The road to the 15bil euros is full of obstacles

A tough test begins today for the Greek economy. Only a few days after the important summit that opened up new issues of decreases in wages and pensions, the Troika representatives are coming to Athens to press the government to dig the knife deeper into the public and private sector.

Regarding the public sector, the issues on the table are:

    * the single payroll to be implemented during the summer, which will clip wages and bonuses
    * the relevant ministries must provide complete plans for cleansing their SOCs, along with detailed proposals for the shrinkage of wages, increase of revenue and the tidying up of losses and debts.

Besides the strict rule of one hiring against five layoffs, or the even stricter «1 to 7», an increase of working hours is provided, from 7 to 8 hours per day, as it is in the private sector today.

But private salaries will also be targeted, with pressures for the implementation of corporate contracts increasing rapidly.

The Troika is asking for new expenditure cuts in hospitals and insurance funds, but also for measures that are provided for in the 2011 budget such as the enforcement of green tax for polluting companies, the increase of objective values, the integration of areas into urban city planning and the taxation of arbitraries.