathered to protest in the country’s second largest city of Thessaloniki.
Police were on alert for violence, with most major antiausterity protests turning into riots the last three years.
The demonstrations will culminate Wednesday, when lawmakers vote on a $17.3 billion package of spending cuts and tax increases over the next two years.
The outcome of the vote is far from certain due to disagreements in the five-month-old coalition government and a reluctance among center-left lawmakers to approve yet more austerity measures. But the rejection of the savings package would leave Greece facing the threat of a default on its mountain of debt that could force it to eventually exit the euro bloc.
This is the biggest political crisis Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has faced since forming the coalition in June. His small Democratic Left coalition partner has said it will not back the measures, while a handful of lawmakers from the third coalition party, the Socialists, are expected to vote against the package.
‘‘The government’s majority is narrowing and the general strike further puts pressure on MPs to vote against the government’s plans,’’ said Martin Koehring of the Economist Intelligence Unit. ‘‘On balance, however, we expect the package to be approved by MPs because the alternative would be the government running out of cash . . . and facing default and potential euro exit.’’
*****************
The main opposition Radical Left Coalition has urged demonstrators to surround Parliament during Wednesday night’s vote.
‘‘The new measures must not pass for they will turn the country into a financial and social desert,’’ a party statement said. ‘‘They’ll lead us decades back, without medicine or state health care, without schools and universities, without a future, with endless armies of unemployed, suicides, and desperate people.’’
The deeply unpopular measures include new deep pension cuts and tax hikes, a two-year increase in the retirement age to 67, and laws that will make it easier to fire and transfer civil servants. The country is suffering a deep recession set to enter a sixth year, and record high unemployment of 25 percent.
It's a depression.
If Parliament rejects the package, Greece will lose access to the rescue loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund that have kept it afloat since May 2010.
The country would then run out of money — as soon as by Nov. 16, according to Samaras — default on its debts, and, most likely, abandon the 17-member eurozone. That would create hyperinflation as the new currency plummets in value, intensifying Greeks’ misery.
A Greek exit from the euro would also have severe international repercussions, fueling fears that other troubled eurozone members could likewise leave the currency bloc....
--more--"
Related: Austerity bill OK’d by Greek lawmakers
Ahead of the vote, about 80,000 protesters braved torrential rain to shout antiausterity slogans. The rally eventually turned violent outside Parliament, with hundreds of rioters hurling gasoline bombs and chunks of marble at police."
Municipal workers demonstrated against the new austerity measures in Athens on Tuesday (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)."
"Greeks strike, march in protest against austerity" by Elena Becatoros and Nicholas Paphitis | Associated Press, February 21, 2013
ATHENS, Greece — Tens of thousands of anti-austerity demonstrators took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday as unions staged a general strike to protest government spending cuts and tax hikes....
Unions are pressing for the renewal of binding collective labor contracts, instead of individual deals that allow employers greater leverage in defining salary levels. They are also asking the government to support the crumbling labor market, where about 1,000 jobs have been lost daily since 2010.
‘‘The government wants to further lower our salaries and destroy unions,’’ said unionist Vassilis Epicarithis, an aircraft engineer.
The 24-hour nationwide walkout disrupted domestic flights, kept ferries and long-distance trains idle, and crippled public services. It was the first general strike of the year, renewing confrontation between labor groups and the conservative-led government that has pursued punishing austerity policies to cut debt — a key condition imposed by international bailout creditors.
State schools and tax offices closed down, public hospitals functioned on emergency staff, court cases were stalled as lawyers walked off the job, and even neighborhood street fruit and vegetable markets were cancelled. Private doctors and dentists also joined the strike.
That is like EVERYONE except the POLICE, and I have a feeling they are not fare behind.
In Athens, police said about 25,000 people marched toward Parliament with banners such as ‘‘We won’t become slaves in the 21st century,’’ in a demonstration organized by the main public and private sector unions. Earlier, some 15,000 members of a Communist Party-affiliated labor union protested peacefully along the same route....
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, some 17,000 protested peacefully....
A new round of tax increases this year and a surge in unemployment to 27 percent have angered unions, as Greeks battle a rapid increase in poverty during a sixth year of recession.
