What’s Up in Greece on Feb 6/12? tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s Up in Greece on Feb 6/12?

Posted by in Very Mix

The last act of the Greek drama is up today, with European partners and IMF rulers sending ultimatums to PM Papademos and Papademos forwards them to the political leaders of his coalition government. Last night the prime minister issued a statement saying they have agreed on basic points. On their side the political leaders say, they still fight to save wages in the private sector.

From what I hear this morning on news magazines on TV, there are still some details to be fixed, as to how much minimum wages will be cut and what’s the bargain for the 13th and 14th salary. There is also talk that the cuts in the supplementary pensions will be cut slowly but gradually. At the very end, it looks as if the national collective bargain will be overturned with ‘flexible’ working conditions and direct effect to the pensions and the unemployment allowance.

Of course, the leaders of PASOK, Nead Dimokratia and LAOS prepare also their plans on how to manage the deal on the communication level. Elections will be held soon and the coalition parties will have to justify their decisions to their voters. There is a major question that will be answered later: Will the coalition parties deputies will vote in favor of the new agreement when it will come to Parliament?

Former PM George Papandreou briefed PASOK members on the meeting with Papademos. Reportedly he said there are two  options: Plan A – financial aid for Greece, support to structural reforms and written pledges and Plan B - possible default and exit from the euro zone. Further Papandreou sent a letter to Papademos asking him to stay in the government until 2013.

Members of the coalition parties are holding intense meetings. The political leaders will meet again Papademos most probably in the afternoon. The final countdown for ‘Capitulate or Default’ has started already.

However: after this agreement is reached, a new round of the bargains and negotiations  will start soon, because the Troika demands additional measures of 7.6 billion euro for the years 2013-2014.

Trade unions of the public and private sector, ADEDY and GSEE, have announced  a 24-hour strike, for tomorrow Tuesday, Feb 7th 2012. GSEE will hold a meeting on Thursday to decide on further strike actions. Some GSEE members propose a 48-hour strike.

While the political leadership finestunes their positions, Greeks are getting ready for mass protests.

Indignant Greeks call for a protest on Monday afternoon at 6 pm at Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek Parliament. At the same time Greek Communist party (KKE) will hold a protest rally at Omonia Square, and left-wing SYRIZA another one outside the Athens University. It ‘s advisable to avoid downtown Athens if you don’t want to be stuck iin traffic jams.

Residents of Ilia are counting their wounds. The area was hit by severe storm on Saturday night, that flooded hundreds of homes and shops. One 80-year old woman lost her life as she was trying to escape. As the water withdraws, people are stunned to see the volume of damage. Some schools are closed today.

The mayor of Thessaloniki starts today the distribution of free breakfast-meals to school children of elementary and secondary education. According to a survey, 1.9% of the kids there go to school without breakfast due to economic problems of the family. That is 600 out of 33,500 school children.

The weather is expected to turn ‘wild’ with storms, snowfalls and strong winds blowing with 9 Beaufort. There may be some problems in the sea ways.