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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Monday, November 18, 2013

Romania vs. Greece: World Cup Betting Odds, Match Preview, Second Leg

They were priced at +115 with Greece at +300 and a draw line of +240. Greece’s Konstantinos Mitroglou had two goals in the first leg and, even though his squad lost the time of possession battle, they generated more shots. Georgios Samaras ...

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Munich commemorates Greek and Turkish victims of neo-Nazis

KathimeriniMunich commemorates Greek and Turkish victims of neo-NazisKathimerini“For many years, there was widespread suspicion that the assassination of Boulgarides – who was a highly regarded member of the Greek community until his murder – was a settling of scores,” said Apostolos Malamoussis, a local priest, who held a ...

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World Cup Playoff Preview: Romania

Romania will look to its fine recent home form as it enters Tuesday's World Cup qualifying playoff second leg with Greece down 3-1. In the past 12 months, the Romanians have won five of seven encounters on home soil, beating the likes of Belgium and ...

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Greek Poesy Breakfast in Düsseldorf

The association of Greek authors in Germany (“Die Gesellschaft Griechischer Autoren e.V.) formed in 2006, organize events where Greek authors as well as authors from other nationalities living in Germany (Turkish, Kurdish, German etc.

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2014 is not 1914, but Europe is getting increasingly angry and nationalist

While Germany focuses on forging a government, populist anti-EU parties look set to do well at next year's elections

Now the German elections are over, Germany and France will launch a great initiative to save the European project. Marking the centennial of 1914, this will contrast favourably with the weak and confused leadership under which Europe stumbled into the first world war. Before next May's elections to the European parliament, the Franco-German couple's decisive action and inspiring oratory will drive back the anti-EU parties that are gaining ground in so many European countries.

In your dreams, Mr and Ms Pro-European, in your dreams. Now for the reality. We will not even have a new German government until just before Christmas. In the German coalition negotiations, which are meant to be concluded next week, European affairs are being handled in – wait for it – a sub-group of the working group on finance. That sub-group is called "Bank regulation, Europe, Euro". For all the three participating parties, Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, the Bavarian Christian Social Union and the opposition Social Democrats, the hot-button issues are domestic. The introduction of a minimum wage, energy policy, dual citizenship, a proposed motorway toll – all count for more than the future of the continent.

Germany's politicians know what really matters for selling their parties to voters in future elections. As ordinary Germans get into the swing of their Christmas shopping, most are not feeling the pinch of the euro crisis. Youth unemployment is around 8% in Germany, compared with 56% in Spain. It is hard to convey just how far away, and how un-urgent, the crisis of Europe feels to the man on the Berlin U-bahn. Unlike his counterpart in Madrid, he does not emerge from the underground to find stinking garbage piling up on the streets.

Once the German government is formed, its European policy will be the product of compromises between three departments of state – the dominant federal chancellery, the finance ministry, and the foreign ministry – which will themselves be divided politically between Christian and Social Democrats.

Europe's reluctant leading power will have to make further compromises with France, which has different views on several key issues. France also has a weak president, François Hollande, who is failing to reform his own country, let alone helping anyone else's. The ageing and increasingly unequal German-French couple – which in January marked a rather downbeat golden wedding anniversary, with the German wife now definitely wearing the trousers – will have to take account of the concerns of valued partners such as Poland, as well as proposals coming from European institutions.

And from this dysfunctional orchestra is to emerge a clarion call that will knock the sceptics of all countries back on their heels and mobilise Europeans to vote for Europe? Ha, ha, ha.

Partly as a result, this will be the most interesting European election campaign since direct elections to the European parliament began in 1979 – for all across Europe there is the most amazing array of national protest parties. "Populists" is the blanket term lazily draped over them all, but it does not capture their diversity. With all due disrespect to the UK Independence party and Germany's anti-euro Allianz für Deutschland, it is quite wrong to tar them with the same brush as Greece's neo-fascist Golden Dawn, Hungary's Jobbik or France's Front National. That's even more true of, say, Catalan nationalists, let alone Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement in Italy – which could not be farther from the far right. Closer to the xenophobic politics of the French Front National – but with multiple national and sub-national variations – are groupings such as the Vlaams Belang in Belgium, Finland's The Finns party (until recently, True Finns), the Danish People's party, and so-called Freedom parties in Austria and Holland.

Two of their most skilful leaders, Marine Le Pen of the French Front National and Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom party, have started trying to pull them together. After wooing in spring, over lunch at the elegant La Grande Cascade restaurant in Paris's Bois de Boulogne, this odd couple last week performed the political equivalent of a wedding dance in The Hague.

