Commuters living and working in the region of Attica were confronted with a series of major public transportation hurdles during a nine-day strike by Athens metro workers that ended on Friday, as well as a number of disruptions that affected other means of fixed-track transport and bus services.

They were therefore visibly pleased to witness metro services resume, something which would have been impossible if it weren’t for the coalition government’s decisive stance.

Greek society fully comprehends the reaction of employees when the latter are faced with even further reductions to their salaries.

At the same time, however, Greek society will no longer tolerate being held to ransom for days by the kind of industrial action which, at the end of the day, doesn’t actually solve any of the problems.

Any kind of act of retreat on the part of the government would have led the country once again to the brink of collapse and disorderly default.