Things I've Learned

The Acropolis rock as seen in the early-morning hours on March 24, 2010 in Athens, Greece.

189 years since the beginning of Greek War of Independence, Greeks don’t have to fight for their freedom against the Ottoman Empire, but rather fight for their dignity in a totally different world. As Athenians are watching the extravagant military parade in the center of Athens from their TV sets, (last year it costed more that 3 million €) Eurozone leaders are gathering for a two-day meeting in Brussels where the focus will be on whether and how heavily indebted Greece will be helped.

Greece has a long history of borrowing money. First loans were issued by British fund-holders in 1824 and 1825 making the City of London the financier of the Revolution and leading to the creation of the “British” political party in Greece. Today, with Greece heavily into debt, all eyes are on the Eurozone summit in Brussels, often forgetting that this war should be primarily fought on Greek soil, where corrupted politicians are walking, expensive armoured fighting vehicles are marching through the streets and respectable citizens are forgetting to pay their taxes.

MORE:

• Greek War of Independence (Wikipedia)
• Eurozone leaders lock horns over whether to rescue Greece’s economy (Guardian)
• Divided EU seeks pre-summit deal on Greek debt (Reuters)

Photo from Getty Images

The truth is I don’t know a lot about Economics. I know that my country’s economy is in bad state, however, you don’t have to be an expert to see that. All it takes is to go to the market tomorrow and see the new food prices as government recently raised VAT of food products at 5%. Then, maybe go to the gas station and start wondering if buying kerosene for your private jet plane would cost you less. Or you can start searching for a job, or just an internship, as in my case, which will test how easy it is to reach despair. Unemployment rate in Greece is calculated at around 10% but the National Statistics Service (NSS) cannot really be trusted. 

In the meantime, while trying to educate myself, I’ve been reading an article about pensions and retirement on the New York Times. Something that I already knew is that in Greece, there is a whole category of jobs which are considered dangerous and unhealthy enough to merit retiring early. I never imagined though that this happens with 580 different jobs. Here’s the funniest paragraph I’ve read this week:

The law includes dangerous jobs like coal mining and bomb disposal. But it also covers radio and television presenters, who are thought to be at risk from the bacteria on their microphones, and musicians playing wind instruments, who must contend with gastric reflux as they puff and blow.

More: NYT

So how do you tell a tv presenter that his job shouldn’t be considered dangerous enough to offer an early retirement, at least not earlier than a bank clerk? (Though I’m not sure, do you know how many bacteria live on banknotes?).

For years the formula for the Greek Economy was to try to please those who were near the government and if you could do that with foreign money (European Union, banks all over the world), that was even better. The challenge for the current government is to try to get away from this path which leads straight down the cliff. In other words, try to fix the economy from the inside, unfortunately with deep and painful reforms. This is why I’m very sceptical towards EU plans to bail-out Greece. What we need most of everything is to stop being like a spoiled child. If you screw up, find the way to fix everything yourself. Don’t wait for dad-EU to provide for everything.

to be continued…

More:

• Patchwork Pension Plan Adds to Greek Debt Woes (The New York Times)
• Greece debt: EU agrees bailout deal (The Guardian)
• Greece’s unemployment rate hits 10% (BBC)
• Greek Austerity Measures Spark Rising Protests (TIME)

People are angry.

Angry at bad politicians who are stealing their money, angry at bankers asking them to pay off their loans, angry at journalists for being corrupted, angry at “foreign powers” for wanting to destroy Greece, angry at their neighbor for being their neighbor. At some point the reason for all the anger stops having importance and what’s left is the process of setting it free. While thousands of Greeks were taking the streets of Athens and other big cities today to protest the really harsh austerity measures, others were organising a protest against the shutting down of a well known Greek torrent tracker.

