Strikes in Athens

Transportation workers are on strike in Greece and this delayed our flights from Mykonos to Athens and onward by many hours. See the picture of the Athens airport, filled with travellers trying to move on. I sat next to a man on the plane who gave me his take on the situation.
The people are objecting to corruption because the rich people and government workers take bribes and spend it for themselves and invest outside of the country. For example companies don’t have to pay tax on income unless it is over 12,000 Euros/year so they provide services to clients, providing a receipt for a low amount and taking envelopes of cash that they don’t have to claim, yet everyone can see that these business owners and professionals (like medical doctors) own big houses, expensive cars and live a lifestyle of someone making much more income. These strikes are precipitated due to the European Union refusing to loan Greece more money until they clean the corruption but the people think if the EU loans the money it will go to the rich, as usual.

According to Peter, a German business owner (importing beer from Germany to Greece) who has lived in Greece for 5 years, the Greeks are very self focused and always protesting to get more for themselves – e.g., local problems like the current situation are always someone else’s fault. A Lufthansa staff member agreed with this opinion, although we certainly met many Greeks who were quite loving and other-oriented.

Peter also mentioned that a typical small business takes 2 months to start in Greece unless you pay black marketing money to the government (small envelopes of 100 Euro to various officials). About the EU Peter also told a story of how he needed an emergency medical operation and the Greek doctor charged him 7,500 euros that would cost 2,500 in Germany. When he put the claim into his German insurance company they told him “next time we’ll send you a plane and fly you to Germany for the procedure.” Normally when someone sees a doctor they pay a fixed low price, for which the patient receives a receipt, and then a fat envelope with black market cash. Peter did not have to do this because the Greeks know Germans are not as corrupt and are not sure how to cope with them.

He also commented on the European Union and mentioned that alcohol, medicine and coffee are still taxed / exempt from EU tariff-free status, and that no country can be evicted from the EU – they must withdraw on their own. The EU is stuck with Greece. But the EU is a good thing that joins countries and helps compete against Asia and America, however, it is suffering the growing pains of any young collaboration.

As I was taking the airport photo, a Greek woman asked me kindly: "please respect the strike."
Poor Greece is in a financial mess and there are opinions that range from "they need to clean up the corruption" to "they need to declare bankruptcy" and "it is all the government's fault." Sad situation.