- Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/FEARS Greeks voice fears for future amid debt crisis talks
- Date: 20th June 2015
- Summary: AMBELOKIPI, ATHENS, GREECE (JUNE 20, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH MARKET VARIOUS OF TOMATOES ON STALL VARIOUS OF WOMAN BUYING TOMATOES (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PENSIONER, FLORA NAFPLIOTOU, SAYING: "Heeee! What? They want to cut more?! But I only get 360 euros! Do they want us to stop living? How will our children be able to work?'! They are already jobless!
- Embargoed: 5th July 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Greece
- Country: Greece
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1TTR7ALIFK9IH9O2N4Q39193C
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Retired Greeks who have seen their pensions and benefits cut already are worried they may lose even more by Monday (June 22) if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras concedes to international lenders' demands for pension reform.
The lenders want Greece to make savings on pensions equivalent to approximately two billion euros a year. But Greece offered cuts of only 71 million, the lenders said.
According to the government, they also want a hike in VAT that would push up prices on goods that Greeks are struggling to pay for.
The average Greek pension is 833 euros a month. That's down from 1,350 euros in 2009, according INE-GSEE, the institute of the country's largest labour union. Public sector wages have also been cut by 30 percent.
Pensioners at the weekly fruit market in Athens' Ambelokipi district on Saturday (June 20) explained what it would mean for them to see another cut in their benefits.
"Heeee! What? They want to cut more?! But I only get 360 euros! Do they want us to stop living? How will our children be able to work?'! They are already jobless!" said Flora Nafpliotou, a pensioner who supports two unemployed children.
"It's been cut dramatically and as a result it has affected my daily life dramatically. I should be getting 1,200 euros, but I am now getting 870, and so you understand where the rest of it goes. I made life plans based on a certain budget, but now the numbers have changed," said Dimitris Paschalides, a pensioner who supports his grandchildren.
Another pensioner, Yannis Chrisopoulos, saw his 1,080 euro pension cut in half, but still has to support his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren who are all unemployed. He has had to take measures to alter his lifestyle, including waiting until late afternoon, when prices have gone down, to buy his vegetables.
"I had a good pension, a really good pension. But now, as you see, I am forced to come here at 2.30 or 3 in the afternoon to buy melons," he said.
While Greece has dug its heels over demands for pension cuts and some tax rises, its leaders have continued to sound upbeat ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Monday.
Time is fast running out for Greece to secure a cash-for-reforms deal with its international creditors to avoid a default at the end of June that could turf it out of the eurozone.
This would plunge a struggling economy into an even worse depression.
"They should not climb down an inch, because this is our last hope for Greece. So if they climb down right now, Greece has had it," said George, a customer who was once jailed for not paying his taxes.
Stall holders at the market in Athens' Ambelokipi district said prices were at an all-time low and that they can't make a profit.
Thanasis Papas is an economist. But he can't find a job, so today he sells his family's potatoes and onions. Papas said sales are down and that all the vendors are forced to push prices even lower by the afternoon, just to shift their produce. But the 'afternoon price' is below market value.
"In the end we will have to bring the price down to 50 cents a kilo, just to get rid of them. What are we going to do with them? There are just as many waiting in the back! Shall we let them rot?! Can't you see the deprivation? People feel uncertain, and that is the worst thing. Uncertainty. Something needs to happen, once and for all," he said.
At another stall, 68-year-old pensioner Giorgos Arsenidis helps his son sell cherries because the family can't make ends meet halfway through the month.
"As soon as the 10th or 12th of the month comes around, sales start to drop because of pensions and wages... and then people wait until next month. In general, work is bad," he said.
Arsenidis is one of many hoping that Tsipras says no to pension reforms and a hike in VAT, the two sticking points in the debt deal.
"Of course I want Tsipras to make a deal on Monday. But if he signs all those things the international lenders are asking for, I would prefer that we go back to our good old life. I used to live well. I lived like a human being should," he said.
Not only is state spending on pensions in Greece three times higher than Germany's, it is higher than any other EU country.
"I understand that cutting pensions is a problem for many people, but I don't know if there is any room for manoeuvre. I mean, one plus one is two. I wish we could make it 3 but that's just not possible," said Pericles, a civil servant who has seen his wage cut by 30 percent because of the bailout reforms.
With nervous depositors pulling billions out of Greek banks, Athens may have to impose capital controls within days to staunch the flow.
The European Central Bank has kept Greek lenders afloat and on Friday (June 19) raised the ceiling on so-called emergency liquidity assistance, which the banks rely on to keep their doors open, by 1.8 billion euros.
A close aide to Tsipras said he was confident the European Central Bank would not cut off funding as this would set off a domino effect and topple lenders in other vulnerable parts of Europe. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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