advertisement
Thu, Feb 09 2012
Greek government issues rare mobilisation order to cope with lorry strikes
Truck drivers clash with riot police in front of the Transport Ministry in Athens July 29, 2010. The Greek government ordered striking truck drivers to go back to work, which they refused
Photo: John Kolesidis
The situation in Greece is reaching a critical point as the Greek authorities issued a civil mobilisation order on July 29 2010 to thwart the nationwide strike organised by lorry drivers. But the order did little to convince protesters to end their strike, which has led to almost all of Greece’s gas stations running out of fuel and most of the country paralysed.
The strike has had a massive impact on the country's tourism industry as "hundreds of thousands of tourists, Greek and foreign have been stranded", media reports said. The response of the Greek government – to call in the army.
The Greek government has used a rare emergency order to force lorry drivers back to work after a three-day strike, and according to international media, the deadline is "the afternoon of July 29" to return to the roads or face fines, confiscation of licences, and even arrests.
The Greek government said in a statement on its website that this industrial action by the Greek drivers has caused "significant obstruction, it is irresponsible, it has brought considerable risk to society and the population's health, due to the inadequate supply of fuels, medications and food stuff to the population".
However, many drivers appeared determined to ignore the government’s instructions and risk jail and having their vehicles seized.
The mobilisation order means that strikers are served with papers calling them up to the army and forcing them to return to work. Authorities started handing out these documents to about 35 000 registered drivers, the Kathimerini reported.
Hopes that gas stations would begin serving customers again on July 29 after the government issued a civil mobilisation order to force truckers back to work were dashed when the drivers refused to comply.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry warned any Bulgarians wishing to travel to Greece that it is strongly advisable "to stock on sufficient quantities of petrol from Bulgaria which would be enough for their trip to and from their chosen destination and back to Bulgaria".
"There is currently no information on Bulgarian tourists stranded in Greece," the Foreign Ministry said in the statement on July 30 2010.
The strike has had a massive impact on the country's tourism industry as "hundreds of thousands of tourists, Greek and foreign have been stranded", media reports said. The response of the Greek government – to call in the army.
The Greek government has used a rare emergency order to force lorry drivers back to work after a three-day strike, and according to international media, the deadline is "the afternoon of July 29" to return to the roads or face fines, confiscation of licences, and even arrests.
The Greek government said in a statement on its website that this industrial action by the Greek drivers has caused "significant obstruction, it is irresponsible, it has brought considerable risk to society and the population's health, due to the inadequate supply of fuels, medications and food stuff to the population".
However, many drivers appeared determined to ignore the government’s instructions and risk jail and having their vehicles seized.
The mobilisation order means that strikers are served with papers calling them up to the army and forcing them to return to work. Authorities started handing out these documents to about 35 000 registered drivers, the Kathimerini reported.
Hopes that gas stations would begin serving customers again on July 29 after the government issued a civil mobilisation order to force truckers back to work were dashed when the drivers refused to comply.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry warned any Bulgarians wishing to travel to Greece that it is strongly advisable "to stock on sufficient quantities of petrol from Bulgaria which would be enough for their trip to and from their chosen destination and back to Bulgaria".
"There is currently no information on Bulgarian tourists stranded in Greece," the Foreign Ministry said in the statement on July 30 2010.
-
Print
-
Send via email
- Translate to
-
Share:
Comments
To post comments, please, Login or Register.
Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.
Greek lorry drivers agree to negotiate with the government
Lorry drivers in Greece have ended a week-long strike against proposed plans to reform the freight industry and agreed to resume talks with the government.
Striking Greek drivers facing harsh reprisals
Cars line up at a petrol station in Athens and elsewhere as the strike causes fuel shortages nationwide. In an attempt to combat the chaos, the government has threatened drivers with severe financial penalties.
Bulgarians start a wildfire in Greece
Partying Bulgarians shoot signal flares off a yacht, sparking a wildfire on a Greek island.
More in this category
CVM update urges Romania to continue judiciary reform
Interirm report praised Romania for continuing to pursue high-profile corruption cases and new legislation, but urged more action on reforming the judicial system and the confiscation of assets acquired through illegal means.
Turkey debates its role in possible Syria intervention
Turkey hardens stance against Syria, its Western allies increasingly looking to Ankara for help to unseat Assad
Woman killed by icicles in Belgrade as Balkans grapples with fatal cold snap
Weather warnings throughout South Eastern Europe; Romania extends ‘Code Orange’, intense snowfalls in Macedonia, deaths in Greece and heavy snow, frost and icy conditions forecast for Turkey.
New Romanian PM begins forming government
Ungureanu was previously head of Romania's foreign intelligence service; he has also served as foreign minister between December 2004 and March 2007.
Bulgarian Foreign Ministry warns against travel in region hard-hit by bad weather
Warnings on harsh winter weather situations in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and some parts of Montenegro and Croatia.
© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.
Web Design by RIZN
Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted.
Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only
with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site.
Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com.
Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments.
The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the
price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes,
and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.
- Economedia Group portfolio:
- In Bulgarian:
-
Business:
Капитал,
Кариери,
Пазари,
Ho Re Mag,
Регал,
Градът.bg,
Одит,
Foton.bg,
Online shop
- News: Дневник, Европа, Foreign Policy - България
- IT: IDG.BG, Computerworld, PC World, CIO, Networkworld
- Entertainment: Бакхус
-
In English:
The Sofia Echo
The only shortages we have noticed on the island of Kefalonia is that Lidl supermarket is running out of stock, all other outlets do not seem to have any problems. Fuel is freely available and tourists are coming and going as usual. So, everything that your report says seems to only apply to the mainland and this should be pointed out.
I also feel their pain, but these drivers should stop what they are doing and start thinking about their future its people and their country. They will gain nothing from this. Greed is an evil thing.
Cosmos
De la Fontaine In one of his Fables
"it pertains as to whom will hang the bell on the cat's neck as the wise old mouse said"
I thought it was the banks that ruled the world and not goverments all goverments in the world suck up to the people with money.But if all the peoples of the world said enough is enough and stopped using banks and spending more than they earn it would be a different place and I hope that all the banks collapse, but its no good going on strike we are all to blame for the mess we are in .
In my point of view government's decision to issue this emergency order was wrong. No government can hold hostage millions of people and destroy social and economic life by cooperating with criminal, evil banks like Goldman Sachs.
In my point of view government's decision to issue this emergency order was right.No trade union can hold hostage millions of people and destroying social and economic life.