Posted on 09/13/2010 7:07:30 PM PDT by Lorianne
ATHENS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Greece faces new fuel shortages as freight truck owners started a new nationwide protest Monday against a government plan to open up the closed market as part of the reform efforts to pull the country out of the credit crisis.
When truckers staged the last protest that lasted for a week in July, the country suffered from a fuel crisis as a result, with gas stations running out of petrol in a major blow to local entrepreneurs and the Greek tourism industry. Factories which could not run without fuel closed and tourists were stranded in Greek islands.
On Monday, hundreds of trucks blocked the national highways at the entrance of Athens, creating queues of up to eleven kilometers, as protesters scheduled a rally to center of the Greek capital, in front of the parliament. Tension was high as police prevented them.
In the meantime, Greek drivers formed long queues in front of gas stations, fearing that by the end of this week they will not be able to drive to their work, as it happened during this summer.
Since the early 1970s the market is closed, no new licenses are issued, which means that only the 33,000 truckers who were granted licenses by the state are allowed to transport goods across the country.
With liberalization of the sector as part of the government's recent reform to steer the nation out of the credit crisis, the truck owners complain that these licenses that were bought for up to 300,000 euros ( 384,030 U.S. dollars) will lose their value.
The government is determined though to proceed to the reform which is strongly supported by the European Union and International Monetary Fund experts who follow closely Greece' s efforts to solve its financial woes, since this May, when Athens secured financial aid in exchange of drastic change.
A draft bill on the opening up of the sector by 2013 is due to be debated in the parliament on Tuesday. The liberalization of the transport market could benefit the national economy by increasing the GDP up to 10 percent over the following five years, Greek experts and analysts estimate.
In July the government decided a civil mobilization procedure to force the truckers to go back to work, threatening that if they would not comply, they could even lose their licenses and face legal penalties. The summer protest ended with an agreement to continue the dialogue.
The government offered comparative advantages to the owners to remain in the business as a way of compensation, but they insist on a 7-year delay in the implementation of the reform.
As the civil mobilization procedure is still under way, the truckers cannot go on strike by law, so they threaten that this time they will paralyze the country by handing over the keys of their vehicles to authorities.
The Greek government announced on Monday that for a week petrol stations across the country are not allowed to sell unleaded gas for more than 1.473 euros (1. 8854 U.S. dollars) per liter, so that gas stations owners will not over charge drivers. On Sunday some petrol stations had raised the price up to 1.8 euros (2.3 dollars) per liter.
Greece faces a new wave of strikes and protests this autumn, as labour unions still object to the austerity measures and reforms the socialist government promotes.
On Tuesday employees at the Greek public transport sector are expected to go on strike for a second time in a week, in protest of government plans to partially privatize Greek Railways.
On Saturday in the northern city of Thessaloniki approximately 20,000 protestors demonstrated over austerity measures, as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou presented his government's economic policy for the coming months. He vowed to speed up reforms to boost growth and save the country from default, despite objections.
Back to the future....coming to a city near you...
This is the biggest problem with socialism. Any time political authorities make an economic decision, the entire economy shuts down as people fill the streets in protest. It takes years to make a decision that should be made in hours. In a market system, the prices simply adjust, and there is instant equilibrium.
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