In recent weeks, the Samaras government has twice used rare emergency powers to force an end to strikes by workers on ferry services and the Athens subway.
‘‘The Greek people have no tolerance left,’’ Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of the civil servants union ADEDY, said. ‘‘For us, the time has come for a major confrontation with the government . . . and policies that are taking our country from bad to worse and leading people to poverty and desperation.’’
Unions are also angry at a government decision to scrap collective wage agreements across the public sector as part of an overhaul of state pay scales that will usher in further salary cuts.
Unemployment is expected to reach 30 percent this year, while national output will contract a further 4.1 percent, according to a study by a government funded research agency published last week. By the end of the year, the Greek economy is forecast to have shrunk 25 percent since 2008, a year before the crisis started.
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"Closing of state broadcaster leaves Greece in turmoil" by Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, June 13, 2013
Protesters gathered at the Athens office of Greece’s state broadcaster after the government announced its closure (John Kolesidis/REUTERS).
ATHENS — Greeks were in shock and their fragile coalition government was in disarray Wednesday, a day after Greece unexpectedly shut down the state broadcaster, the most drastic move to slash the country’s bloated public sector since Athens applied for a foreign bailout in 2010.
Thousands of protesters, including many of the 2,900 workers laid off from the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp., known as ERT, rallied outside its headquarters northeast of Athens early Wednesday as ERT’s symphony orchestra played for them.
The crowds dispersed and reassembled later in the morning.
Private television channels suspended their news coverage as of 6 a.m. Wednesday in solidarity with ERT employees, while newspaper headlines conveyed the shock felt by many Greeks at the closing of the 75-year-old institution.
The banners adorning street kiosks read, “War Over ERT,” “Fury Over Sudden Death,” and “An Execution to Please the Troika,” a reference to the trio of foreign lenders that administer the bailout money.
The country’s two main labor unions, Gsee and Adedy, called a 24-hour strike for Thursday to protest the government’s decision to close ERT. Staff members at daily newspapers also plan to walk out Thursday.
In defiance of the government’s decision, ERT employees continued to broadcast Wednesday from the defunct organization’s offices via digital television and the Internet.
The surprise decision Tuesday to shut down ERT came a day after representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund returned to Athens for new talks on the progress of the country’s efforts to overhaul its economy. Greece’s pledge to lay off public workers was high on the agenda.
On the streets of Athens, the reaction Wednesday was a mix of shock, anger, and nostalgia.
“This is worse than the junta,” said Thomas Dedes, a 67-year-old retiree, referring to the military dictatorship that ruled Greece in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “What’s next? Tanks in front of Parliament?”
“You can’t just shut down state television,” said Irini Milaki, 50, a schoolteacher. “What kind of democracy are we? We don’t deserve to be European.”
Others expressed disbelief at the speed of the move on ERT.
“It takes longer to shut down a taverna,” said Costas Tasopoulos, 45, a restaurant manager. “The government might drag their feet on other things, but when it comes to cutting jobs and salaries, they move like lightning.”
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"Greek unions strike to protest closing of state television" by Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, June 14, 2013
A flag-waving union member joined protesters Thursday at the state television headquarters in Athens (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press).
ATHENS, Greece — Thousands of Greeks walked off the job Thursday in the third general strike of the year, this time called by labor unions to protest a surprise move by the conservative-led government to close the state broadcaster, leaving about 2,900 employees out of work.
The nationwide walkout shut down tax offices, left hospitals on emergency staffing, and disrupted travel. Ferries remained moored in ports and trains at depots, and long delays were expected on international flights. Public transit was also affected, though workers ran a reduced service to allow Greeks to join a protest rally.
Rather than gather outside Parliament in central Athens, as they have for antiausterity protests since 2010, protesters met Thursday outside the headquarters of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp., or ERT, northeast of Athens. Former employees and supporters have gathered there since Tuesday night, when the authorities pulled the broadcaster off the air.
Private television channels continued a news blackout that began on Wednesday, and newspaper employees walked off the job, leaving many Greeks to turn to blogs and social networks for news updates. Some dismissed employees of the closed state broadcaster continued to produce news programs that were distributed through satellite channels.