"Today is the beginning of the liberation from the European elite, the monster in Brussels," cried Wilders. "Patriotic parties", added Le Pen, want "to give freedom back to our people", rather than being "forced to submit their budget to the headmistress". In Vienna on Friday, four others – Austria's Freedom party, Sweden's Democrats, Italy's Northern League and Vlaams Belang – joined a wary waltz with Le Pen.

I will be amazed if these parties do not do well in the European elections. I see nothing at all coming from the current leadership in Berlin, Paris or Brussels (forget London) that is likely to reverse an electoral grande cascade. Behind these parties' typically 10% to 25% standing in opinion polls is a wider popular discontent with unemployment, austerity and a Brussels bureaucracy that goes on spewing out regulations about the specifications of your vacuum cleaner and how much water you can use in the lavatory flush. A German Christian Democrat candidate for the European elections tells me that the anti-euro and anti-Brussels arguments of the Allianz für Deutschland resonate with quite a few of his local activists.

I am now taking a couple of months off from regular commentary to finish the book I'm writing about free speech (a vital right, anchored in the European convention on human rights, which these parties enjoy and exploit to its limits). When I come back, I'll be up for the good fight against Le Pen, Wilders, Jobbik and their ilk. Yet, with this divided, slow-moving and uninspiring European leadership, I have no illusions that we'll succeed in stopping the cascade. And if my guess is right, what happens then?

Since the one thing most of these parties have in common is that they are nationalists, they may have difficulty agreeing on much beyond their shared dislike of the EU. If they are strongly represented in the European parliament, the immediate effect will be to drive the mainstream socialist, conservative and liberal groupings closer together. So you'd have an explicit "grand coalition" in Berlin and an implicit grand coalition in Brussels.

The trouble with grand coalitions is that since the mainstream, centrist parties are burdened with the responsibility of government, the field of opposition is left wide open for protest parties. On the other hand, the anti-parties' very success could at last mobilise a younger generation of Europeans to defend achievements that they take for granted. Nineteen-fourteen this won't be, but a hundred years on, Europe will again be living in interesting times.

Twitter: @fromTGA

European electionsEuropean UnionThe far rightGermanyFranceMarine Le PenTimothy Garton Ashtheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


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Greek pet care market heavily impacted by the financial crisis

As the economic downturn continued through 2012, the Greek pet care market declined in both value and volume terms over the course of the year. The declines accelerated in value terms as a result of.......

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Greek pet care market declined in both value and volume terms in 2012

The declines accelerated in value terms as a result of the rising demand for cheaper products at the expense of premium brands. Dog food performed better overall than cat food as a result of cat ownership declining at a faster rate. Dog ownership was only ...

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Greece in talks to resolve budget gap disagreement

Greece's finance minister is meeting with representatives of the country's international creditors, part of tough negotiations to resolve a disagreement over 2014 budget cuts and allow the release of further ...

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New leftist terror in Greece: Who does it serve?

FRANCE 24New leftist terror in Greece: Who does it serve?Hurriyet Daily NewsOn the other hand, unlike similar texts by other terrorist groups who had carried out deadly attacks in Greece, this one contained very few details of the actual operation in Neo Iraklio. However, some more careful observers are pointing out that the ...Unknown Group Says It Killed 2 Activists in GreeceABC NewsGroup claims murders of Greek right-wing membersFRANCE 24Greece's racists gain support after members killedwww.worldbulletin.netall 52 news articles »

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Greek finance minister, international debt inspectors in negotiations over 2014 budget gap

by  Associated Press Greece in talks to resolve budget gap disagreement Associated Press - 18 November 2013 05:24-05:00

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's finance minister is meeting with representatives of the country's international creditors, part of tough negotiations to resolve a disagreement over 2014 budget cuts and allow the release of further rescue loans.

Yannis Stournaras was meeting Monday with officials from the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission. The delegation is scrutinizing a government forecast that the scheduled bailout loans will be 500 million euros ($670 million) short of the country's 2014 financing needs. Athens maintains the sum is small enough to make up without resorting to further austerity measures.

Stournaras said late Sunday it was too early for a final agreement, but that a solution would be found.

Greece has relied on international rescue loans since 2010, under a bailout program worth 240 billion euros ($322 billion).

News Topics: Business, General news, Government budget deficits, National budgets, Government budgets, Financial crisis, Government finance, Government business and finance, Government and politics, National governments, Economy, Financial markets

People, Places and Companies: Greece, Athens, Western Europe, Europe

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Greece: Tourists and investors are back

“Greece today stands at a crossroads,” ECB Executive Board member Yves Mersch said on Nov ... a population that has endured cuts to pensions and wages in return for 240 billion euros in rescue loans. Wages will have fallen by more than a fifth by ...

