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Victoria Mindova 

Almost 30,000 jobs were lost in the commercial sector in Greece in 2011 due to the economic crisis. This is one-tenth of the total number of unemployed, which this year has increased by over 270,000 people. Recession is deepening for the fourth consecutive year and the prospects for the coming 2012 are even worse. Currently, the cut of jobs in the commercial sector is affecting women more, taking into account that 64.5% of the new unemployed are female, while the remaining 35.5% are men. The main victim of the economic crisis is the small business in the country. Lost jobs are registered mainly in commercial enterprises with fewer than 10 employees. Over 90% of the 30,000 unemployed are from companies operating in the retail sector and the rest have suffered from reduced demand in car trade.

These are part of the data of the Greek Chamber of Commerce annual report on economy. It shows that for two years domestic consumption has shrunk by 16% and investment in trade is one fourth less than 2009 levels. The turnover of retail trade in the first eight months of 2011 fell by 9.1% and the decrease for the same period of 2010 compared to 2009 is 6.9%. The data show that 84.8% of the companies in the area recorded a significant drop in operating profits, while one in five respondents said they were not sure whether they would keep their business in 2012. "Business climate is not created by laws and ministerial decisions. It should be built slowly and purposely," said the president of the Chamber of Commerce Vassilis Korkidis. He stressed that politicians should take care to create a sustainable environment to begin to recover entrepreneurship in the country.

Traders call for renegotiating of household debts to banks and government institutions so that their payment is consistent with their reduced income. Moreover, they insist on finally taking effective measures to fight illegal trade of ordinary goods, which is huge in Greece and its turnover reaches tens of billions of Euros. Another requirement is the imposition of more serious control on tax unfairness, which not only costs the treasury, but gives special priority to unfair competition. A stable and seriously simplified tax system is necessary, without repeating the mistakes of the past, when each unrelated law was not cancelled, but only a new act supplemented it halfway.

Trade needed the Greek manufacturing industry, agriculture, tourism and shipping industry, said Korkidis. This sector employs over 772,000 people and it is crucial to employment in the country. Vassilis Korkidis stressed that the attention of local traders should shift from imports to exports and this would happen when the productive forces in the country feel that the worst has passed and investment has begun to recover. "We invite all independent representatives of local entrepreneurship to create a social unity of productive sectors in the country, to protect democracy, economic growth, social peace and the future of coming generations," said Vassilis Korkidis at the end of his speech.

The right-wing president of New Democracy Antonis Samaras attended the presentation of the annual report on commerce. He said that politicians finally have to accept that trade is a major factor in employment, it is not in conflict with the industry and is here to support it. "Robust trade is a precondition for the development of productive force in the country. The more vital the trade in the country, the more rapidly the turnover of enterprises rotates and the more numerous the results for various participants, which stimulates economic growth," said Samaras. He attached importance to the change in the tax system, which is crucial for boosting the production in the country.

Samaras severely criticized the tax policy previously pursued. "Instead of improving the tax system, they increased tax rates. This stimulates tax unfairness and instead of collecting more revenue in the treasury, it dropped." Samaras again spoke in support of decreasing tax rates to more competitive levels, adding that tax fraud should be punished more severely than as per the existing rules. "The punitive measures for those violating the law must be strict and rapidly applicable," emphasized the leader of New Democracy adamantly.