Brussels, 07/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - “Terrible commandments” imposed, “demands that are impossible to meet”, and “punitive expeditions” - these are the epithets used by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to describe the austerity measures imposed by the EU, particularly on Greece, by representatives of European workers on the occasion of the 24-hour general strike, with demonstrators taking to the streets of Athens on Wednesday 5 October. The ETUC criticises the approach taken by the European Central Bank towards Greece and, more especially, the overall EU policy on the difficulty being experienced by a number of states which are facing scepticism from the financial markets and which have failed to comply with stability and growth pact rules. The ETUC is annoyed at the confidential letter, recently published in the press, from President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Jean-Claude Trichet to Italy, calling for cuts to social spending and jeopardising the system of collective agreements at national level. “Instead of following the path of solidarity and taking bold measures commensurate with the seriousness of the situation, it's the short-term solution that holds sway”, laments the ETUC in a press release published on Thursday 6 October. The situation, however, is certainly more worrying in Greece. Austerity measures, which have seen civil servants lose an average of 20% from their incomes, and 30,000 of them laid off or under threat of losing their jobs, are only one side of the issue. The other is the democratic deficit, the feeling among Greeks that the solutions to their country's financial problems are being imposed on them from on high. EU interference is viewed as an attack on national sovereignty - a sentiment heightened by the fact that Greece's budget for 2012 lies effectively in the hands of a team of high-ranking European officials. The anger of the people is swelling, and is gradually turning on the EU. ETUC General Secretary Bernadette Ségol was forthright in her view on the role played by the European institutions and what she expects the outcome to be: “It is an illusion to think that these actions will help countries in difficulty to return to growth. Exactly the opposite is happening”. (JK/transl.rt)