Kajsa Ekis Ekman: When the euro suit doesn t fit

Greece is going even further down in the economic crisis. Kajsa Ekis Ekman visits a misunderstood country with a broken social contract, where everybody agrees.
How would we feel if everything we owned was sold to pay back loans weve never seen? If our salaries were cut in half and the money went to foreign banks? And if we, when were preparing to live on the threshold of poverty, are called lazy and spoiled? If you try to understand this you can get an insight in how it is to be a Greek right now. Ive just returned from Greece. It lies a certain atmosphere over a land in crisis. Gloom and hopelessness, mixed with the euphoric political awakening that follows big events. Every single individuals lousy salary and problems with the bills has become a part of a political context. Some talk about migrating. Others about overthrowing the government. A mandatory gas mask hangs in many homes, a reminder of the protests July 28:th and 29:th, when the parliament voted yes for savings. I dont think that Ive ever been to a country where everybody, everybody I meet, agrees. Theyre angry with the euro, with Germany, with their own government and with themselves for voting on it. After a week in Athens I can say that, if I were Greek, I too would be furious. What we have learned about Greece in Swedish newspapers is mostly about that Greeks work too little and earn too high salaries. Our minister of finance Anders Borg has said that they retire t the age of 40. In DNs (a Swedish newspaper) Questions and answers about Greece in June 16:th you could read that the salaries have risen enormously. Germanys chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the Greeks to work harder and not have so much vacation. Now the European Union is going to lend them even more money - that should fix things, shouldnt it? So why are they complaining? Such a sad ragbag of disinformation! And such a sad lack of solidarity with land that we now should support! The Greeks work most in Europe 42 hours a week according to Eurostat, the statistic office of the European Union. The average income is 803 euro. The actual age of retirement isnt 40 years, as Anders Borg claims, but 61.4 years. This is thus about one of Europes most hard-working and lowest paid people. But its a country thats tourist-dependent, without any large production of its own. And its a country with a broken social contract. Where people dont trust the state and where the state doesnt endow its citizens with basic public service. And, to cap it all, is in

You can compare currency with clothing. Every country has earlier had its own clothes that fit it. The countries have been able to take in and let out as they needed. For example devalue at crisis, or rise and lower rents as needed. But when the euro was introduced every country was supposed to wear the same clothes. Its just that that the clothes were sewn to fit certain countries such as Germany and France. For other countries, such as Greece, the suit fits bad. Greece has for decades been controlled by two dynasties the cinservative Nea Dimokratia and the social democratic Pasok, with one leading family each. Both families have taken large loans, but few know where the money has gone. Much has disappeared in corruption and suspect procurements. Its told that a road costs a lot more to build in Greece than in the rest of the European Union, because so many intermediaries want to claim some for their own. People dont want to pay taxes because they dont get anything in return. A large part of the tax payers money goes to maintain a bureaucracy that seems to exist most for its own sake. At the same time the important social functions suffer. At the doctor you must bribe him to get treatment, and in order to take their diploma Greek students have to go to private classes. And then came the financial crisis in 2008. Greece, dependant on tourism, was especially affected. Normally the government should been able to devalue the currency to get out of the crisis. But since the euro was introduced this is impossible. Greece is stuck in the suit and cant get it off. Then it would rip apart and this mustnt happen, because the other euro countries are also wearing it. You would rather cut the one who wears it. This is called internal devaluation and simply means that instead of lowering the value of the currency you cut the people. At the request of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank Greek bureaucrats now have presented a plan. The salaries will be forced down and a large part of the country is going to be privatized. Beaches, airports, highways and half of all state-owned companies are now going to be sold. On the Syntagma Square in Athens its rumoured that Akropolis is going to be bought by a German company. I live at home at some youths that are a part of Generation 700 euro. Soon they will be transformed to Generation 500 euro. Theyre at my age 30 and above not youths really, but they feel like youths because there still wondering what theyre going to do in the future. None has kids, thats like unthinkable. Theyre educated, theyve spent several years at the university, but take jobs as wedding decorators. The safest way to get a stable job has been in the state, but this will now change. The situation isnt completely unfamiliar; its that way for our generation everywhere in Europe. But in Greece the employees are pushed down to the breaking point, with the crisis as an excuse. On the Syntagma Square meetings are hold every night. When I arrive in the middle of July the enthusiasm has dampened some. The participators are no longer counted in thousands, but in hundreds. Anyone can speak and the subjects are shifting: from propositions on collective strike to requests about not stealing from the ones camping on the square. Some recurring Greek words get stuck in my head, one of them is Ismerinos. That means Ecuador. The president of Ecuador Rafael Correa is a great hero here at the square. Three quarters of the Greeks want Greece to follow Ecuadors and Argentinas example: cancel the payments. One

out of four wants to leave the euro. What you have to understand is that the Greeks arent angry because of a necessary evil but because of an unnecessary evil. The savings arent about solving a crisis, but to force the country deeper into the crisis. Instead of having a stake at the country, creating some production that isnt tourismdependant, developing the welfare and make people believe in the future you cut down. IMF, infamous for its sacking in the third world, had to leave from Latin America. Now its eating on Europes borders. Are we going to accept that? Kajsa Ekis Ekman kulturdebatt@dn.se