A country in decay: Greece's youth pay bitter price for the wisdom of their elders

Greek youths will be victims for years to come thanks to the austerity being demanded in return for the 130 billion euro bail-out that was hammered out in Brussels overnight. David Blair reports from Athens

the Telegraph,

21 February, 2012

The knot of 100 black-clad protesters strode out under an anarchist banner through the heart of Athens, their cry simple as it was stark: "bread, education, freedom!".

But for all the sound and fury passers-by barely seemed to notice their fist-waving presence. Ordinary Greeks, wearied by their country's all-consuming crisis, have become inured to demonstrations and the chosen slogan of Monday's march seemed almost quaint.

Greeks are bitterly aware that "bread, education and freedom" will be an empty dream for years to come, thanks to the austerity demanded by Eurozone finance ministers in return for a euros 130 billion bail-out being hammered out.

Athenians now live in a city where physical decay mirrors social malaise: traffic lights have broken down across the capital, either because demonstrators have smashed them or the state, which is sacking thousands of personnel, no longer troubles to fix them. City thoroughfares are stained with graffiti, shops are boarded-up and Stadiou street, scene of the last big protests, is lined with the blackened shells of burnt-out buildings.

Meanwhile, a pack of stray dogs roams the street beside the Parthenon, snarling at passers-by and running in demented pursuit of motorcyclists.

Greece had endured five consecutive years of recession even before the looming onset of this new round of deflation. Unemployment for those aged under 25 already stands at 48 per cent, having risen by more than a third since November 2010. Perhaps most stark of all is a national suicide rate that has doubled from 2.8 per 100,000 people in 2008, to about 6 last year.

Erasmia Dimoula, 25, qualified as a nursery schoolteacher two years ago. Since then, she has not had a job, save for a brief stint as a waitress. She now lives at home, in a state of enforced dependence on her parents, along with her similarly unemployed sister who speaks three languages and has a master's degree in psychology.

"If there wasn't a financial crisis, I would be working now. I'm sure of it," said Miss Dimoula. She will not vote in the elections expected in April and, like many Greeks of her generation, expressed nothing but contempt for the politicians of all parties who brought the country to its current pass.

"I don't expect anything from any government, from any politician. I can only expect things from myself," she said. "You have to take responsibility if you give your vote to these people. Then you'd have to shut up about what's going on."

Young Greeks cannot be blamed for their nation's crisis, but what about an older generation who voted for corrupt governments, handed out jobs according to family or political ties, and artfully avoided taxation? This generation launched a famous student revolt at Athens Polytechnic in 1973, toppling a military regime and bringing in democracy. Then, arguably, they went on to cripple the country.

"A lot of people my age are blaming the Polytechnic generation," said Miss Dimoula. "I found myself doing it as well. But you can't blame a whole generation."

She added: "They are an optimistic generation: they thought things will be better for them and for their children. But we can't be optimistic. We can't believe in anything."

Those from the Polytechnic era who played by the rules were not always rewarded. Miss Dimoula's father worked for 35 years and must now support two unemployed adult daughters from his pension, which has inevitably been cut.

"I want to try and do better, I want to not let this thing get on top of me, but it's very difficult," she said. "There are times that I cry because of all this." Miss Dimoula left for an interview for a vacancy as cashier of an Athens taverna.

One possible answer for young Greeks is to emigrate. Kyriakos Soubasis, 28, graduated in mechanical engineering four years ago and has been unable to find a job. "In the last two years, I never went to an office. I send my CV by email, but no one answers. I have no income right now, I live with my family," he said.

Those of his university contemporaries who do work have often left Greece. "Many of them go abroad: to London, to Berlin. And those who stayed here, some have jobs, but no pay. If the bosses have no money, they don't pay you, perhaps for two or three months."

Half of all small businesses in Greece are unable to meet their payroll costs, while a quarter of companies have gone bankrupt since 2009. Greeks have shown how little they trust their banks by emptying their accounts and stashing savings under metaphorical mattresses: about a third of the money on deposit has been withdrawn.

The established parties of left and right, PASOK and New Democracy respectively, have alternated in power since the advent of democracy in 1974. The leaders of both movements have pledged to implement the agreed austerity measures in return for the bail-out package. Success will mean reducing Greek national debt from today's level of 160 per cent of gross domestic product to a mere 120 per cent by 2020.

"The political system is incapable of handling the situation. The people who created the problem are now going to solve the problem: that's the paradox," said Stelios Kouloglou, a current affairs presenter on national television.

"It is doomed to fail. This just creates more and more recession. It's a vicious circle between more recession and more measures."

One policy, aimed squarely at the poorest members of the workforce, might serve to symbolise them all: the minimum wage will fall by 22 per cent to Pounds 490 per month, less than half of the Pounds 1,050 equivalent in Britain.

In the meantime, Greece has suffered perhaps the most wounding blow of all – its national dignity and self belief has been undermined.

Mr Kouloglou deeply resents the media caricature of the easy-living, non-taxpaying Greek. "It's becoming kind of racist," he said. "You cannot have an honest solution when you have an image as bad as that."