From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek
Date: 25 Jul 92 08:21 PDT
Subject: GREECE: EC's poorest member pushing
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473100059:000:6059
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 25 08:21:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: GREECE: EC's poorest member pushing

/* Written 12:20 am  Jul 25, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: GREECE: EC's poorest member pushing to ratify Maastrict
Treaty

an inter press service feature

by sophia richards

athens, jul 22 (ips) -- greece is at the bottom of the pile in
economic strength when compared to its european community (ec)
partners, but it may be one of the first to ratify the treaty of
european union, agreed to in principle at the ec's summit in
maastrict, netherlands last december.

currently only ireland, belgium, and luxembourg have given initial
approval of the treaty, which suffered a setback when danish
voters rejected it in a referendum, last month. all 12 member
states are supposed to ratify it by the end of the year.

interestingly enough, greece is rushing towards ratification after
prime minister constantine mitsotakis had hinted at the lisbon
summit in june, that athens might not approve the treaty.

his condition on approval was that members should not recognise
the former yugoslav republic of macedonia by that name. greeks
believe the name macedonia belongs only to them historically,
since they have a northern province called macedonia. the trade-
off apparently worked.

greece's rapid approval may also appear as an act of faith in the
ec. some more developed members recently voiced suspicions that
greece, admitted in 1981, may never have been suited for
membership in one of the wealthiest groupings in the world.

a parliamentary committee began discussing the accord on tuesday,
and by next monday legislation confirming greek acceptance should
be before parliament. its approval is expected a week later.

a leading deputy from the ruling new democratic party said that
over 90 percent of parliamentarians favoured maastrict. ''europe
is a one-way road for us. either we go in the united europe, or we
are balkanised. as a balkan nation, what can we gain?''

geographically and psychologically, greece sits on a ledge between
the balkans, europe, and the near east. as the cradle of western
democracy, greeks often say western europe is their birthright.
conversely, they often display a near eastern mentality, including
delayed responses and resistance to change.

as a result the ec still thinks of greece as a ''peripheral
problem'', said former president of the greek federation of
industries stelios argyros.(more/ips)

greece: ec's poorest member pushing to ratify maastrict treaty(2)

greece: ec's (2)

''the ultimate responsibility belongs to us. oscillating for years
between an empty helleno-centrism of self-sufficiency and a
superficial europeanism, we failed to confront on time the crucial
economic and social problems of our country,''added argyros.

structurally, greece has yet to reach the level of its fellow ec
members. even now, court records, company registrations, and other
legal documents are filed chaotically in ledgers. maastrict is
expected to rapidly convert greece to europe's way of thinking.

of all the maastrict accords, monetary union by 1997 represents
the most complex problem for greece and the ec in general. to
achieve this, greeks face higher costs and a lower standard of
living for the next four years.

it has already had two years of ec-mandated ''economic shock
therapy'' aimed at increasing state income while decreasing
spending, chiefly by decelerating labour costs.

''we have to work hard, but i don't think this will mean we will
suffer. it just means we have to sacrifice today to have something
better tomorrow,'' explained iannis sidiropoulos of the ministry
of national economy. ''everyone realises we have to restructure
our way of thinking and spending.''

the economist cited current progress in this attempt, saying that
greece has sold 42 ''problematic' companies it had been
subsidising, made foreign exchange more available, passed
legislation to privatise the telephone company, and had broken
several other monopolies.

the prerequisites for monetary union include targets for budget
deficits (not more than three percent of gdp); accumulated
government debt (not higher than 60 percent of gdp); and inflation
(about 4.5 percent). only france and luxembourg currently meet
these requirements.

most of the rest of europe is also far from ready, although greece
ranks last in every case. it's per capita income of 5,500 dollars
a year is half the ec average. portugal, the country most often
compared with greece, has a per capita income of just over 6,000
dollars.

greece's accumulated government debt is 105 percent of gdp,
inflation is at 15 percent, and the budget deficit is between 12
and 14 percent of gdp.

national economy minister stephanos manos calls this deficit ''the
main illness of public finance, the heart of the problem...if that
is reduced, interest rates will fall, investments will occur,
employment will increase.''

to shave the deficit, most of the annual 20,000 greeks going on a
pension, will not be replaced over the next four years. more than
70 percent of the state budget goes towards wages, salaries,
interest payments, and amortisation.(more/ips)

greece: ec's poorest member pushing to ratify maastrict
treaty(3-e)

greece: ec's (3)

also, a campaign to uncover greece's legendary tax evaders is
underway while contributions to the virtually bankrupt social
security system will be raised following international monetary
fund recommendations.

''if we arrive at our targets this year, we'll be almost the same
as italy,'' added sidropoulos, who said that while italy's deficit
may be ''a disaster'', that country is still a ''big power''. ''no
one thinks it should be outside of a united europe.''

he does admit that greece has ''severe'' economic problems but
says there is room ''for restructuring the economy''. greece has
until 1997 to prove him right.(end/ips/rp-ne/cr/dd/92)