After the Greek government held out to almost the last moment, as politicians, who had in their own minds accepted new austerity cuts, wanted to demonstrate to the public their extreme reluctance to do so, the 'troika', the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, now have their own turn at brinkmanship in refusing to activate the latest stage of the 'bailout' until the Greek government provides 'proof' of its intention to implement the new cuts (or perhaps even the old ones).
Whatever the scepticism, it is beyond reasonable doubt that the Greek public are suffering severely from the austerity already imposed upon them. It is often reported that part of the new programme demanded is a cut of twenty per cent in the Greek minimum wage. It is seldom reported what the current minimum actually is. I believe it is rather less than half that in the UK. The argument in Greece is that the cut will stimulate economic growth and hence employment. This is one that we heard here several years ago when the UK minimum wage was first introduced and it was claimed it would destroy jobs, but it largely fell away as a false fear. Different circumstances perhaps.
