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Victoria Mindova

The liberalization of the market and the professional communities in Greece entered the agenda in the spring of last year when the country signed the Memorandum of financial assistance. Since then, however, not much has been done and during another visit of the tripartite delegation in Athens, the supervisors noted that the volume of work permits issued has not increased. At any economic forum or speech related to the Greek economy is spoken at least once about how many difficulties face the ordinary entrepreneurs from all sectors. 

The economist and financial analyst Ilias Karavolyas last year described the Greek economy as the last one from the Soviet-type economy operating in Europe. He supported this claim he made with the deep state intervention in market regulations and in various professions as well as the guarantees provided for a minimum wage in many sectors. 

Once the world became aware that the country is in a great trouble in terms of the management of its finances, the government under the guidance of the supervisors from the International Monetary Fund and Europe started the process of liberalization or known in Greece as the "liberalization of the closed professions". This process brought along also the unexpectedly strong resistance of the various professional circles, like those of the drivers of tanks, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers and a bunch of other professions. Regardless of the amendments to the regulations, the liberation of the transport market did not lead to the issue of any new operating permit. 

The Ministry of Finance decided to extend the scope of liberalization and announced a list of 136 professions for which the restrictions concerning the number of persons entitled to exercise a profession will fall, there will be no ceiling on permits issued, and geographical restrictions will be removed. It will also enable entrepreneurs to have more than one commercial site and will remove the right of having guaranteed minimum income where it existed so far. After July 2^nd this year all these preferences should fall, but still the views of trade unions remain unknown.

GRReporter found that cosmeticians are first in the list of closed professions intended for  liberalization.This inevitably awoke our curiosity. Unlike pharmacists or drivers of tanks and trucks for public use, their profession can not be said to have been among the first in terms of importance for the public welfare. Indeed, hair removal is the first priority of women, especially in the summer, but it can not be compared to the need for an open a pharmacy for example. Walking with dehydrated skin under the bright Mediterranean sun is also not pleasant, but it's not fatal either. We were interested in what these legal restrictionsmight  be that do not allow to exercise freely the profession of a beautician by the qualified personnel in Greece and we sought the opinion of an expert.

First we asked the Federation of Greek graduate professional beauticians. The Chairwoman of the federation Yula Papathanasiou said that so far the Ministry of Finance has not given a specific definition, of what is meant under liberalization of their profession. Unlike pharmacists, for example, who are the only people qualified to open a pharmacy, cosmetic studios and spa centers may be owned by entrepreneurs. They deposit the initial capital and run their business, and qualified staff who provide the service are hired.

There are two conditions for someone to practice the profession of beautician in Greece. One is for the person to have graduated a college Institute with this major in the country and the other one is for the employee to undergo a major examination to prove that he is not a carrier of a disease that may be hazardous to public health. So far everything looks normal and the idea of liberalizing the profession of cosmeticians does not sound reasonable – there are no restrictions on the number of licenses issued, there is no guaranteed minimum income for the working people, nor is there a maximum number of specialists per capita who are entitled to practice the profession.

A problem arises however, if the specialist who graduated in another country wants to practice in Greece. GRReporter contacted a woman of Greek origin, who is a certified cosmetologist in Germany with three years of experience. She preferred to remain anonymous, but said that after returning in Greece with her husband 12 years ago she found out that she had no right to exercise her profession because her diploma and experience are not recognized in her country of birth. In Greece, the education of cosmeticians is considered as college education and continues for two years. In Germany a permission to exercise the profession is given after completion of one year course and is not considered to be a degree received from college education. 

"If the market is liberalized and people like me are allowed to exercise their major I think that the competitiveness and even the quality of the service will increase," said the woman. She hopes she can return to her old profession and will not have to work in an office as does currently. Furthermore, she believes that the recognition of permits to work issued in EU countries will also help reduce unemployment. "Many people today are forced to work a job for which they are not qualified. They are also the first people who will suffer because of lay offs. I think these people have to be allowed to open private businesses in the area in which they have gained expertise on the other hand, so as not to hang on the neck of the state for social benefits.