Ahead of the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Greece on Friday, the BBC website features an article on developments since the German head of government’s last visit in 2010.
The article mentions that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras may be talking about great advances towards “a new Greece,” but the country still remains “Europe’s laboratories; an economic experiment”, while also making reference to salary cuts and Wednesday’s nationwide strike, which the BBC says is “by some estimates the 36th since 2010”
“Last time she made the journey, 4,000 police were deployed to protect her from demonstrators, some of whom mocked Mrs. Merkel by dressing in Nazi uniforms. This time, we are told, it will be different. Weariness and resignation have set in and the Greek economy now has its cheerleaders. Competitiveness is up, the deficit has fallen and there is a primary current account surplus, excluding debt repayments. Growth of 0.6 percent may re-emerge later this year,” comments the author, BBC’s Europe editor Gavin Hewitt, on the government’s recent statements, giving PM Samaras some credit, but underlining “all of this has been bought with deepening inequality and poverty”.
Hewitt also notes that although EU leaders refer to the Greek financial crisis in the past tense, data reveals that 44 percent of Greeks declared income below the poverty line last year, while unemployment remains “stubbornly” high at 28 percent.
“The Greek experiment – to save the single currency – is unprecedented in modern times. The improving statistics should not be ignored or discounted but neither should the new poor, a lost generation, the thousands of Greeks who have left for Australia and Canada. That, too, is part of the Greek story,” Hewitt concludes.
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