Keep on truckin' or else!
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The Greek government is threatening lorry drivers with police action unless they get back on the road, after three days of strikes have left the country running low on supplies. But, so far, it seems the truckers are in no mood to back down.
The government has told the drivers that they have 24 hours to get back to work or face arrest and the possible loss of their licences. A spokesman warned that that stoppage was causing a "serious disruption of public and economic life" and was beginning to endanger public health, as stockpiles of fuel, food and medicine began to run dry.
Truckers have been lining major highways since Monday, furious at plans to open up their currently closed profession to competition.
At present there are only a limited number of licences available and these exchange hands for large sums of money. Athens is under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to scrap this system, but has no cash available to compensate drivers who find their expensive licenses suddenly rendered worthless.
The official order for truckers to get back behind the wheel has not gone down well, prompting defiant statements from the unions and clashes with the police as protesters gathered outside the Transport Ministry today.
Euranet's Athens correspondent Daphne Matziaraki says that ordinary Greeks have little sympathy with the lorry drivers, as they are starting to feel the impact of the supply pinch. There are also fears that the shortages will cause further damage to the country's tourism industry, which took a heavy blow in the debt crisis earlier this year.
