LETTER FROM GREECE:Democracy gives people very cold comfort – one of the few growth areas is pawn shops, writes RICHARD PINE
THE BODY language at meetings of the Greek cabinet tells us much. There is the diminutive figure of interim prime minister Loukas Papademos dwarfed by the two Pasok “heavies”, portly Evangelos Venizelos, the finance minister, and the even more portly Theodoros Pangalos, who is infamous for two pronouncements: in 2010 he proclaimed mazi ta fagam (we all squandered the money), referring to the misuse of government funds; and, in 2011, he stated that, on a declared annual income of over €600,000, he could not pay the €7,500 property tax for which he had been assessed (on his 57 properties).
The demonstrable prosperity of Pangalos and Venizelos occasions derisive jeers in the kafeneion (local bar), but it also provokes doubts about the so-called government of national unity which includes the main former opposition party, New Democracy, which many commentators criticise for being in both government and opposition at the same time.
While many applaud Papademos because he is a technocrat and not a politician, others decry the fact that he has no popular mandate: he was put in place at the insistence of the EU and the International Monetary fund. The fact that, for a year before his appointment, he was economics adviser to his predecessor, George Papandreou, suggests that this remains a Pasok-led government, with Pangalos and Venizelos as the prime minister’s minders.
If Pangalos and Venizelos could see the despair on people’s faces (as widely reported in the national and international media), they would not continue to talk about sacrifice in the way that they do.
People queue to hand in their car number plates, because they cannot afford the 2012 road tax.
With incomes dropping all the time, they dig into their savings, especially the elderly who try to keep their children and grandchildren afloat. In the past year, the number of registered pawnbrokers has almost doubled, as people on the brink of destitution sell family heirlooms – the trade in gold jewellery is one of the few growth industries.
More distressing still is the prospect that the general election, announced yesterday, will result in a stalemate, with another coalition, of uncertain composition, taking power. The fact that neither of the major parties enjoys sufficient electoral support suggests that a range of smaller parties, each with its own agenda and shopping list, might prolong the uncertainty regarding Greece’s future. Media comment is shrinking, with the bankruptcy of Alter, one of the private television channels, and Eleftherotypia, the second-largest national newspaper.
Voters, particularly in rural areas, view Pasok as having reneged on its earlier promise: the rising tide lifted all boats, until the tide receded. “Pasok is no longer a socialist party,” says my village neighbour here in Corfu. “They no longer look after the poor people.”
Pasok, with an approval rating of 15 per cent, could face a meltdown at the polls as severe as Fianna Fáil’s, especially because of its internal split between the traditionalists and the Europhiles.
My neighbour points to the tax increases on tobacco and petrol, the 9.2 per cent increase in the price of electricity, and the withdrawal of the subsidy on heating oil (which, in Athens, has resulted in the management companies of many apartment blocks refusing to fill the tanks).
The emergency property tax is being unevenly applied; originally applicable to 2011 and 2012, it has now been extended until 2014, and many doubt if it will ever be rescinded. My neighbour pays no tax, because the rents for the property he owns are – rather predictably – paid in cash. But those whose income is ascertainable – either because they are public servants or because they pay tax online – are now subject to another emergency tax, to pay the unemployed because the government cannot otherwise afford to do so.
At the Ionian University in Corfu, a tenured professor has seen his salary reduced over the past two years from €21,500 to €15,600, which, according to statistics, puts him on the poverty line for a couple with two children. Over 20 per cent of the population is “at risk of poverty” – nearly 600,000 households and 2.2 million citizens.
Another lecturer, untenured, who was working for the minimum monthly wage of €700, was told he will be paid €130 per month for a 12-hour week. He resigned and is now teaching at a private school in Athens for €30 per hour, while his students in Corfu are left without a teacher.
Papademos has warned that the next few months will be crucial for the country’s future. His task is to keep the coalition together so that budgetary targets are met, and administrative reforms, such as deregulation of protected professions, are carried out – both of which are prerequisites if the next bailout is to be achieved.
One target is the creation of 150,000 jobs in the first quarter of this year. But it is already admitted the planned reduction in the budget deficit will not be achieved, and the unemployment rate is rising, not falling. It’s a litany of tax, tax, tax.
Young people are doing everything they can to find a way out. The upcoming elections are viewed with utter cynicism. There’s a word for it: sperectomy – the draining out of hope.