HEALTHCARE

– in Germany, only 29% of hospitals are public but even these, in the name of “autonomy”, operate on the terms of a profitable business. From 1994 to 2016, hospital beds were reduced from 618,000 to 499,000, ie by about 119,000, while 321 hospitals were closed and many more are following.

In Italy, € 37 billion in cuts have been made to the public health system over the last 10 years, closing public hospitals and staffing health gaps reaching to 56,000 before the pandemic. More of 12 million people do not receive the necessary medical treatment and care for financial reasons.

-In the UK, Only in the period 2016 – 2020 were cuts in the Health system of 22 billion pounds. It is typical that in Great Britain, there are only 2.76 hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants, which is the second smallest size in Europe and only 2.8 doctors, which is the smallest in Europe.

– In Greece, the cuts in state funding of the Health system from 2009 to 2015 reached 7.3 billion euros, while at the same time 17 hospitals were closed and 9,000 beds were abolished. Only in the period from 2010 to 2013 the reduction doctors in the National Health System reached 35%, while today the shortages in public hospitals exceed 6,000 in doctors and at least 25,000 in nursing and other staff. Public structures of primary care and preventive medicine are virtually non-existent.

The result of these policies is that by the 6th week of 2021, a total of 515,519 deaths have been recorded in all EU countries, a number that exceeds in absolute terms the death toll in the USA. In the context of this macabre report of the second wave of the pandemic (which lasts from November 1 to February 19) and based on the calculation of the mortality rate (deaths / cases), Greece ranks first in the EU with 40 deaths per 1,000 cases. These data do not include the 3^rd wave

Specifically, in Greece until November 1^sthad died due to COVID-19, 626 persons while on February 19 there were 6,249, in a total number of cases 40,929 and 178,918 respectively. Indicatively for the same period in other EU countries the deaths per 1,000 cases are recorded as follows: Belgium 32, Germany 31, Italy 27, United Kingdom 24, France 22, Austria 223.

In a very short time the public health systems, due to chronic policies of underfunding and commercialization, collapsed, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. In France the death toll exceeded 900 and in Belgium 200 per day in mid-November, in Spain 500 in late November and 700 in early February, in Germany 1,200 in late December, in Great Britain 1,500 in mid-January, in Portugal 300 at the end of January, while in Greece from November 20 to December 25 the death toll exceeded 3,100.

In fact, under the pressure of accumulated shortages, hospitals in Greece, in other EU countries and internationally have been transformed into hospitals of one disease, which implies the suspension of surgeries and diagnostic tests. According to the World Health Organization, at least 28 million general surgeries, 2.3 million oncology surgeries and 6.3 million orthopedic surgeries were canceled in 2020, while the diagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases, such as of diabetes, by 61% the treatment of neurological diseases and by 55% the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

MEASURES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Recovery Fund. A pact of 750 billion euros is foreseen, which is activated within the framework of the EU multi-annual budget for the period 2021 – 2027. This is the imposition of Memoranda on the peoples of Europe. With the money of Europe’s workers, the Commission will finance business groups, and call on the people to pay with new cuts in wages, pensions and salaries

SURE program: In the last 12 months, among other things, the operation of the SURE program has started, amounting to up to 100 billion euros. In the form of soft loans from the EU to the Member States, it intends to “cover the costs directly linked to the creation or extension of national part-time programs” by helping to “recycle” unemployment and reduce unemployment. Employment from the wage “cost”, but also in keeping demand at a certain level to ensure the turnover of business groups.

At the end of January 2021, the agreement for the amendment of the founding Treaty of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which had been pending for years, was signed, while the approval process by the national Parliaments remains. Among other things, the upgraded ESM is planned to take over

the role of “rescuer” of “last resort” for Eurozone banks that will face risks of collapse, since of course the other available means will have been exhausted before (recapitalizations, “haircuts”, etc.). Under the new treaty, the ESM will be able to provide loans of up to 68 billion euros to the Bank Resolution Fund to finance the “consolidation” or liquidation of troubled banks. At the same time, the ESM is expected to take on an upgraded role in the design and monitoring of financial assistance programs in Member States, with “exchanges” of lasting memoranda for the peoples.

The European Commission has announced the launch of a series of new anti-popular measures with restructuring in the financial systems of EU countries aimed at managing the mass of “red” loans. As noted in the relevant decision (December 2020), given the impact of the coronavirus on the EU economy, the volume of non-performing loans is expected to increase across the EU, although the timing and magnitude of this increase remain uncertain “. In this context, the European Commission gives the “green light” for the establishment of “national asset management companies”, ie so-called bad banks (“bad banks”) to which will be transferred “red” loans and problem assets of banking speaking. This development comes to lighten the banks from the “weights”, in order to stimulate the bank financing to the business groups, while at the same time, with the background and the processes for the Banking Union, the carpet is laid for the acceleration of the auctions for mortgages and business loans.

MEASURES OF SUPPRESSION AND RESTRICTION OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN GREECE 2020-2021

• Law 4703/2020, which essentially abolishes the right to assemble and prohibits demonstrations.
• Presidential Decree 73/2020, which extends the restrictions and repressive powers of the police for demonstrations.
• Presidential Decree 75/2020 which generalizes the use of fixed and mobile cameras and drones by the police.
• Law 4777/2021, which, among other things, provides for the establishment of a university police, despite the financial contraction of the budget for the needs of both personnel and logistical equipment within the institutions of universities.
• The “law on terrorism” (article 187A of the Penal Code), which is reinforced over time by all governments to date targeting the popular labor movements
• Law 4662/2020, for upgrading the operation of Civil Protection as a National Crisis Management Mechanism, with responsibilities for the imposition of repressive measures, with the mobilization of the entire public sector.