Though ERT was often criticized for overspending and for lacking independence, it was widely valued in Greece for its in-depth news coverage, documentaries, and cultural programs. The government has said it will set up a leaner replacement company, probably during the summer; until then, Greek viewers are left with six privately owned national channels and a host of local stations whose offerings vary widely in quality and whose news coverage is assumed to be influenced by the views of their owners. The national channels typically offer an assortment of news, talk shows, cooking programs, and films.
It's starting to look like AmeriKa's vast wasteland of television.
It's starting to look like AmeriKa's vast wasteland of television.
The country’s two main labor unions represent about 2.5 million workers and have historically been very powerful, though their influence has waned somewhat as many Greeks have been worn down by three years of job losses and wage and pension cuts. The unions condemned “unprecedented and provocative” initiatives by the authorities, including the shutdown of ERT.
Right, there influence has waned as the country takes to the streets. Whatever, corporate s*** bag.
Right, there influence has waned as the country takes to the streets. Whatever, corporate s*** bag.
The civil servants’ union accused the government of “methodically and autocratically annihilating the rights of workers and citizens, one by one, for a long time now,” and said that the government’s only aim was to satisfy the demands of Greece’s three main foreign lenders: the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund.
They are right. It's obvious.
They are right. It's obvious.
Envoys from the lenders, known collectively as the troika, did not comment on the ERT shutdown. On Wednesday, the European economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said there had been no pressure from Brussels for Athens to close its state broadcaster.
“The commission has not sought the closure of ERT, but nor does the commission question the Greek government’s mandate to manage the public sector in Greece,” Rehn said.
In an address to a business conference Wednesday night, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras criticized the labor unions for “striking every time something significant and positive happens.” He described ERT as “sinful” and “an emblem of lack of transparency and waste,” said the new state broadcaster would be based on “the most modern international prototypes,” and dismissed the protests as “the final spasms of a status quo of privileges, which is collapsing.”
The two junior political parties in the governing coalition led by Samaras’ New Democracy party have also objected to the closing of ERT and have demanded talks with the prime minister. Officials of the two parties, Pasok and the Democratic Left, have said they were seeking a deal and do not want to pull out of the coalition. The leader of the main opposition party, Syriza, accused the two junior coalition parties of pretending to condemn the closing of ERT while continuing to back Samaras because “they are even more afraid of early elections than New Democracy.”
A government spokesman predicted the three governing parties would reach a deal.
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"Greece secures another $8.7b in loans; But creditors say austerity plan is moving too slow" by Sarah DiLorenzo and Raf Casert | Associated Press, July 09, 2013
BRUSSELS — Greece secured $8.7 billion in rescue loans Monday after squeaking by an inspection from its international creditors, who are demanding that it slash thousands of civil servant jobs and government spending.
Experts from the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund said Greece’s finances are improving but warned it is making reforms too slowly and that the outlook for its economy, in recession since 2007, remains uncertain.
The so-called troika of creditors still recommended that the next loan payments be made, and finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro agreed....
After years of overspending, Greece nearly went bankrupt and is now surviving on rescue loans. To ensure the government keeps up with the reforms it promised in exchange for about $310 billion in bailout loans, its creditors turn over the funds slowly — and only after rigorous assessments of the country’s progress.
Greece has been hammered by a financial crisis since 2009 and is in the sixth year of a deep recession.
The troika said that ‘‘policy implementation is behind in some areas’’ and that Greek authorities have said they will do more to ensure delivery of the fiscal targets for 2013-14, noting in particular efforts to restrict overspending in the health sector.
Unemployment in Greece has spiraled to above 27 percent, in part because of the reforms and austerity measures....
The government must put 12,500 civil servants on administrative leave by the end of the year, with the possibility of dismissal. They will be paid 75 percent of normal salary and be subject to dismissal if they aren’t transferred to other state agencies within eight months.
Municipal workers across the country went on strike to protest the plan, while the country’s civil servants union, ADEDY, called a work stoppage for all civil servants in Athens.
