The Greek government has used a rare emergency order to force lorry drivers back to work after a three-day strike.

经历三天的罢工之后，希腊政府使用一个罕见的紧急命令迫使卡车司机重回工作岗位。

The strike has caused fuel shortages across the country

The drivers have until later on Thursday to return to the roads or face arrest and the loss of their licenses¹.

Most petrol stations in Athens are out of fuel and shops and factories are running low on supplies.

The drivers oppose（反对，对抗） government plans to open the industry to more competition as part of austerity measures（紧缩措施） agreed with the IMF and the EU.

The reform is a key part of the multi-billion dollar EU-IMF package intended to pull Greece out of its debt crisis.

Members of the drivers' union said they would not back down（放弃，让步） and dared the government to seize their lorries.

"Leonidas with his 300 warriors² said 'Come and get it'. We say the same: come and get it," said one of the organisers of the strike, Spyros Kapetanios.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the drivers would not be allowed to hold "Greek society hostage".

He added: "No one has the right to paralyse（使麻痹，使瘫痪） the country - no one."

The back to work order was issued hours after negotiations³ between the government and the drivers broke down.

The national emergency provision（规定，条款） is usually reserved for times of war or natural disaster.

The country's tourism industry said it was suffering from the strike, with bookings down and many cancellations.

A series of strikes over the government's austerity measures has already hit the country.

The Greek government is aiming to slash⁴ the budget deficit⁵ from 13.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) to below 3% by 2014.