Ten thousand protesters led by the communist-affiliated union PAME rally outside parliament against rising inflation – Copyright Sputnik/AFP/File Alexey Druzhinin
Helen Koliopoulou
Thousands of Greeks joined union protests in several cities on Saturday against a steep rise in the cost of living as the government vowed to boost emergency aid for households.
In Athens, police said some 10,000 protesters led by the communist-affiliated union PAME gathered outside parliament to protest rising inflation and a new labor law that would increase the flexibility of working hours.
“We are a river of anger and resentment,” said steel unionist Panagiotis Doukas.
“We claim our right to a dignified life… We say ‘no’ to the anti-people policies that have ruined our lives,” he said.
Greek inflation rose to 6.2 percent in January in annual comparison, amid fears that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would further increase energy and food prices.
According to official data, electricity prices increased by 56 per cent, fuel by 21.6 per cent and natural gas by 156 per cent in January.
“The cost of living could rise on average by more than two percent in 2022,” Panagiotis Petrakis, professor of economics at the University of Athens, told AFP.
The government has already spent 44 billion euros ($50 billion) to support businesses and low-income families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late Friday, Finance Minister Christos Stykouras said Greece would end early repayment of bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and use interest rate savings “to support households and businesses”.
The final tranche of the IMF loan given to Greece during the 2010-2018 debt crisis, worth 1.85 billion euros, is to be repaid by April, a source with knowledge of the issue told AFP this week.
Greece is aiming for 4.5 percent economic growth this year and expects additional revenue from the vital tourism industry.
Tourism accounts for about a quarter of the Greek economy. Receipts in 2021 exceeded 10 billion euros.
-Employment rate 13 percent –
But Greece is also troubled by an unemployment rate of around 13 percent, the highest in the eurozone, a legacy of a nearly decade-long debt crisis.
As Greece began to recover from a crisis that had lost a quarter of its national output, the pandemic hit.
In 2020, the Greek economy shrank nine percent.
According to the Greek Anti-Poverty Network group, people in Greece are estimated to be at 28.9 percent at risk of poverty or social exclusion, just behind fellow EU countries of Bulgaria and Romania.
The group found that in 2020, 44.6 percent of homes struggled to pay rent or mortgage installments, while 16.7 percent had insufficient heating.
Despite a strong performance in tourism and exports in 2021, the Greek government is facing economic challenges, according to Nikos Vettas, general director of industry think-tank IOVE.
The main opposition Syriza party is calling for additional social welfare after recently criticizing the government for allocating six billion euros for the purchase of French warplanes and warships.
