The very north
of Greece might well be ‘The Yardstick’ by which we can measure the reality of living
in a significantly indebted nation, whilst they enjoy a severe reality check. All
this together with a boringly repetitious ticking off from the Germans, one
wonders how one might characterize a country so often referred to in the past as ‘The
basket case of Europe?’ But what is the truth?
Most of the
verbiage seems to be coming from the memory sticks of mainly recumbent hacks
whose laptops can be seen perched in their dilapidated ivory towers - or more
likely - on the litter strewn desks in and about the capitals of the world.
These well
distanced reporters - who no doubt think Greece to be about Diogenes, Euripides
or even Feta Cheese - generally believe that a country can be described in
terms of cartoon clichés from the past and the sound of smashing plates in a Holland
Park Greek Restaurant. A country visited far
more these days – generally for a two week piss up in Mykonos – it seems to be
turning the corner according to some Brussels pundits and the Greek leaders
themselves. But let us just look at the sequence of events from where I live in
Northern Greece.
The pain
started over five years ago in Orestiada, the second city of Evros. Evros is the
name of the river that separates Greece from Turkey, running south to the
Aegean and the north to Bulgaria, where it is called the Maritza.
As you
travel south from the Bulgarian border on the E95 towards Orestiada, you can
see the city of Edirne on your left hand side across the river, with its many Minarets,
Mosques and sprawling City buildings, pink and shining in the sun. It is here
that the contrast between the two countries begins, and the story opens up our eyes, away from our media dominated world.
Sunday in
Edirne - Monday in the Islamic World - is lively and alive with activity
everywhere. Amongst the many shops there are mountains of affordable well
designed clothes, stores stuffed with all manner of electrical goods and
kitchen ware, and so many restaurants it often seems more like a holiday town. It is
where you can eat anything you like, provided of course it is a Kebab!
By contrast
and across the river, Orestiada it is practically dead, with rows of empty shops
and very few people about, despite the fact that Sunday is traditionally a big day
for the many Greek Orthodox Churches, for people walking the streets and Greek café
life in general. Talk here is about the price of logs – we are coming up to
Christmas - and the almost doubling in price of heating oil in recent times.
The increase in VAT on food stuffs and the attendant hike in prices - generally
unreasonably so – has left many unscrupulous food shops with a nice little earner.
It is now at
least 1000 Euro or more to fill the oil tank for winter heating, so most people
are practically numb with worry. Stuck to the telly, they are served up a diet
of political waffle – there are about six TV stations to choose from – from a
bunch of wind bags and talking heads whose only wish is simply to be on the box.
With impossible ideas and multiple choice alternatives, little of it makes much
sense under the present circumstances. Spike Milligan once said – apropos the then
prevailing Irish problem – that the best idea was to put a large post in the
middle of the island and to tow it out to sea. This now appears to be one Greek
alternative – a euphemism for the return of the Drachma - but how I wish these self
opinionated foolish wind bags would just stop talking! But, aren’t we
forgetting something?
The historical
philosophy behind the EEC, EC, and finally the EU now seems to have been
blotted out by us all and these days, it appears only to be about money and
dodgy economics. Once it was about war, domination, political intrigue and of
course the Germans. However, like the Bulgarians and to some extent the
Romanians, the lure of EU money has always been an imperative – along with
being in a rather shaky NATO – and this was surely so with Greece in 1981, when
they became the 10th member of the European Community.
Since then
the whole ethos of ‘Poor little Greece’ has changed and up until recently we have
seen a cabal of political elite – mostly devoid of shame – who have sucked the
Greek banks dry with a look of total innocence that completely baffles even an
old warhorse me!
Asked to
define the difference between Bulgarians and Greeks, I was surprised to find
more things in common than differences. Finally it occurred to me that the
difference was that Bulgarians wanted to do things, but couldn’t and that
Greeks could do things, but didn’t want to! Maybe it is once more about an old
stereotypical bon mot; the one about a Greek going into a revolving door last,
but managing to come out first! However, this is no longer how Greeks define
themselves, because unfortunately the revolving door has become somewhat jammed of
late, and it is clear that there isn’t enough WD
40 to go round. So who are the Greeks and how do they see themselves?
