Dramatic cabinet meeting with Greece at its limit

One of the most dramatic cabinet meetings in the post-junta history of our country has been taking place since Tuesday afternoon.

Under the Troika’s relentless pressure to implement the measures pre-agreed upon in order to disburse the sixth loan installment and avoid the country’s going bankrupt, the government seeks to find out how the Prime Minister’s presence at the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair will not result in uncontrollable situations against a stark backdrop of protest groups, from indignant taxi drivers to… fans of Herakles football team.

The Finance Minister’s recommendations are assumed to be moving along the lines of an effort to balance determination about measure implementation and the ability to make announcements which will somewhat mitigate social reactions, such as the VAT reduction in due course.

However, the situation seems ominous. In a day, the Troika has communicated that we should present a timetable of redundancies and reserves within the public sector until next Wednesday. ECB chief Jean Claude Trichet has called for the implementation of everything that was pre-agreed upon, while German Government Treasury Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has made it clear that money will be given to Greece only if the Troika agrees to it.

Within this climate, the cabinet is meeting and talking about - among other things - the deregulation of the taxi drivers' profession, with taxi drivers speaking of “a bad development” since yesterday, if the Ragousis law passes without any significant changes.