Strikes in Greece

The Economist

University staff have been on strike for 13 weeks without an end in sight

Dec 7th 2013 | ATHENS |

WHAT a difference a crisis can make. The same Greek students who used to stage months-long sit-ins to press for a bigger say in running university affairs are now desperate to get back to studying. A strike by administrative staff has shut Athens University and the Athens polytechnic, the country’s best higher-education institutions, for 13 weeks. New undergraduates have been unable to register for courses, let alone attend classes. Striking administrators have locked lecture halls, libraries and laboratories and kept the keys. “We’ve effectively lost the first semester of this academic year…so dozens of my students won’t be able to take their degrees on time,” says a frustrated law professor.

Greece, foreign lenders close in on deal to unlock aid

By Lefteris Papadimas and Ingrid Melander

ATHENS/AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France | Sun Jul 7, 2013 4:41pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece is likely to reach a deal with foreign lenders on its latest bailout review before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday to decide on further aid, EU and Greek officials said on Sunday.