Fear, uncertainty and doubt in Athens

I witnessed the December 2008 riots in the streets of Athens following the shooting by police and subsequent death of Alexander Grigoropoulos in Exarhia. I was witnessing a mass frustration at the inability of the government to manage the economic and social affairs of the state and to provide security in the streets.

I was concerned at the cynicism about political events and the sense of deep betrayal that cut across all layers of society. I hoped it would be a wake-up call for those who seek to govern Greece.

So, now back, has anything changed in Greece since then? It certainly has! You'd have to be blind, deaf and mute not to have noticed the changes since then.

There is no time for a detailed history of the economic chaos that has struck Greece since the elections on last October. But let's get the basic facts.

PASOK, under the leadership of George Papandreou swept into power with 160 seats.

Nea Demokratia under the leadership of, now very silent, Kostas Karamanlis was swept out of power with a loss of 61 seats and left with 91.

In May this year, the EU and the IMF agreed on a US$147 billion bailout of Greece. In return, Greece promised to slash the public sector deficit from the current 13.6 per cent to 3.0 per cent of GDP by 2014.

The level of official public debt would rise to 150 per cent of GDP. For the record, Australia's public debt is listed as 17.6 percent of GDP in 2009.

Over the past week I've had the chance to talk with Greeks from all walks of life in Crete and Athens. Many are personal friends who have spoken openly about the situation as only friends can do. Overwhelmingly the common factor across all is: fear, uncertainty and doubt or FUD.

FUD is the only way I can summarise the feelings of the people I have spoken to. Fear about the current situation, uncertainty about the future and doubt that the drastic changes being forced upon them will have the desired outcomes.

Expenditure by tourists has dropped almost by 30 per cent. You can actually find hotel rooms across Greece at short notice. They are not exactly cheap but they can be found. One hotel chain in Rhodes is advertising an all inclusive 65 euro per person for double occupancy plus one child for free, meals and soft drinks included!

That's for July and September. The same deal at their world-class resort in Herakleion, Crete is 199 euro per room plus a free child including breakfast. With the strong Aussie dollar and cheap Euro there has been a rush of Australians to Greece this summer.

Symbolic of the changes that are sweeping this country are the number of young Greek graduates who are planning to leave the country to look for work. Eighteen months ago, nobody was interested in working in Dubai unless they were going to be earning 5,000 euro per month.

The oft-quoted salary for public servants here is about 1, 000 euro per month. Well, the local salaries have been cut by as much as 20 per cent , the 13th and 14th salaries are being discontinued and the special allowances are now taxable. Those who were waiting for temporary positions to get in line for permanent public sector positions have been told there is a freeze for at least two years.

The pension scheme for government employees is being radically remodelled closer to Australia lines (65 years) and that has triggered a rush as the door has been left open until the end of the year. What was a difficult situation before has gone beyond desperate to hopeless.