The austerity plans agreed to in return for the loans have included big salary and pension cuts as well as repeated tax hikes.
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"Greek workers, targeted in cuts, plan more strikes" by Derek Gatopoulos and Elena Becatoros | Associated Press, July 10, 2013
ATHENS — Greek officials announced the first details of major staff cuts for the bloated public sector Tuesday, sparking anger among union members who pledged to extend strikes and occupy city halls across the country.
On Monday, euro-area finance ministers approved loan installments worth $8.7 billion for Greece, despite the government’s missing a deadline to place 12,500 workers in a program that subjects them to involuntary transfers.
Greece has also promised to ax a further 15,000 jobs by the end of next year. On Tuesday, the government said it had been given three months by rescue lenders to catch up, and said it was placing 4,200 workers — including school guards and elementary school teachers — on an eight-month suspension with reduced pay before the end of July.
The announcement marked a shift in Greece’s grueling austerity program, which has relied on pay cuts and tax hikes. This has hammered the private sector and dragged the country into a sixth year of recession.
In response to the latest measures, a local government workers union said it would extend rolling 24-hour strikes for the rest of the week.
‘‘We are recommending that our members continue their protest campaign, with the occupation of municipal buildings,’’ said Themis Balasopoulos, leader of the POE-OTA union. ‘‘We actually have shortages in local government, but we are the main target for cuts because our elected officials are offering no resistance to the government.’’
Up to 3,000 striking municipal workers marched through central Athens in their second day of demonstrations.
Greece has been dependent on billions of euros in rescue loans from other European countries that use the shared currency and from the International Monetary Fund since 2010, when the country found itself unable to borrow money on the bond market.
A left-wing opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras, said the staff cuts were the latest indication that the bailout program — which is supervised by the ‘‘troika’’ of the IMF, European Union, and European Central Bank — had failed.
‘‘The technocrat-terrorists from the troika come here and demand firings, as if they are counting beans and not human beings,’’ Tsipras told factory workers in central Greece.
That is a GOOD TERM for them!
That is a GOOD TERM for them!
‘‘They are the gurus of disaster. Having admitted that the program is a failure, they have the audacity to demand more [austerity] measures.’’
Also Tuesday, the government raised $2.1 billion in a six-month treasury bill auction, with a 4.2 percent yield unchanged from a month ago. Stocks closed 2.34 percent lower on the Athens Stock Exchange, while international markets were broadly positive.
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"Greek unions call strike to protest cuts" by Niki Kitsantonis | New York Times, July 11, 2013
ATHENS — Greek unions stepped up their opposition Wednesday to a new round of austerity measures promised to the country’s foreign creditors, calling a 24-hour general strike for Tuesday while local government employees occupied city buildings to protest plans for wage cuts and layoffs.
The country’s two largest unions, which represent about 2.5 million workers, called the fourth general strike of the year to protest a new raft of economic changes, including a contentious streamlining of the country’s civil service. The government submitted the changes to Parliament for debate late Tuesday, and a vote was expected by July 19.
“Let the government and the troika finally understand that we are people and we won’t become numbers,’’ the GSEE private sector union said in a statement, referring to Greece’s three international creditors: the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
Despite strong union opposition, the government must push the changes into law if it is to clinch the first installment of a $8.7 billion aid payment approved Monday by the 17 finance ministers of the eurozone countries.
Greece’s foreign lenders are meting out the aid in doses to keep the pressure on Athens to deliver on pledges.
The changes that have fueled the most vehement protests are plans for layoffs in the civil service by the end of next year and a so-called mobility plan that would give reduced pay to 12,500 public sector workers for eight months before transferring them to other positions or laying them off.
Municipal police officers, school janitors, and teachers would be among the first to be affected by the program. Municipal police officers occupied offices in Athens on Tuesday, while other local authority employees, including street cleaners, met to plan protests.
Then the government has lost.
Last month, a decision by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to close the state broadcaster, ERT, putting some 2,700 people out of work, led the junior partner in the coalition to quit, shaking the stability of the fragile government. The upheaval illustrates just how difficult it will be for the authorities to slash the civil service payroll.
