ssmen always believe in free competition? This list would also include most of organized labour to be found mainly in the large state-controlled sector of the economy characterized by over-employment, relatively high pay and low productivity. And it would certainly include many politicians whose survival depends on the clientele system which flourishes in protected markets and under non-transparent rules.The list of losers would also include other, less well-organized groups of society, such as many small businesses and the lesser skilled. Unable to adjust to a very competitive environment, but also unable to offer effective political resistance, they are, unavoidably, being sacrificed on the altar of economic restructuring.Faced with such a situation, Greek governments tried for more than ten years to avoid or simply postpone adjustment. At the same time, they showed great readiness to throw money at any group of society able to make enough noise around it. In the process, they did, however, create another category of losers who conveniently happened to be disenfranchised because of age. By that I mean the younger generations in the country, who will have to bear the full burden of delayed adjustment, not to mention the burden of servicing the large public debt accumulated during the 1980s. The turning point came around 1993, when Greece entered a phase of economic stabilization and convergence with the rest of the EU, coupled with a more determined and much delayed effort at privatization and restructuring. Previous attempts in this direction had proved short-lived; but the margin of manoeuvre has become progressively narrower with time. The prospect of economic marginalization in the context of the EU, the rapidly rising cost of the servicing of the accumulated debt, and the increasing difficulties in the financing of deficits left Greek governments with very limited options. In the meantime, Greek society (or at least a substantial ...
