Wobbling along

摘要

It seemed a good idea at the time. On June nth Antonis Samaras, the prime minister, eager to show that his fractious coalition could push through public-sector reform, shut the overstaffed state broadcaster ert without warning and sacked its 2,650 employees. Few Greeks watch ert's four television channels; its programmes are dull and its news anchors are political stooges (a leaked list found dozens of employees earning six-figure salaries). And the European Union and the imf, who oversee Greece's bail-out, were waiting impatiently for the government to come up with the names of 2,000 public-sector workers to be sacked by June 30th.