Dismissed ERT workers have continued to occupy the broadcaster’s headquarters, running a pirate broadcast via satellite. Negotiations have stalled between the former employees and a new minister installed in a cabinet shake-up last month to oversee the creation of a new state broadcaster. The minister, Pantelis Kapsis, blamed the breakdown on “10 ERT unionists.”
Also Wednesday, an interim channel called Greek Public Television, or EDT, began transmitting its logo on ERT’s old frequency. Kapsis said that the channel would start airing films and documentaries “in the next few hours” and that an unspecified number of people would be hired for a temporary news program until the debut of the new broadcaster, to be known as Nerit, in the coming months.
The former ERT employees were defiant, dismissing the interim broadcaster as “an illegal creation.”
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"Police in Athens kick off week of protests; Planned cuts rile Greek workers" by Derek Gatopoulos | Associated Press, July 16, 2013
ATHENS — Sirens blaring, striking municipal police officers brought traffic to a standstill across central Athens on Monday as part of mounting protests against new government cuts.
The officers parked their motorcycles and patrol cars outside Parliament, government buildings, and the offices of the governing center-right New Democracy party and its Socialist coalition partner. The noisy start-and-stop protest lasted more than five hours.
It launched a week of planned demonstrations against the latest round of austerity measures that will impose staff cuts on teachers and local government. Municipal authorities across Greece — including the Athens municipal police, who are generally tasked with checking parking violations and checking street vendors — have suspended services for three days, while unions have called a general strike for Tuesday.
The strike is set to disrupt flights, national rail travel, and public hospitals.
Greece’s international creditors demanded the job cuts before approving new bailout loan installments worth $8.9 billion from a massive rescue fund worth $312 billion.
The latest batch of loans will be paid out between July and October.
Public sector workers, while slapped with repeated salary and benefit cuts, have been spared firings until this year.
Oh, that's so nice!
The measures are to be voted on by Parliament this week — the first major political test for conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras since a left-wing party abandoned his coalition government last month, leaving it with a reduced majority.
Samaras’s 13-month-old coalition has promised to fire 15,000 public sector employees by the end of 2014 and transfer another 12,500 to new positions this year, most following an eight-month suspension on reduced pay.
He is facing renewed opposition from the left-wing Syriza party, which has made a campaign promise to rehire dismissed public servants and at the weekend voted to overhaul its party structure to prepare for potential early elections.
Government officials met with protesting mayors Monday and insisted there was room for changes in the new austerity bill to be voted late Wednesday, but they ruled out backing the major amendments demanded by local government.
‘‘We are not opposed to reform. . . . What we do oppose is abolishing entire institutions like the municipal police and personnel to guard state schools,’’ said Costas Askounis, leader of the protesting Central Union of Municipalities.
Greece has been kept out of bankruptcy since it started receiving rescue loans in 2010 from other euro countries at the International Monetary Fund, but austerity measures demanded in return have caused a dramatic increase in poverty and unemployment.
As Greece goes deeper into debt.
Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, considered an architect of bailout austerity measures in the eurozone, is due to visit Athens on Thursday.
Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange fell 0.5 percent on Monday, while markets elsewhere in Europe rose slightly.
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"Greek protesters take campaign to Acropolis" by DEREK GATOPOULOS | Associated Press, August 03, 2013
ATHENS — Greek civil servants protesting mass staff cuts took their campaign to the gates of the ancient Acropolis on Friday, after the government announced that 500 workers at the culture ministry would be suspended next month.
State archaeologists gathered in front of the site, but did not block the entrance. Several museums around the country, including the popular Archaeological Museum on the island of Santorini, were closed in protest.
Elsewhere, civil servants continued a second day of work stoppages and held a protest rally in central Athens.
The government has promised its international rescue lenders it will suspend 25,000 public sector workers by the end of the year, with about one-third of them likely to be eventually fired.
Despina Koutsoumba, head of the Association of Greek Archaeologists at the ministry, said employees were preparing to step up protests. On Friday, Greece’s civil aviation union called a three-day strike for Aug. 9-11, which would close country’s airports to nearly all aircraft.
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You know things are really bad when even the elite are getting scared and the sand turns to mud.
