Greek workers have gone on strike to protest rising prices and demand higher wages

Thousands of workers in Greece have demonstrated to demand higher wages and better living standards. The general strike halted ships and disrupted rail and bus services.

Doctors, teachers, construction workers and transport workers from Greece's largest private and public sector unions staged a 24-hour mass strike on Wednesday, partly over the lingering effects of the country's 2009-2018 debt crisis and the high cost of living.

Protesters gathered in Syntagma Square in central Athens, the capital, chanting "Workers' rights are law" and waving banners reading "General strike against rising prices."

During the Greek debt crisis, many Greeks had their wages and pensions cut in return for bailout loans worth more than €200bn. The crisis has cut Greece's economic output by a quarter and pushed the country to the brink of exiting the euro.

The Greek economy has rebounded after the debt crisis, but wages remain below the European average, gross domestic product per capita is among the lowest in the European Union, and commodity prices have soared.

Since coming to power in 2019, Prime Minister Mitsotakis' center-right government has raised pensions and quadrupled the total minimum monthly wage to 830 euros. The government has also pledged to increase this figure by €950 by 2027.

However, Greeks say these increases are not enough because the cost of energy, food and housing is still rising faster than wages and pensions.

Giorgos Skiadiotis, a pensioner, said: "Today we are asking the government to return the wealth that they and successive governments have taken from us in the last 10 years. Our purchasing power has dropped by 50 percent, and inflation affects everything."

The Greek Private Sector Union (GSEE), which represents about 2.5 million workers, says "oligopolies" are driving up the cost of basic goods in Greece.

Mitsotakis acknowledged Monday that wages and living standards in Greece still have room to rise, and he repeated his call for the EU to help address differences in electricity prices within the bloc.

The Greek government has presented its final 2025 budget to parliament amid a general strike. The budget estimates the Greek economy will grow by 2.3% next year, above the EU average. The budget also includes about 1.1 billion euros in extra spending to raise wages and pensions.