How can you do that? It breaks your heart,” she said. “It’s shameful that we cannot afford to buy our grandchildren anything for Christmas - maybe only a chocolate. The plaza outside the Greek parliament once boasted Europe’s biggest Christmas tree but is now decorated with only a few lights. Ioanna Georgiou, a 59-year-old schoolteacher whose salary has been slashed, condemned Greek politicians for bringing the country to its knees: “They are sucking our blood,” she said as she window shopped near Syntagma Square in central Athens. How can you celebrate when things are so bad?” “We cut back on everything - decorations, food. “Sometimes my wife and I cry when we realise we will not be able to buy the girls toys this year,” Tsakos said. Two of his three children, in their 30s and 40s, are out of work and he has two small granddaughters.

“Family is very important to us Greeks so the worst thing is when you are not able to provide for them,” said 70-year-old pensioner Nikos Tsakos. Vassilis Korkidis, head of Greece’s ESEE retail federation expected people there to spend 15-20 euros on average on gifts, compared to 40 euros last year.

“And those who don’t want to spend say it is because they can’t forget about the crisis.”ĮSADE marketing professor Jaime Castello said 25 percent of Spanish consumers, those worst hit by a crisis that has put one in four workers out of a job, would spend less than half the national average on Christmas gifts and entertainment. “Those who plan to spend more say that next year is going to be so hard they want to enjoy themselves a bit and forget about those day-to-day worries. “At both ends of the scale people are motivated by the same thing,” said Larroy. Spain is still the fifth highest-spending country in Europe and that is for cultural reasons. But that figure is still 40 percent lower than in 2007.Īt accountancy firm Deloitte, which carries out an annual Christmas consumption survey, Victoria Larroy said: “There has been a big drop in Christmas spending, but tradition also matters. Slideshow ( 3 images ) SPANISH SPEND DESPITE CRISISīarcelona business school ESADE said the average Spanish family will spend 650 euros on all Christmas spending - more than households in many richer European countries to the north. Here, though, strong family networks and traditions of Christian giving are pushing many people to buy gifts despite their straitened circumstances. Things are bad too in Spain, the zone’s fourth biggest economy, which is widely expected to be the next to take a bailout. “I have had this shop for 24 years,” she said. Nearby, Marisa Pines, the owner of a women’s accessories shop, shook with anxiety as she said her takings were way down. I will sort something out for Christmas dinner.” “I have put up the tree, although I am using the same decorations as last year. Last year I bought presents for everyone, friends and family,” said civil servant Nadia di Santo, 38, in a shopping district in northern Rome. Italy, the euro zone’s third biggest economy, has rattled investors’ nerves because of a political crisis and uncertainty about the outcome of an election expected in February.īut steep tax rises and spending cuts by technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti have already caused great pain, with the latest instalment of a hated property levy swallowing savings just before Christmas. “If we exchange gifts this year at all, it will be something very cheap, probably bare necessities,” said Agneia de Sothe, a 48-year-old cleaning lady in Lisbon. Comparing it to Nazi rule in World War Two, he added: “I know from my parents who lived through the occupation that this year is as bad as it was then - if not worse.”įeelings are similar in Portugal, which like Greece is kept afloat by an international bailout and is mired in its worst recession for 40 years. “Of course we will have a family dinner but we sure won’t be eating meat this year,” he said. We cannot afford to have the heating on so we will sit at home covered in blankets,” said unemployed computer salesman Polihronis Sotiriou, 46, whose family is now struggling on the salary of his teacher wife. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalisįrom Lisbon to Athens, Christmas lights are dim, gift purchases are down and suffering families are bitter at the effect of three years of crisis.Ĭonditions are worst in Greece, the country which sparked the debt crisis in early 2010 and has had to swallow sweeping tax rises and spending cuts in exchange for international aid. A woman lights a candle to place it on a Christmas tree which is made of milk tin cans in Athens December 14, 2012.

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