Greek workers staged another general strike on Thursday to protest austerity measures announced as a consequence of the country's debt crisis. The measures -- which include higher taxes, a pension freeze and wage cuts for civil servants -- are meant to help the southern European nation cope with a ballooning budget deficit.
Greece's budget deficit is now running four times higher than limits set by euro zone rules. The crisis has fuelled currency speculation -- amid concern that Greece may be the first euro-zone nation, as well as fears of financial instability among the other 16 member states. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou -- who inherited the budget problems in 2009 and actually brought them to light -- has reacted to the crisis by introducing the new austerity measures and by revamping the national budget.
The strike on Thursday was a response to Papandreou's fiscal discipline. An estimated 20,000 protesters converged on downtown Athens; international transport into and out of the country was stopped. Greek workers said they should not be made to pay for the crisis, and they protested in particular against pressure from other euro-zone states. The trade unions that helped organize the strikes have said the poor will be unfairly burdened and that unemployment will rise.
Although the strikes were some of the most violent Greece has seen in recent weeks, German editorial writers on Friday seem to believe that Greeks are coming to terms with the austerity measures. Most commentators see no alternative to the currency union and that argue that everything must be done to maintain the euro's standing.
In the Financial Times Deutschland, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble writes in a signed editorial:
"We must use the instruments of financial and economic policy that are available to us in the euro zone in a more resolute way. For member states with insufficient savings measures, and outsized deficits, resources from the EU Cohesion Fund must be made available."
"The prospect of emergency aid that comes bound up with conditions, such as tough financial and economic corrective measures, will see trust (in the euro) rise in financial markets. It will avert any worsening of crises and, in the future, it will make it unnecessary for European markets to go to the IMF."
"There is no alternative to the monetary union. The euro has established itself as the second most important currency in the world, and as a currency in which to invest. Part of the reason for this is that the European Central Bank has worked to gain the trust of financial markets. To keep from losing this trust, the crisis must be overcome quickly. In fact, the monetary union can only gain more trust by working to resolve this crisis."
"If we succeed in strengthening the competitiveness of the currency and if we succeed in setting the financial and economic policies of member states on the right course, then this crisis will be seen as the point where things changed for the better. That possibility exists -- and we must embrace it."
The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"A short time ago a visitor to Athens conducted an experiment. He bought a newspaper at a kiosk and asked the kiosk owner for a receipt. The kiosk owner gave the hapless customer the money back, saying that he had never given out receipts in the past and he would not do so in the future. The incident shows what Papandreou faces in his mission to clean up the national finances."
"For weeks it has been an open question whether (Papandreou's) political desire to save the country will affect the government's relationship with the large unions, which are traditionally close to the ruling (left-leaning) Pasok party. Now the first ruptures are starting to appear. They are not between the government and the unions, though: They are between the leaders of the union and the union members. During the past week one of those leaders -- a member of Pasok who had previously supported the government -- was attacked during a speech and had to be brought to the Parliament House for safety."
"Still, there are signs of hope. Many Greeks are struggling against the changes because they work for the civil service. But those who do not live directly off the state still make up the Greek majority. Papandreou can count on them."
Left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes:
"When the state is bankrupt it can no longer pay pensions or wages. Unimaginable as that may be, it's true. When the Greek premier told his people the unadorned truth, a revelatory shockwave went through the nation. All over the country yesterday, unions -- who certainly have something to do with the unrealistic tax policies that account for the miserable state Greece is in -- went on strike. But against whom? Or what? "We are fighting here for the honor of the trade union movement," was one answer. For honor! Even though it is clear that these strikes do nothing but worsen the nation's decline."
"A tendency toward self-harm in times of great upheaval is common. And the fact that the Greeks don't want to pay for their country's problems, when they are not actually responsible for them all, is also understandable. Even Prime Minister Papandreou said he understood the people's discontent. But he also told the truth: there is no money. Despite this statement -- or perhaps because of it -- he remains well loved. They see that he must clean up corruption and they believe he represents their interests. It would be a piece of good luck if the right person were in the right place at the right time -- this time."
The conservative daily Die Welt writes:
"What will happen in Greece is hard to predict. At first, three out of four Greek citizens were against tightening their belts -- because of pressure from abroad. In the meantime every second Greek seems convinced that there is no other way. A lot will depend on what sort of moral and financial help other European countries -- namely, the government in Berlin -- can offer."
"A European rescue operation is forbidden by the Maastricht Treaty, and a European currency fund may not look trustworthy to the various central banks. To sit and do nothing, though, is impossible. To carry on as before is just as impossible."
"It is no longer just about Greece. Trust in the euro, and therefore the future of the euro, is also at stake. One must wish the administration in Athens steadfastness, and one wishes the Greek people a sense of proportion. The German government, though, requires a cold-blooded approach in the face of this crisis, which could become even more tangled up in the global financial crisis ... What we know about the crisis in Greece is tht nobody can rescue a nation that does not want to be rescued."
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