Greece debt: Austerity-hit Spartans resent Athens
bbc / Paul Henley
29-Jul-2011


The BBC's Paul Henley detects stirrings of dissent in Sparta as middle-class Greeks hit by the country's economic woes aim their ire at the Athens government.

Yiannis did not expect to be back in his sleepy home town of Sparta, in the Greek Peloponnese, at the age of 30.

He sees his return as a personal defeat.

Up until 18 months ago, the business graduate had a career in Athens for a finance company.

But his job was a casualty of a national economic collapse that dwarfs most others in Europe and, ever since, he has been unable to find work.

He ended up moving back in with his parents where he grew up.

Having made constant unsuccessful applications for work, he says the growing feeling of uselessness is reducing him as a person.

"Now," he says, "I can't dream as I did before, I can't be optimistic about life or have any real ambitions. Perhaps my only chance is to move abroad."

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