Lost generation

Business is not running smoothly for kiosk-owner Dimitris. He's had to reduce his range of products on his shelves.

"Many once-loved cigarette brands are no longer on sale because people are switching to roll-ups to save money," the 50-year-old told Deutsche Welle.

In addition, the government has raised tax on tobacco several times since the start of the financial crisis. That means that many kiosk owners have had to absorb bitter losses; traditionally they made around two-thirds of their annual turnover by selling tobacco products.

Dimitris isn't too bothered about the recent political wrangling over a proposed consolidation of Greek debt. Whatever happens, he wouldn't have much to lose personally, because he hardly has any savings. However, he is very angry with Greek politicians.

"They're all the same; they're just serving their own interests. They're always at loggerheads, so it's no wonder that they can't make any decisions," he complains.

Tough cuts

Jannis Polimeridis is an 80-year-old pensioner and retired army officer. He wonders whether a debt consolidation is necessary at all.

"In the paper it says that Italy, Germany and the United States actually owe much more money than Greece, so why do they hit out at us?"

Alongside his military pension, Polimeridis also receives a modest pension from his former career as an engineer. However, as part of the austerity measures, this income has been cut drastically. He recognizes that everyone has to make a contribution to reduce to the state deficit, but he doesn't find the cuts fair. "I paid into my pension for years in the hope of a secure old age. That I would have to accept cuts to my pension at the age of 80 … I never would have imagined this back then," he complains.

Polimeridis can't imagine a scenario in which Greece would actually leave the eurozone. But he believes that Greece was too hasty to join the single currency 10 years ago. Above all, he says the initial exchange rate of 340 drachmas to one euro was unfavorable to Greece and undermined the competitiveness of the Greek economy.

Technocrats instead of politicians

Andreas Mavrommatis works at a publishing house. He believes that Greece needs a new start politically.

"We have to have a new coalition government, like the Italians, in which technocrats - and not career politicians - have the power," he says. He thinks that the current transitional government is paralyzed, because politicians of all parties have their own interests at heart and want more than anything to set themselves up ahead of forthcoming elections.

Mavrommatis, who loves traveling, represents modern, pro-European Greeks. He works around-the-clock putting on seminars and workshops in a publishing house in Athens. He likes to book last-minute plane tickets and flies to all corners of Europe on vacation.

His salary hasn't yet been cut, but the 36-year-old has to take on more-and-more unpaid overtime. He's angry about the slow pace of reform. The old debts have simply been refinanced. If it stays that way, Greece would need more than ten years to get its economy back on track. "We are a lost generation," Mavrommatis says.

Dispute over salaries

Many commentators believe that the slow pace of negotiations on cutting public salaries shows that Greek politicians are thinking more about the coming elections, than they are about the country's economic legacy. The so-called Troika (European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank) is demanding the abolition of inflated salaries, in which employees are paid for an extra month every year. Instead of this deeply unpopular measure, Greek politicians have suggested reducing the minimum wage from the current 750 euros a month to 600 euros.

Economic experts warn that employers will have to absorb higher losses through that strategy than if their Christmas bonus was cut. But the politicians seem to have scored a victory in this instance. In the forthcoming election campaign they can claim they acted bravely against the program of cuts put forward by the Troika and saved the Greeks an additional month of pay.

Author: Jannis Papadimitriou / ji
Editor: Gabriel Borrud