The Medusa On My Island

Chapter Six

The Day Of Reckoning

In 2004 the Summer Olympics came to Greece, or more correctly they came to Athens. As soon as the winning bid was announced, the Greek government promised that Athens would be "fully ready to host the Summer Olympics" and that "no expense would be spared. Pre-Summer Olympics Athens had no modern airport, poor transportation infrastructure with a very basic and limited subway system. The Greek government did as it promised; and went on one the biggest spending binge ever.

Billions of Euros were spent on the most sophisticated airport Greece had ever seen. The Summer Olympic site itself went way over budget, and was three months behind schedule. The main Olympic stadium with it retractable glass roof, was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, swallowed up most of the budget. A new tram system was created linking major cities and towns to the Summer Olympic site. The crumbing and embarrassing subway system was completely modernised and expanded. In fact, Athens whole transportation infrastructure was improved. To this day nobody knows the exact cost, since the Greek government was economical and reticent about the true cost. However, it was all rumoured to have cost 15 billion Euros.

Nobody once questioned the government or the Olympic project managers, where the money was coming from. It was presumed that this sort of money was already in the treasury's coffers, and further proof that Greece had prospered immensely since joining the Free Market and the European Union. In fact, every single cent for the Summer Olympics was borrowed from the European Central Bank. The Greek government was adamant that the Summer Olympics would pay off the debt by attracting huge investment and prosperity for Greece. It never happened.

Once the lavish opening and the closing ceremony were done and dusted, everyone went home and left the Greeks to clear up the mess. Riddled with huge debt, and a worthless Olympic site that nobody wanted to use or buy, it was obvious the whole project had been a disastrous money pit. There was no investment or long-term interest from anyone in hiring the Five-Venue Athens Olympic Sports Complex. The financial crash hadn't hit Greece yet, so the huge debt hadn't crippled the government, who promised that there would be no glitch in paying back the money piecemeal.

Today the Olympic site is in ruins and has become a no man's land. The whole place is littered with domestic waste, empty shopping trolleys, a few burnt out cars, and stray cats and dogs have set up permanent residence in the derelict stadiums. The once impressive stadiums have been vandalised, and smashed glass can be seen everywhere. It is no longer a monument to opulence and grandeur, but depicts perfectly the dire straits that modern-day Greece is in. This whole project like the housing "boom" in Greece was an expensive, reckless, and shortsighted mismanagement of finances. While the former Olympic site deteriorated more and more every day, the interest on the massive loans grew and grew. Athens airport went up for sale to pay off some of the debt. The only people that prospered from the 2004 Summer Olympics were the bankers.

Within a few weeks' time Greece would run out of money again. Another billion-euro bailout was being desperately and intensely being negotiated with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany's iron lady was digging in her heels this time, and wanted absolute proof that the criteria for its next bailout out had been obeyed to the letter. To qualify for the next much-needed bailout, Greece needed to deepen its already drastic austerity measures. Already the Greek government was in "over-drive" trying to do all it was being asked of for this next bailout.

According to Angela Merkel "Greece was lagging far behind with its austerity measures" but Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Finance Minister Yannis Stounaras had just finalised their long-waited debt reduction package worth 11.5 billion euro. Also the new coalition government still hadn't submitted its new tax revenue bill to parliament yet. Again and again Chancellor Merkel drummed it into the Greek government's head that without new tax revenue laws the third bailout would be denied.