Greek truckers were to meet with the government on Friday in an attempt to bring an end to a strike that has paralyzed the country and disrupted fuel supplies in the middle of the busy summer tourism season. Greece's 33,000 protesting truck and fuel-tanker owners walked off the job on Monday to protest against a proposed reduction in new license charges. Athens says the move will help liberalize the freight sector and open the industry to more competition by September, a key part of the reforms outlined in the 110-billion-euro ($144-billion-dollar) European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout for the debt-ridden country. Truckers say the plan is unfair to existing operators, who have already paid high start-up fees, in some cases as much as 300,000 euros ($390,000).
Greek truckers were to meet with the government on Friday in an attempt to bring an end to a strike that has paralyzed the country and disrupted fuel supplies in the middle of the busy summer tourism season.
Greece's 33,000 protesting truck and fuel-tanker owners walked off the job on Monday to protest against a proposed reduction in new license charges. Athens says the move will help liberalize the freight sector and open the industry to more competition by September, a key part of the reforms outlined in the 110-billion-euro ($144-billion-dollar) European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout for the debt-ridden country.
Truckers say the plan is unfair to existing operators, who have already paid high start-up fees, in some cases as much as 300,000 euros ($390,000).
