GREECE: June may mark the beginning of Greece's summer season but sun seekers on Athens' beaches are mindful it will be the month that determines the country's future

Record ID: 327788

  • Title: GREECE: June may mark the beginning of Greece's summer season but sun seekers on Athens' beaches are mindful it will be the month that determines the country's future
  • Date: 4th June 2012
  • Summary: BEACHGOERS PLAYING RACQUETBALL IN THE WATER MAN PUTTING ON SUNTAN LOTION WOMEN LYING ON BEACH CHAIRS SAILBOAT IN SEA
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Economic News,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVALL4X2BJX1AENL0U0TOUDQFTP
  • Story Text: Athenians who flocked to local beaches to enjoy the sun on Sunday (June 3) said they wanted to forget about the country's political and economic problems.
    The upcoming June 17 Greek elections which could well decide if the country stays in or out of the euro as well as determining who will steer the nation through one of its worst crises.
    "Wages have been cut, the companies we used to work for have shut down - things are very hard. So I just came here today to try and relax," says Vetta Aliaka, a 52-year-old unemployed graphic designer, enjoying an Athenian beach.
    The country reached a political impasse after the inconclusive May 6 vote which has forced the re-run of the parliamentary election.
    The vote is being widely seen as a referendum on the country's future in the euro zone.
    Polls show the race between supporters and opponents of Greece's international bailout - seen as a guarantee of its membership of the euro zone - is too close to call.
    EU leaders have warned Athens not to renounce the bailout, threatening to pull the plug on new funding if it does, a move that could trigger bankruptcy and its ignominious exit from the euro.
    A Greek opinion poll released on Friday (June 1) showed the pro-bailout conservative New Democracy party with a slight 0.7 point lead over its anti-bailout leftist rivals.
    If elections took place tomorrow, New Democracy would get 27.1 percent, while the radical leftist SYRIZA party would get 26.4 percent, according to the Metron Analysis/Antenna TV poll. In a previous forecast by the same pollster published on May 25, SYRIZA had a 0.2 point lead.
    The new poll showed eight parties winning parliamentary seats, including "Recreate Greece/Drasi" - a small pro-bailout, pro-business coalition.
    Although some of the beach revellers said they would vote for the same parties as before, others want to avoid falling into the same impasse that followed the May 6 poll, and are considering switching allegiances.
    "I don't know, I don't know who I will vote for, but I won't vote for the same party I voted for last time, that's for certain. I will vote for somebody else," said Aliaka.
    Reforms, cuts and austerity measures introduced in 2010 when Greece received its first EU/IMF bailout reduced wages, jobs, benefits and pensions and increased taxes. It has caused unemployment to skyrocket and the recession to deepen.
    Those who have managed to hang on to their jobs are wary of spending any money.
    "Maybe in the past I would have gone away for the holiday, but now the economic situation is not exactly ideal, so it's hard to go away. But it's not so bad here in Athens!" says Mina Hatzidimitriou, a school teacher who said she too was unsure who to vote from on June 17.
    "Our parents are having a hard time financially, so the only way for us to go on holiday is this one - to come here, close to Athens, to not spend money on travel, and come here with a few friends and at least have a good time now that summer has begun," said Antonis Platsidakis, an 18-year-old student.
    Pollsters say it is impossible to predict the result of this election with so little difference between SYRIZA and New Democracy, and it leaves many Greeks baffled and confused.
    The SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said on Friday (June 1) he would keep strategic companies under state control and freeze wage and pension cuts demanded by lenders if he won this month's election. He said he would negotiate a new rescue plan and that Greece would not return to the drachma.
    Last Thursday (May 31) New Democracy leader Antonis Samarras that if Greece rejects the 130-billion-euro (104 billion pounds) rescue package meant to dig it out of the debt crisis, the country will be plunged into a nightmare that it cannot control.
    And on Sunday, Greek furniture maker Vassilis Diamantoulis, who was enjoying the sun, said he had heard enough.
    "I came here to have a swim, to chill out and to not listen to any political talk whatsoever. None at all. Above all I want to relax. We've been deluged with politics for the last two months," he said.
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