Greek protesters keep troika at bay

Protesters from Greek unions have devised a new method for countering the influence of the EU, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund: physically keeping these "troika" officials out of government ministries. Via Reuters: Greek unionists protesting austerity measures formed a human chain to block the entrance to the Labour Ministry on Tuesday, ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Protesters from Greek unions have devised a new method for countering the influence of the EU, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund: physically keeping these "troika" officials out of government ministries. Via Reuters:

Protesters from Greek unions have devised a new method for countering the influence of the EU, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund: physically keeping these "troika" officials out of government ministries. Via Reuters:

Greek unionists protesting austerity measures formed a human chain to block the entrance to the Labour Ministry on Tuesday, forcing a delay in talks between ministry officials and the country’s foreign lenders.

The talks with inspectors from the ‘troika’ of European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund were scheduled to start at 1000 GMT, but had yet to get under way over an hour later as the protesters refused to leave.

Dozens from the Communist-aflliated PAME union chanted anti-austerity slogans and unfurled banners reading "Troika, IMF, ECB – Get out of here!" outside the ministry’s main entrance.

"We’re trying to find a way to get the troika officials into the ministry," a government official said.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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