The pictures from Athens speak for themselves. A nationwide strike was imposed, and thousands of people were marching throught the central streets, today joined by striking policemen as well. In the meantime, small numbers of anarchists set fire to a couple of cars as well as banks and hotel entrances. Twitter was buzzing this morning with reports about unprovoked use of teargas from policemen which led many old and young people having breathing problems. This happening three months since minister of public protection mr. Chrisichoidis promised that use of teargas from police, which every few weeks make city centers look like the front of a chemical war, will be banned.

It’s not just a financial crisis what we live. Causes should be searched deeper into the sociaty. In case we want to be done with it.

More:

• PHOTOS: Protesters clash with riot police in Athens, Greece (telegraph.co.uk)
• PHOTOS: Greece strike protests turn violent (guardian.co.uk)
• VIDEO: Athens police clash with protesters (Reuters)
• Greece Roiled By General Strike Over Austerity Plan (npr)
• Thousands protest Greek austerity measures (CNN.com)
• Police clash with protesters as Greeks fight cuts (Reuters)
• Θα πας στη διαδήλωση για το gamato.info; (teckinsider.gr)

(Picture: EPA/Telegraph.co.uk)

To summarise Greece PM Papandreou’s yesterday meeting with Obama, the US President:

• expressed “political” support for measures aiming to fight the financial crisis and “encouraged Athens’ efforts to boost financial regulation”

“The central task before the Greek government is to continue to move forward on their plans to restore fiscal stability and growth to its economy,” a US official told reporters.

• announced that Greece became a member of the Visa Waiver Program, which means that once this will be ratified by Parliament, Greeks won’t have to issue a visa before travelling to the US.
• expressed the willingness for the US to recognise the country currently known as “Republic of Macedonia” with the name “Republic of Northern Macedonia” which may be one solution to the Macedonia naming dispute.

I’d like to offer some fashion commentary on the First Ladies, but Mrs-O.org can do it better than me ;)

More:

• Support-gathering meeting with Obama a success, Greece says (www.dw-world.de)
• Βόρεια Μακεδονία προτείνουν τώρα για το όνομα οι ΗΠΑ (tovima.gr)
• Obama supportive of measures: Papandreou (Bloomberg)

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou walks out of the West Wing after a meeting at the White House March 9, 2010 in Washington, DC. Papandreou met with President Barack Obama.

Photographers and members of the press weren’t allowed in the meeting but I guess we will see official photos in a few hours. I understand that being together with the president of Socialist International wouldn’t be a very pleasant picture for the American conservative media.

The big news of this meeting though, is that Greece became a member of the US Visa Waiver Program. This means that Greek citizens will be allowed to travel to the US without having to go through the painful procedure of issuing a visa.

“Our efforts to guard against terrorism while enhancing legal travel and trade depend upon close collaboration with our international partners,” said Secretary Napolitano. “I commend our partners in Greece for committing to strong screening and security standards and enhanced information sharing for travel by Greek citizens to the United States as we work together to protect our citizens and strengthen our economies.”

More: Homeland Security announcement

Of course, we shouldn’t expect a rush of Greek travellers to the US, especially during those hard times but it will make travelling procedures a lot easier for those who need to travel there.

I expect many to ask the question “So, what did Greece gave back?”. Access to DNA databases, granted by the previous Greek government may be one answer, while further involvement in Afghanistan is another. Greece agreed to take over the operation of Kabul’s airport adding to today’s peaceful Greek presence in the country.

• Meeting with President Barack Obama: Prime Minister’s statement
• Greece becomes new member of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (wireupdate.com)

Photo from Reuters Pictures

Caption contest anyone?

Not really. Greek Prime Minister [AND Foreign Minister] George Papandreou met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday in at the State Department in Washington, during Papandreou’s official visit to the U.S. Later today he will meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. The reason for this visit as he describes it in an op-ed on the New York Times today is to…

[bring] a message from Europe: The challenge we face is not just Greek or European; it is American as well, and together we must find a solution.

In other words, what he is trying to do is to get support from world leaders in order to be able for Greece to borrow more money in order to pay some of the gigantic 300 billion euros debt.

Photo from Reuters Pictures