Despite
75% of Greeks saying that drastic cuts are necessary and that they oppose strikes during a crisis, protesters took to the streets of
Athens within hours of
austerity measures being announced on Wednesday. This predictably escalated to
another strike today that has disrupted travel and
public services. There is also no denying a need to
clean up government mismanagement and a
black economy estimated at 30% GDP, but the most obvious bulge in the budget concerns a Greek public sector administration that wastes €18bn annually and ranks least efficient of 23 OECD countries. The
International Labour Organisation logged 1,022,100 employees in 2008, accounting for 22.3% of the total workforce,
while other countries do the same job with just 14%. Greek civil servants often get jobs through connections
and admit IT illiteracy , yet
salaries and pensions increased 30% and the
public sector wage income bill jumped 88% since 2001, far above the rate of GDP growth or productivity. Public sector employees cannot be fired, so the government's only option was to reduce salaries and supplements.
It is true that the whole world has problems, but Greeks like to point out that they work to live, while the rest of us live to work. This alone is enough to anger nations like Germany, which funded the majority of EU subsidies collected by Greece as top beneficiary; and America, whose tourists spend the most money per trip.
Note EU-Digest: Its time to tighten your belt Greece. You can't have your cake and eat it too...
Greece is reaping what it has sown | Kat Christofer | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment