Greece’s civil service has been partially blamed for the fiscal disaster which has befallen the country.

The civil service, long known for its long tradition of perks, is now in the spotlight as the government asks it to trim waste.

With the ranks of the service packed with political supporters of previous and successive governments, the civil servants' union has been asked to estimate how many staff are in the ranks.

It has been calculated that there are around one million people in the service, although numbers differ over which estimates are gathered and by whom.

The Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry has calculated 1.2 million people including contract workers are tied up in the service, while the finance ministry has said there are 800,000 members.

The Greek interior ministry has a completely different set of figures.

Whoever is correct, all state staff are about to see 12 percent cuts in benefits and 30 percent cuts in holiday pay.