Greece under siege - inside and out …

Karamanlis was playing host to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO secretary general, yesterday to hear him plead in favor of FYROM following instructions from Washington. In a rare show of determination, our esteemed leader rebuffed his guest and repeated that there’ll be no invitation to the Skopjans to join NATO without a resolution of the name thing. The American ambassador in Athens  visited Dora Bakoyannis in the early afternoon, presumably to make the case for the “Makedonians” and throw in the renewed demand that Greece recognizes Kosovo. We don’t know what Dora said, but, under the circumstances, even she, I assume, rejected the US demands (no doubt, with a cold heart).

On the domestic front, the government is under withering attack from the public sector labor unions over pension reform and privatization.

One after the other, these creatures, not very different from occupation forces holding the country under their boot, declare strikes that cripple the economy and make everyday life all the more difficult in a country where everything just barely operates well under comfort level.

To begin with, the state power company unions are on rolling 24-hour strikes;  thirteen power generating plants, as of last count, have been put on idle; this translates into one third of the country’s generating capacity is not available thanks to enemy action.  A nationwide blackout is quite possible.

In the seaports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, organized labor has been on strike and/or work slowdown for months over privatization with the result of blocking imports and exports and causing many worldwide carriers to abandon Piraeus and Thessaloniki as their seaports of choice. Thousands of containers have piled up in open storage areas. Both big and small businesses are suffering, with the smaller enterprises bearing the brunt of the strike.

Local authority unions are on strike until next week (trash is already piling up high in many parts of Athens and elsewhere). The confederation of private sector unions is planning another 24-hour nationwide strike as soon as the pension bill is brought before parliament, possibly before the end of the week.

At the Bank of Greece, employees, among the highest paid in Greece and with retirement benefits to match, are on strike. The strikers have taken the unprecedented step of stopping the national clearing system by interfering with the bank’s data processing center. Because the Bank of Greece is the country’s conduit to international markets, the strike has shut down the Athens stock exchange and has created major problems in carrying out banking business with the outside. This is a major blow to the economy and one that the Athens stock exchange, already not of the highest reputation, can ill afford.

More is in store.

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