Most Greeks
would describe themselves as middle class. Even the guys who fix cars have
always had a certain swagger about their self image, even moreso these days as -
for a substantial price - they valiantly keep certain aging vehicles on the road that would
otherwise have been scrapped and replaced by a brand new version, care of an
easy bank overdraft. But alas this is no longer so, as Greece fast becomes a
cash economy once more.
England was
once described by Napoleon as a nation of shopkeepers – a bit of French humbug
even then and something which equally applied to the French themselves – but
that is how I would categorize Greece post 1981, because by then they had unquestionably become
a nation of small shopkeepers. Aspiring to adopt the mantle of the affluent middle
classes and more like Madam Bovary than Angela Merkel, modern Greeks have
somehow managed to survive in the past though a variety of unsubstantiated bank
loans and a penchant for overcharging one another. Subscribing – often with glee – to a form of
quasi socialism, they became heavily reliant on this very Greek concept, of the redistribution of wealth. What
is wrong with that?
Café society
is where this aberration can be easily explained. With swathes of café’s in all
directions, one wonders how many little cups of espresso are required to pay
the burgeoning rents required? That is until you get the bill and then there is an
outside chance, that you might understand and get the picture!
Greeks work
in groups and in a way there is a little bit of common sense attached to their
commercial philosophy – now lost to the crowds of British Multinationals
littering our Town’s and City high streets – and it is this process that many
shop keepers have previously relied on in Greece, for their continued existence.
This is how it works!
I buy a
coffee from you each day, and you buy your spoons from me. I go to a certain
dentist or doctor and they come to your restaurant. I use a particular lawyer
and they in turn buy their food from your supermarket. Roughly described as Brand
Loyalty this has been the backbone of Greek business for years; each supporting
the next and so on. The trouble is that since demand has been severely
curtailed, even the friendly Greeks have found it increasingly difficult to
stem the tide of commercialism and have been forced to look seriously at
discount prices in order to attract more business and this has created total havoc,
amongst the easygoing shopkeepers of Orestiada.
Secondary
commercial streets are now gaunt with the dead faces of empty shops, vendors
carry little stock and their tills remain silent in most cases, and especially for
those who do not want to change with the times. Even the simplest request is answered by the
edict ‘I will have to order that from Athens,’ or as in the Monty Python’s Cheese
shop sketch, ‘we don’t get much call for that around here.’ How did it happen?
Most of the
blame quite rightly sits on the shoulders of successive Greek Governments who
have systematically overburdened the public sector with totally unnecessary
manpower. With cushy jobs in most Greek Government departments, helping to keep
unemployment statistics within acceptable boundaries and the absurd number of
conscripted soldiers in the National Greek Army - keeping young people out of
the labor market and off the streets - it has in the past served to help mask
the obvious shortcomings of unemployment in the Greek economy.
Not to
mention the ghastly Balkan word nepotism
– which was rife in Greece prior to 2008 and probably still is, that - together
with vast numbers of unsupported international bank loans by successive Greek Governments,
companies and individuals - is why the Greek house of cards finally collapsed, introducing
the whole world to the expression taking a financial
haircut! But, is there any hope for the future?
Greeks are
often accused of sitting on their own laurels if not their hands – The Iliad, Herodotus, Alexander
the Great and all that – but we must not forget the history of Greek people in the 20th
century nor their miraculous survival under the Romans, the Byzantines and
finally the Ottomans. It is clear that they are a hardy lot and although they are not the best
team players in the world, they may be the most resilient. So it is here that I see
the future changing – more out of necessity than choice – and the metamorphosis
of a Nation into a modern Western European Union member, without the word easy in its vocabulary and absolutely no
WD 40!
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