We’re in Athens' famous Syntagma Square where not too long ago, citizens
filled this space to protest against the government and its austerity measures.
Images of riots, strikes and public demonstrations in Greece
have reached the whole world, mostly in the last decade.
After nearly a decade of protests and three bailout programs, is Greece finally out of the woods?
Actually, I think the crisis still exists, it’s not only the financial crisis, but it’s also a crisis about our values.
I don’t think we have seen any improvement. There are many people that don’t have work.
Greece’s unemployment rate has come down, but it is still the highest in the eurozone.
In 2017, it reached 21.5 percent - more than double the euro area’s average.
Among young people, the figure is even higher.
More than 43 percent of those aged between 15 and 24 could not find a job in 2017.
Me and my friends feel the same, we are scared, we don't know what we can change.
Some kids are educated, and they don’t find jobs so they are going to Europe, which is a loss for Greece.
Greece’s financial nightmare began in 2010 when the prime minister
asked the European Union and International Monetary Fund for help.
He knew that without their assistance, the country would go bankrupt.
You see, Greece’s public deficit was much larger than what had previously been forecast.
In other words, it borrowed way too much money and investors began to worry
whether Athens could actually repay all of its debt.
That year, Greece’s public debt hit 140 percent of its GDP and continued to grow.
To this day, its debt still sits above 170 percent of GDP, the highest among EU nations.
The first financial help program granted by the IMF and the other eurozone countries totaled about $120 billion.
But it wasn’t enough to save Greece.
Athens got a second bailout program in 2012 and then another in 2015.
It came to an end last summer.
Greece has come a long way from the peak of the crisis.
The economy grew 1.5 percent in 2017.
Compare that to its contraction of more than 9 percent in 2011.
The most recent forecasts from the European Commission suggest
Greece will grow at a rate of 2.2 percent this year.
Greece’s banks have reduced the number of bad loans
and there is growing interest from foreign investors in buying certain Greek assets.
But analysts say that the recovery is fragile,
and Greeks I speak to complain they don’t feel an improvement in their lives.
Some people have good jobs, but the others, they're suffering,
they're paying like 85 percent taxes, which is very hard to get by.
You risk losing your house if you don’t have enough money to pay the taxes, so long-term it's hard.
94 percent of Greek people believe that the state of the economy is bad.
They think the biggest issue facing Greece is high unemployment, followed by the economic situation.
This is particularly important ahead of a general election later in the year.
The government is currently being run by the left-wing party Syriza.
Its mandate ends in September, which means Greeks will head to the polls in October, if not sooner.
Do you expect any change with a new government?
No.
I don’t believe it will help, no, any government will do the same thing, I believe.
There is no alternative, the neo-liberalism politics that the whole of the European Union is following so...
The future will be tough for everyone.
Greece’s economic recovery is taking some time to fully materialize,
but perhaps more important is how the Greeks feel, mainly ahead of a general election later this year.
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