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The Parthenon Like You ‘ve Never Seen it Before!

A team of Russian photographers has created this amazing digital tour of the Acropolis in Athens. Anybody who wishes to visit The Parthenon but distance doesn’t allow them, now they can at least visit the monument digitally. The team has managed to capture amazing panoramic photos of most of the important points of interest of […]

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Leaving Athens and the Economic Crisis, for Figs in Taxiarchis

Marinos Tousert is another young graduate who left Athens in the midst of the economic crisis to find a job in the province. These last years, Marinos has been living in a village called Taxiarchis on the island of Euboea, where he works in the production of figs. Since ancient times, dried figs were considered […]

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Greece’s Talks With Troika Kick Off Again

The longest-running story in Greece – the country’s painstaking negotiations with international lenders, picked up again on Nov. 18 in yet another attempt to resolve differences over a range of issues before a pending one billion euro installment is released. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, the point man for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in the anguishing […]

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Greek Prime Minister to Head Greeks at Clerides’ Funeral

A high-level delegation headed by Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will attend the funeral of former Cyprus president Glafkos Clerides, who died on Friday at the age of 94. The Greek delegation will also include Vice President and Foreign ...

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Romania vs. Greece: Prediction, Preview and Key Battles

Aiming to stop him will be Borussia Dortmund's Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who kept Greece's back four organised during the first tie. Both are strong players, formidable in the air, who should be jostling with each other throughout this game.

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Greeks Turn to Tarot Reader as Market Rally Belies Jobless Gloom

“You know that expression: don’t waste a crisis.” Named “Agora,” the Greek word for marketplace, the Biennale evokes the gatherings of Greeks outside their parliament in the summer of 2011, which eroded support for then-Prime Minister ...

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Greeks Turn to Tarot Reader as Market Rally Belies Jobless Gloom

“You know that expression: don’t waste a crisis.” Named “Agora,” the Greek word for marketplace, the Biennale evokes the gatherings of Greeks outside their parliament in the summer of 2011, which eroded support for then-Prime Minister ...

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Greek Unemployment The Big Risk

The unemployment statistics released recently for Europe will supply all political parties with ample material to manipulate. Even the Greek government can claim that at last something is happening as the economy continues to fight for its life. Regardless of any political exploitation of the subject, the substance of the report is whether the country can turn the economic page before there is a social explosion. The figures are depressing: 27 percent unemployment in August: even though it remained stable from the previous month, it was up from 25.5 percent last August, or higher by 88,242 people.

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Hellenic Lawyers Gala Honors Capetanakis, Maliagros

NEW YORK ? When the only issue at the 25th annual Dinner Dance Gala of the Hellenic Lawyers Association is the need for a bigger room ? New York venues don?t get much more elegant than the Pierre Hotel, however ? the clear verdict is that it was a great success. The sold-out gathering attracted friends and family of the honorees, Spiros Maliagros, President, TIG Advisors, and HLA Attorney of the Year award recipient Charles Capetanakis, Partner, Davidoff Hitcher & Citron and Chairman and Founder of the Hellenic Classical Charter School in Brooklyn, NY. HLA president Elena Paraskevas-Thadani welcomed the guests and acknowledged the members of the judiciary ? Greeks and Philhellenes ? who enjoy the annual affair. She paid tribute to them by noting their importance to society by saying, ?If we can?t settle our dispute in a civilized manner we are not a civilization.?

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Thousands of Greeks mark 40th anniversary of student uprising, protest against ...

RTThousands of Greeks mark 40th anniversary of student uprising, protest against ...RTMore than 16,000 Greeks marched through the streets of Athens on Sunday to protest against austerity and mark the 40th anniversary of the student uprising against the former ruling military junta. The annual march comes as Greece reels from its sixth ...Police, anarchists clash in Greek capitalPress TVStudents and workers to mark 1973 Greek uprisingThe Voice of RussiaGreeks march on 40th anniversary of anti-junta uprisingZee NewsU-T San Diego -Greek Reporter -Neos Kosmosall 30 news articles »

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Thousands march for anniversary of Greece uprising against junta

ATHENS, Greece, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Several thousand people marked the 40th anniversary of a student uprising against Greece's junta during a march in Athens Sunday, organizers said.

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Two members of far-right Golden Dawn party shot earlier this month

Daily MailTwo members of far-right Golden Dawn party shot earlier this monthDaily MailA previously unknown anti-establishment group has claimed responsibility for a drive-by shooting which killed two men in Greece. The Militant People's Revolutionary Forces said its members were behind the death of two Golden Dawn supporters gunned ...

