Galery

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After the storm caused by the revelations of "Το Vima" regarding the appointments made, the only data that a person can trust are the data of the United Payment Authority according to which the number of civil servants has increased to 712,000 in early April. Bob Traa’s report states that in December 2011 the number of employees in the public sector was 668,035, down from 692,301 people in December 2010, while during the year 40,025 people were retired, added to 53,000 people from the previous year. The total number of pensioners in the public sector is 431,000.

From behind the scenes – to the scene

Bob Traa comes out from behind the scenes on stage for the second time. The first time was with the famous letter for cancellation of the 13th and 14th salary and the changes in labour relations. Then the letter was revealed by "To Vima" and "Ta Nea" newspapers, which surprised even the European Commission, which denied the existence of the letter, because obviously it was not notified by the International Monetary Fund. As we all remember, back then Bob Traa proposed 9 “fire” measures for employees in the private sector, including reducing the minimum wage, the cancellation of the 13th and 14th salary, which ultimately did not happen.

These measures destroyed the labour law. Back then trade unions and left parties accused Traa of using "helpful" Greek lawyers and representatives of specific professions in order to find those places in the Greek labour laws, which according to them must be removed and to change the situation on the labour market.

Everyone knew that these measures would affect demand and prolong the recession, as actually happened...

"Persona non grata" in Ecuador

Since October 2010, when Bob Traa arrived in Athens as a representative of the International Monetary Fund, "To Vima" searched his past and found that he had been declared as "persona non grata" in Ecuador. In the capital Quito, people remember him very well. And not in a good way. As Yvonne Llanes, a member of the Accion Ecologica organization, told "To Vima" together with other organizations in 2003 they formally requested by letter to the Police Chief of the Province Pichincha the arrest and extradition of Traa with the accusation that he had violated immigration law.

"It was requested for him to be extradited from Ecuador "for the unauthorized use of his capacity as a guest of the country, and for interfering in the decisions of national authorities, in order to take measures affecting state interests and national security"."

Back then Bob Traa was pressing the Government of Ecuador to use 100 percent of the revenues from a major new oil pipeline, in order to reduce government debt at the expense of public health and education.