Auditors from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, essentially the country’s creditors, will be in Athens this week to scrutinise the economic reforms Greece promised to deliver.
Greece is into its seventh year in the worst post-war collapse and has already had three bail-outs. The most recent was fourteen months ago at a cost of €86 billion.
Greece’s debts amount to €330 billion. Economic growth has been weak and unemployment the highest in the eurozone with more than one million Greeks out of work. At 23% in July this year, it is at least down 28% in July 2013. Just before the impact of the financial meltdown hit, in the halcyon days of May 2008, the rate was a record low of 7.3%.
The IMF believes that Greece can recover only with some form of debt relief, but this is opposed ardently by Germany. Some of the media in Germany are questioning if Greece might be better off outside the euro.
On its visit, the EU and the IMF will be looking to see if reforms have been implemented to restrict some labour practices, including collective negotiations on wages and the right to strike
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has had to change horses, first denouncing austerity but later having to embrace economic reform in order to receive more than €300 billion in financial aid so far. But not all MPs in his Syriza party support his position, favouring instead workers’ rights.
The plight of Greece could continue to remain one of a long list of challenges to the EU.
