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Newspaper selling, which was a closed profession until a few days ago, proves to be one of the most profitable occupations. The turnover from the sale of newspapers and magazines in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki reached 220 million euros only in 2010. 13.5 per cent of it filled the pockets of newspaper sellers. Thus, the 450 members of the union of newspaper sellers in the three major Greek cities shared 30 million euros last year. Of these, 70 have stands and this means that they are able to earn a good monthly income at best and if their location is good. The remaining 380 members of the unions have employed around 400 colleagues of theirs who also have permits to sell newspapers and magazines.

The news about the liberalization of their profession from July 2 sent the newspaper sellers to the gates of the two main press distributing agencies. They blocked their entrances and did not allow the trucks to go and distribute the editions. Despite the sharp reactions from the media and the warnings from the judiciary that they are violating the Constitution the newspaper sellers took advantage of the temporary confusion between the police and the judicial authorities, preventing again the distribution of afternoon newspapers in Athens by blocking the streets, making threats to everything and everyone, and doing legal tricks. Their colleagues from Thessaloniki tried to follow their example but with little success. In the rest of the country the central newspapers were distributed as usually.

The violation of the constitutional freedom for press distribution caused the sharp response of the union of newspapers owners in Athens and of all parties represented in parliament except for the Communist and the far-left coalition SYRIZA. After capturing some of the participants in the blockades and the complaints by the press distributing agencies the regional prosecutor's office in Athens began a pre-trial investigation.

But who is the union of newspaper sellers in Athens representing and how did it come to be considered the key master of the Greek press? How a small group has gained significant privileges? What amounts are the affected by the liberalization of the professions loosing? An article in Ta Nea newspaper answers all these questions.

"Closed, family and especially profitable" is the profession of the newspaper seller, according to people who have been part of this business in recent decades. The fact that the 50 most successful sellers share of around 10 million euros a year and enjoy particularly large privileges, such as not keeping accounts, is peculiar.

There have been substantial changes after World War II, when the profession was closed within the regions of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki to ensure stable income and privileges for the "lucky" ones. The most important of these is that when we say a newspaper seller we do not imagine the uncle with the cap, shouting "newspapers" around the streets of Athens, but a distributor who carries the editions he received from the agency to kiosks, small shops and news-stands. Even the people behind the counter are a few compared to the majority of sellers - distributors.

Publishers and agencies have been trying to agree with the sellers in Athens and Thessaloniki from May 22, 2011, when the Ministry of Finance announced that their profession is in the list of closed professions that will be liberalized, to the last week. A small result of those negotiations was the agreement to sign contracts of limited duration and the sellers agreed to obtain an increase in the range of 1.5 to 2 per cent of the statutory commission of 20 per cent. The owners of kiosks and news-stand get 6.5 per cent of it, i.e. the profit of the sellers is 13.5 per cent. The negotiations were not successful and were interrupted shortly before the abolition of the privileges of the sellers on July 2.

Among them are particularly large tax cuts that were gained with state "means" too. They are not obliged to keep accounting books, and according to two orders of the revenue tax department, "the filing of tax returns by the members of the union of newspaper sellers in Athens is based on the payments made by the press distributing agencies." Particularly impressive is the provision under which when submitting the tax return the seller can add documents for the salaries of the employees. According to the legal text, instead of formal documents for the salaries the seller can present a private contract between him and the relevant assistant.

However, the most impressive fact is that a large number of the members of the union of newspaper sellers in Athens and Piraeus have the same family name, which is most likely due to the closed nature of the family profession. In Athens, six members of the union have the family name of Anastasopoulos, five Damopoulos, six Theodoropoulos, seven Kolaros, six Konstandopoulos, eleven Mitropoulos, nine Nikolopoulos, etc. Among the members from Piraeus, there are three times the family names of Kotsovos and Hristaras and two times the family names of Kapsimalis, Lalos and Nikolakopoulos. No similar examples of nepotism are found in the union in Thessaloniki.