E
SEE estimates that in 2009-2010 the
turnover of Greek retail enterprises
decreased by at least €6 billion, while, if
automotive fuel is also taken into account, this
loss reaches €7.5 billion. Moreover, one of the
main features of 2010 was the upsurge of unem-
ployment. Thousands of businesses were shut
down, and it is estimated that 50,000 employers
and 170,000 employees lost their jobs in the pri-
vate sector.
What about this year? “It is hard to believe that we
will see any economic or social recovery in 2011.
Circumstances are such that, no matter how san-
guine one wishes to be, there is no room for opti-
mism, since the year 2011 will also be a year of
excessive demands and new sacrifices”, ESEE
points out.
Moreover, the year 2011 is expected to see
sweeping changes in Greek retail trade, due to
the country’s obligations that emanate from the
Memorandum of Economic & Fiscal Policies, as
well as due to the “Kallikratis” plan which estab-
lishes a new administrative architecture for local
government. These changes will not be limited to
the transposition of the “Bolkestein Directive” into
Greek law. The extended responsibilities assigned
to the new Municipalities and Regions that will be
created through the “Kallikratis” plan may eventual-
ly lead to the fragmentation of Greek retail trade,
with different working hours across Regions or even
across municipalities, with different zoning regula-
tions, with excessive extensions of tourist areas,
which create risks of unfair competition and
become the cause of “civil wars”.
Therefore, if 2010 is described as a “year of
decline”, 2011 will possibly go down in history as
the year of the fall of many “bastions”, such as the
Sunday holiday or the restrictions to the estab-
Trade with Greece
42
Retail Trade
In the face of the
crisis
By Thanassis Heliodromitis
A “year
of decline” for Greek trade and a “landmark
year” for
the Greek economy, but “above all and ulti-
mately for the Greek society” - this is how the
National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE)
describes 2010, stressing that “the wounds it has
inflicted upon the market’s activity and prospects will
be difficult to heal”.
