A few weeks ago I made my annual trip to Crete and on this occasion I spent a few nights in Chania, a town on the north coast, which is a large enough place to function as a Greek town, outside of the tourist industry. A friend of mine had been to Dublin recently and remarked that he’d never seen a nation so depressed and feeling down on its luck, so I was interested to see how the Greeks were dealing with impending bankruptcy.
Very well it seemed, on my first night in Chania, the bars full and still jumping until late in the night. Families were still sitting down to large fish dinners, people still seemed to be living the good life. Groups are men are still sitting down at 10.00 for the first ouzo of the day and café life is alive and well. Down on the south coast people were still heading for the beach at the weekend and still staying overnight. The only difference is that the powerboats that people used to roar around bay seem to have gone, the non essentials being the first to go. Other economies have been forced on businesses. In the past a large roll on ferry used to ply one of the south coast routes, this has been replaced by a much smaller ship, which can still carry few passengers the large one used to pick up. No doubt this saves a lot of fuel and elsewhere this kind of economy would have been made years ago, as soon as the accountants saw the passenger receipts. In Greece this was probably fought tooth and nail by all interested parties, particularly the sailors, so this kind of long overdue reform is a real sign of the times.
On my last night in Crete, I was back in Chania and having a pre dinner drink in a Greek area of town. All the cafes were full, lots of laughter and conversation; I had a job finding a seat. Walking through the bar a large flat screen was showing the news, which was all about the financial crisis. The next day there was due to be a vote in Parliament on the new austerity package. People gave it a glance as they came in but few gave it any real attention. It was almost if the whole crisis had nothing to do with them, the ‘problems’ were all in Athens (where half the country’s population lives), while they were still enjoying the good life.
Getting into the taxi the next day to go to the airport, my driver asked me if I wanted a receipt and when I said no, he said he would give me a special price. Not that special as it was the same fare from the airport which was on the meter! He then went on to tell me about his tax avoidance tricks, his friend in garage who gives him a receipt for Euro 75 when he’d only bought Euro 50 of gas and doing as much as possible in cash. He justified this by saying the real rich in the country, which to him meant people who owned flashy cars didn’t seem to pay any tax, so why should he? This detachment from reality, that if they protest too much, the EU and the rest will back down; that they can carry on living the good life and to hell with the government and the banks; everyone is cheating and so why shouldn’t they.
As one waiter said to me, ‘tourism is the only factory Greece has got’, but the endless unrest and strikes, particularly by groups like the taxi drivers just sends out the message that the country is to be avoided. They may be making a statement but in the long run they are just digger a bigger hole for themselves, which the countries of the north will be reluctant to fill.
The Greek government passed the austerity measures and the EU through them another lifeline. Whether the government will be able to push the reforms through is another matter but having observed the Greeks over the last week they look that they will not be changing their ways soon.
Very well it seemed, on my first night in Chania, the bars full and still jumping until late in the night. Families were still sitting down to large fish dinners, people still seemed to be living the good life. Groups are men are still sitting down at 10.00 for the first ouzo of the day and café life is alive and well. Down on the south coast people were still heading for the beach at the weekend and still staying overnight. The only difference is that the powerboats that people used to roar around bay seem to have gone, the non essentials being the first to go. Other economies have been forced on businesses. In the past a large roll on ferry used to ply one of the south coast routes, this has been replaced by a much smaller ship, which can still carry few passengers the large one used to pick up. No doubt this saves a lot of fuel and elsewhere this kind of economy would have been made years ago, as soon as the accountants saw the passenger receipts. In Greece this was probably fought tooth and nail by all interested parties, particularly the sailors, so this kind of long overdue reform is a real sign of the times.
On my last night in Crete, I was back in Chania and having a pre dinner drink in a Greek area of town. All the cafes were full, lots of laughter and conversation; I had a job finding a seat. Walking through the bar a large flat screen was showing the news, which was all about the financial crisis. The next day there was due to be a vote in Parliament on the new austerity package. People gave it a glance as they came in but few gave it any real attention. It was almost if the whole crisis had nothing to do with them, the ‘problems’ were all in Athens (where half the country’s population lives), while they were still enjoying the good life.
Getting into the taxi the next day to go to the airport, my driver asked me if I wanted a receipt and when I said no, he said he would give me a special price. Not that special as it was the same fare from the airport which was on the meter! He then went on to tell me about his tax avoidance tricks, his friend in garage who gives him a receipt for Euro 75 when he’d only bought Euro 50 of gas and doing as much as possible in cash. He justified this by saying the real rich in the country, which to him meant people who owned flashy cars didn’t seem to pay any tax, so why should he? This detachment from reality, that if they protest too much, the EU and the rest will back down; that they can carry on living the good life and to hell with the government and the banks; everyone is cheating and so why shouldn’t they.
As one waiter said to me, ‘tourism is the only factory Greece has got’, but the endless unrest and strikes, particularly by groups like the taxi drivers just sends out the message that the country is to be avoided. They may be making a statement but in the long run they are just digger a bigger hole for themselves, which the countries of the north will be reluctant to fill.
The Greek government passed the austerity measures and the EU through them another lifeline. Whether the government will be able to push the reforms through is another matter but having observed the Greeks over the last week they look that they will not be changing their ways soon.
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