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Of Greek fathers and Turkish sons

Of Greek fathers and Turkish sonsAl-MonitorSummary⎙ Print The racist comments of a senior opposition MP draw reactions from Turkey's Greek minority, raising questions on how long the party's neo-nationalists and true social democrats can coexist. Author Orhan Kemal Cengiz Posted November 17, ...

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Buying property gets residency for Chinese in Greece

WantChinaTimesBuying property gets residency for Chinese in GreeceWantChinaTimesBuying properties in Greece became more popular earlier this year in China after it was highly recommended by immigration agents, because the financially troubled Greek government has introduced a policy to give permanent residency to any foreign buyer ...

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More arrests over Greek migrant boat tragedy: coastguard

Washington PostMore arrests over Greek migrant boat tragedy: coastguardDaily News EgyptAFP – Greek authorities have made more arrests over the boat tragedy that left 12 migrants dead, including four children, after an alleged attempt to smuggle them to Italy, the coastguard said Sunday. “A 34-year-old foreign national and a 53-year-old ...Twelve migrants drown off Greek coast after boat capsizesReutersTwelve drown off Greek coast after boat capsizesKathimerini12 migrants dead after boat capsizes in Greek waters, 15 rescuedWashington PostWorld Socialist Web Site -GlobalPost -Waterloo Recordall 69 news articles »

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Police, anarchists clash in Greek capital

Press TVPolice, anarchists clash in Greek capitalPress TVOver the past years, the annual event has turned into a mass march against the Greek government's policies, including austerity measures. The event comes a week after Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said his government will continue its austerity ...Students and workers to mark 1973 Greek uprisingThe Voice of RussiaGreeks rally against austerity, mark 40 years since student revoltThe Star OnlineThousands in Greece march in memory of 1973 revoltFort Worth Star Telegramall 36 news articles »

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Big Week Looms for Greece

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras‘ coalition government, which has only a four-vote majority in the 300-member Parliament, faces a tough week including renegotiations with its international lenders over delayed reforms and a looming budget gap before it’s submitted to Parliament on Nov. 21  and as the Premier goes to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela […]

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Golden Dawn Sets Anti-Mosque Rallies

Angry that the government has awarded a 946,000 euros contract to pay for the construction of an official mosque for Muslims without demanding reciprocation from Turkey, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party said it would organize mass protests to rally opponents and protest the government’s decision go go ahead. The extremist party said the awarding of […]

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis: 15,000 dismissals by the end of 2014

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek Minister of Administrative Reform, during an interview in Vima FM, talked about the 15,000 dismissals in the public sector by the end of 2014, based on the commitments of the Greek government towards the creditors. He also stated that there are no other pending commitments to Troika, relating the current evaluation. Mitsotakis said […]

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Greece’s NBG Said to Agree on Real Estate Unit Sale

National Bank of Greece, the country’s largest lender, reached an agreement to sell most of its real estate unit in a transaction that values the company at more than 1 billion euros, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The sale of a majority stake in Pangaea REIC to Invel Real Estate Partners, a […]

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The Life Expectancy of Greeks Reduced

The effects of austerity measures on healthcare are serious. According to data, the life expectancy of Greeks has dropped from 81 to 78 years. “The Greeks still cannot believe that the life expectancy has gradually reduced from 81 to 78 years,” said the president of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Kostas Frouzis. “It would be embarrassing to […]

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Greek Health Minister Sticks to His Position

Speaking to an event organized by the Athens Medical Association on Saturday, the Greek Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis, maintained his position that there will be dismissals in EOPYY, the  main healthcare provider in Greece. Georgiadis had announced that dismissals “might be a possibility, after staff review is complete.” These comments caused intense reactions. The doctors that attended […]

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Two Polls Bad News For Tsipras, PASOK

Two new political surveys show that the ruling New Democracy Conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras maintain a growing lead in one of the major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and slightly behind in the other – but both give him a huge margin as the country’s preferred leader over his rival […]

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Freight Train from Athens to Thessaloniki Starts

The first daily route of the freight train from Athens to Thessaloniki is scheduled for December 2nd. The deal for the trade trafficking from the enterprises of Athens to Northern Greece between TRAINOSE and the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises is final. According to company executives, the deal is expected to have revenues of 5 million […]

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40th Anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising:Thousands of People in the Protest March

The events for the 40th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising in 1973, reached its peak with the annual protest march. The march began at the gate of the Polytechnic University reaching the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece. Many students, members of unions, supporters of SYRIZA and fired employees of ERT, took part in the march. […]

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