BY PAUL RONZHEIMER IN ATHENS
These broke Greeks!
Greece has officially requested financial help from the EU and the IMF, needing around €30 billion in 2010 alone.
Europe has been plunged into a currency crisis, whilst politicians have been trying to dampen the fire.
BILD travelled to the land of bankrupts and luxury pensions, tax dodgers and rip-offs. It’s a country where the authorities use satellites to search for houses with swimming pools in order to send the owners a tax bill…
It's 10.30pm on Saturday night at the Casino Loutraki, a plush address some 90 kilometres from Athens.
At the bar, hoards of people wave hundred-Euro notes whilst chips are thrown down on the gaming tables.
Here, right on the sea, the rich Greeks meet – and gamble away the crisis!
One man told me: “Spending money can still be worth it…” He laughs – and heads back to the roulette table.
Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou wants to take a tough stance against corruption and the black market to make drastic savings.
I had to take a taxi in Athens and asked for a receipt when I get out. It’s standard, and providing me with one should be an obligation.
But cab driver Nikos Panajotis (58) looked irritated, and angrily shook his head. “Then I would have to give the same up…”
In plain language: All income is black. No control, no taxes. The Greek illness!
And the same game plays out at the petrol station. Attendant Michalis Tzakis says about his takings, which he keeps in a draw: “That is my money”.
The state is left high and dry.
In the newspaper shop I ask for a receipt to see the reaction. The assistant is not happy: “Either you take the newspapers without – or you leave them here”.
The crisis is the hot topic of conversation all across Athens. But short, sharp cuts in state benefits?
As the Greeks say: “OCHI – ME MOY DEN”. No, not for me!
But the EU has already arranged it…
I met Marika Elleni (85), a retired postal worker. Her pension is €3,500 a month. She said: “Not all pensioners have it as good as me.” But should you give part of it up?
“I don’t see why I should get any less now. I have a beautiful property, perhaps Angela Merkel will want to go there on holiday…”
In Monastiraki, the party quarter of Athens, everywhere is full at the weekend. The Ouzo flows freely in the warm evenings.
Restaurant owner Kostas Papadouri (52) shows me to a table and says: “The EU is just one big family! I don’t think that Mrs. Merkel should carry on like this because we have already really improved ourselves”.
But beside his restaurant, rubbish lies rotting on the streets as the binmen are on strike – over salary cuts…
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