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UNEMPLOYMENT in debt-ridden Greece hit new record highs in March as government officials wrangled over tough new austerity measures required to tap the country’s rescue funds.
The jobless rate increased to 16.2 per cent in March from 15.9 per cent in February, the country’s statistics agency said today. The total number of Greeks out of work was 811,340, up 40 per cent from a year earlier, when the unemployment rate was 11.6 per cent.
March’s is the highest level of joblessness recorded since the statistics agency began issuing figures in 2004. The government had projected an overall unemployment rate of 14.5 per cent for this year in its 2011 budget.
Further austerity measures
The situation is expected to get worse as the government imposes yet more austerity measures to meet targets set out in the agreement for Greece’s €110 billion package of rescue loans.
Cutbacks and tax increases taken over the past year have already led to anger among workers and unions, which has been compounded by the realisation that the measures did not produce all of the results they were expected to.
Ministers are now tussling over the details of additional cutbacks and tax hikes, including €6.4 billion worth of remedial austerity measures for this year, and a midterm programme to run from 2012-2015, two years beyond the current government’s mandate.
Strikes
The government is also pushing through a €50 billion privatisation programme that includes public utilities. Workers at state companies facing privatisation have called their first strike against the plan for Thursday. Joined by much of the state sector in work stoppages, the strike will affect public transport, banks, post offices and the state television and radio stations.
Strikes have affected virtually all sectors at some stage, with workers holding demonstrations or picketing ministry buildings.
On Wednesday, radiology technicians became the latest group to protest, with about 300 gathering outside the Health Ministry in central Athens. The technicians, who held up placards printed on x-ray film, were protesting cuts to extra time off they receive due to their exposure to radiation at work.
Prime Minister George Papandreou is also faced with increasing frustration from within his own Socialist party — and among his ministers — over the new austerity.
Several Socialist lawmakers have criticised the measures, although none have said outright they oppose the plan, due to be voted on in Parliament by the end of this month. Papandreou was holding a second day of consultations with his party deputies Wednesday before the Cabinet discusses the plan on Thursday and submits it to Parliament.
His finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, came under heavy fire from disgruntled deputies during a marathon meeting Tuesday. Greek media reported that Vasso Papandreou, head of parliament’s financial affairs committee, accused Papaconstantinou of “lacking a plan and taking measures that will be short-lived.”
Labour minister Louka Katseli said some of the proposed measures would be “re-evaluated.”
The government also appears shaken by sustained anti-austerity rallies in Greek cities, which climaxed on Sunday with tens of thousands of peaceful protesters in central Athens.
Papandreou suggested after an informal cabinet meeting on Monday that he was open to holding a referendum on austerity measures, although government spokesman George Petalotis said the following day that there were no immediate plans for such a vote.
- AP
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the biggest obstacle is religion
The biggest problem is lack of education. I have lived in the AIDS capital of the world and religion was not the barrier there
religion is a barrier to education
Religion has nothing to do with this.
It’s lack of education and knowledge. Full stop.
I agree education is key, education in safe sex and removal of tribal cultures surrounding ‘cures’ for HIV, and especially key is the education of women – as they tend to be more likely to pass onto children, where culture and tradition have not yet become indoctrinated.
However, Africa has a boom in Catholicism: http://www.africamasterweb.com/AdSense/AfricaAndCatholicism.html
And the official Vatican stance and that of catholic relief and aid workers is that condoms are not to be condoned or distributed: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june11/vatican_05-30.html
This is despite condoms and testing being key to the decrease in HIV infections in the Western World.
Have you checked the numbers between countries with many Catholics and those with the highest AIDS rates? They might not match as closely as you believe.
Most of Southern Africa, which is where you will find those countries with the highest rates of AIDS are actually predominantly protestant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_Africa#Southern_Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country#Africa
Just to point out that I am actually an agnostic and so not a Church supporter but there’s no point blaming them for something that is not entirely their fault
Without getting into lies, damn lies, and statistics I would wonder how much of those protestants in Southern Africa are from an ex-pat background and therefore less likely to be an victim of HIV?
Like I say, I’m not discounting what you’re saying – I’d just like to see relief organisations (of which many are Catholic) move towards teaching and promoting safer sex, rather than unrealistic abstinence.
Most of the Africans in Southern Africa are protestant.
Most African catholics were converted by Catholic Missions who generally stayed around mid-Africa whereas the protestants (English, Dutch, etc.) settled and converted in Southern Africa.
I’ve grown up there. I know the statistics
I would like to say that I too, would like to see a realistic approach to teaching safe sex and use of condoms as opposed to using the ridiculous notions that Africans will follow the idea of abstinence
Siomha,
I remember Bishop Desmond Tutu addressing a WHO conference and declaring that the attitude of Catholic missionary and aid groups to condom use had exasperated the spread of the disease in Africa.
Religion is only a small part of it – need to look at the bigger picture!
I’ve been living with HIV for seven years. If it wasn’t for the antiretroviral drugs I’d be dead. Huge advances in the treatment and decreases in the stigma attached to the virus have been achieved, but there’s still a long way to go. The virus is seen as a manageable disease and therefore not the threat is once was. This is folly. I wish the only impact on my life was the taking of a tablet each evening. Little is known about the long-term effects of these drugs; nor about the very real risk of dementia, cancers, pneumonia, skin conditions and the host of opportunistic infections being infected leaves you prone to. Education is everything.
Why does Concern’s Senior HIV Adviser never mention the use of CONDOMS to fight Aids in developing countries? NOT MENTIONED ONCE.
I find that surprising as well. Condoms are the main way to prevent the spread of AIDS and nearly all anti-AIDS campaigns use those as their main platforms.
Maybe it is more than just the use of condoms that is important?
Si it is more but they are the best way to prevent AIDS spreading. Every campaign should highlight that
Could have sworn I heard the news on the radio say infection in young people here had risen sharply
The article doesn’t break down the infection rates by demographics so you could be right. The overall trend seems to be going the right way.
You did hear that. Young men 24 to 39 at highest risk, I think. Ignorance is on the rise because the heyday of AIDS campaigning was 20 years ago when they were little kids.
Hmmm.. There were people in Swaziland eating faecal matter not so long ago because they couldn’t take their AIDS meds on an empty stomach (talk about skewed priorities – drugs are more important than FOOD now?)
This article also points out that in the place where new infections are rampant nutrition and sanitation leave a lot to be desired..
Wonder how many people in the 3rd world get “diagnosed” with AIDS when malnutrition and poor sanitation is the true reason their immune systems don’t work? Bearing in mind that the “tests” (ELISA and western blot) specifically state that they are unsuitable for determining the presence of HIV, a virus that has not been isolated. Rather these tests measure viral load and antibody response (and can test positive if you have the flu, are pregnant, or have just had a vaccine – hence the two tests taken several weeks apart).. There are people starving, they are obviously not adequately nourished, and instead of making sure that they can eat – drugs take priority (and companies like concern just keep pushing that appalling quality soy based muck and drugs approach rather than building self sustainability and organic farming)
I do not wish to detract from the seriousness of the problem, but something here reeks of fish..
have your say