Rolling coverage as Greece’s new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, picks government ministers Latest: the official announcementLeaked! The Tsipras cabinetTsipras cuts back Greek governmentYanis Varoufakis is finance ministerProfile: Varoufakis is Keynes with a dash of Marx 2.21pm GMT This photoshopped image of the former Greek prime minister leaving office is doing the rounds on social media:The tragedy that is Greece ... pic.twitter.com/sgvNWgyRpX 2.15pm GMT The selloff in Athens continues....Greek Markets in Deep Moussaka Athens stock exchange -6.43% Banks -18.35% (ht @EfiEfthimiou) 1.51pm GMT Yanis Varoufakis will have the formidable Nantia Valavani and Kostas Mardas as deputy finance ministers. Mardas, an economics professor, will be in charge of taxation policies. Syriza has said, repeatedly, it has “big fig” tax evaders in its sights. Valavani, a Syriza MP and prolific writer/translator is also a respected economist, Helena Smith reports. 1.49pm GMT By appointing #Varoufakis as Fin Min, #Tsipras continues 'confrontational' strategy with Europeans, analysts say #greeceTsipras opts for academics in key cabinet posts: Varoufakis (Fin Min), Stathakis (Econ Min), Kotzias (Foreign Min). #ekloges2015 #GreeceQuite a few academics in new Greek cabinet. Economy Minister Stathakis teaches Political Economy at Crete University. #Greece #ekloges2015Just 2 women in the new Greek cabinet, it seems. http://t.co/Gu3hYagYL4 1.48pm GMT The Greek stock market is now down 5%, from 3% earlier. That’s not all Tsipras-related; disappointing corporate results from US construction giant Caterpillar have hit markets around the globe. 1.39pm GMT The New Greek government is official. “The first cabinet meeting takes place tomorrow,” said Nikos Pappas who announced the government line up (see our leaked list)“All the difficulties begin now,” “In the next two months the state faces 4bn in maturing debt repayments.” 1.28pm GMT Confirmation that Nikos Kotzias, European Studies Professor at University of Piraeus, is the new Greek Foreign Minister.More snaps:Cabinet: Minister of State Nikos Pappas, Justice Nikos Paraskevopoulos, gov't spox Gabriel Sakellaridis #greece #ekloges2015Cabinet: Labor Minister Panos Skourletis. Zoe Constantopoulou nominated as parl't speaker #greece #ekloges2015 1.26pm GMT HERE COMES THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.The new Greek cabinet is being announced now. There’s confirmation that Yanis Varoufakis is the finance minister.New ministers just announced in #greece. Economist Yanis Varoufakis named new Finance Minister #Athens #Tsipras 1.16pm GMT We’re hearing that Elena Koundoura will head the ministry of tourism, meaning there will be two women in the government. 1.05pm GMT A quick update on what has postponed an otherwise speedily created cabinet in Athens this morning. Our correspondent Helena Smith reports that there is an early hiccup in the uneasy power-sharing arrangement behind the “war cabinet” that will take on the debt-crippled country’s creditors.“Hello, I heard you want to tell me something, but I don’t speak Greek. Sorry”. 12.46pm GMT Not long now!......#Greece PM Alexis Tsipras due to announce new cabinet at 3PM local time Zoe Konstantopoulou, fiery lawyer, 2nd ever prez of House 12.43pm GMT Greece’s new radical left Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made good on his promise to pare back government. “While often very confrontational, Varoufakis might well provide a very good example of how Syriza has adjusted and has become more moderate, something which, after all, could be seen as a reason for its victory in Last Sunday’s elections.” 12.38pm GMT The blind MP Panagiotis Koroumblis is going to be Greece’s first-ever minister with a disability. 12.29pm GMT Awaiting the announcement of new cabinet ... #Greece 12.27pm GMT Greek bank stocks are hitting fresh lows:Greek banks are getting slammed again! National bank Of Greece (-15%), Eurobank (-16%), Alpha Bank (-17%), Piraeus Bank (-16%) #Greece 12.25pm GMT Another rumour.... Yannis Panoussis may get Ministry of Protection of the Citizen.And there’s chatter that a second women could be added to the list, as well as Zoe Konstantopolou. 12.05pm GMT Marina Chrysoveloni, spokesman of the populist right wing Independent Greeks party, junior partner in coalition government, has just confirmed that the new cabinet will be sworn in at 5 PM “or just before.” (that’s 3pm GMT)Helena reports:“The appointment of Panos Kammenos [the party’s leader] to the defence ministry is a fact,” she told Skai news.“We have our red lines and are bound to them through commitments we have made to the Greek people,” she said mentioning “illegal migrants” (a bogey word to the radical leftists) and debt in the same sentence. 12.03pm GMT One last-minute change to that list....Zoe Konstantopoulou is going to assume the presidency of the parliament, so Nikos Voutsis gets the Interior Ministry brief. 11.51am GMT The new government line-up is expected to be announced imminently.But our correspondent Helena Smith has already heard the details from government insiders. Here’s the list (not official, and subject to last-minute change).If that is the case, it would be considered a sop to the nationalist constituency given the populist right win party’s eurosceptic take on foreign affairs. Kammenos, memorably, described Europe as being governed by “German neo-Nazis” last week and has made all manner of anti-Semitic remarks. The party’s inclusion in the government is already sending shudders through the Far Left camp of euro MPs which includes Germany’s Die Linke in Brussels. 11.30am GMT Details of the Greek cabinet are starting to leak out:Yiannis Panousis, professor of criminology, becomes minister for policing...thinker about police methodology and social roots of crime 11.28am GMT The 14 yr old volleyball player who grew up to be Greece's prime minister & Europe's boggeyman #syriza #tsipras pic.twitter.com/dtmTN8t4Zk 11.27am GMT Alexis Tsipras’s new Greek cabinet is expected to be announced very soon:@graemewearden Announcement of new cabinet in #Greece expected in 13:30 EET. Minutes away now. 11.08am GMT Angela Merkel has avoided an awkward conversation with Greece’s new prime minister, by sending him a telegram of congratulation.In it, Germany’s chancellor tells Alexis Tsipras:“You’re taking over your office in a difficult time in which you face a great responsibility,” “I hope to be able to firm up and deepen with you the traditionally good and deep friendship between our peoples. 11.00am GMT Readers trying to get their head around why a radical left-wing party like Syriza would team up with a populist right-wing group like Independent Greeks should read this blogpost, by blogger Irate Greek:The fact that SYRIZA chose to join forces with Independent Greeks is extremely revealing. A left-wing, democratic party that defends basic liberties and human rights has essentially no other option, in order to govern with an anti-austerity agenda, than to join forces with a racist, ultra-conservative right-wing party whose mentality belongs in the dungeons of history. This is extremely revealing of how screwed up (for lack of a better word) the Greek political scene has become over the past few years, and it is an issue that must be urgently addressed.For the evening TL: Strange bedfellows | My take on the #SYRIZA - Ind Greeks coalition http://t.co/hs6Qu7O8Tu #Greece #ekloges #ekloges2015 10.41am GMT Syriza’s victory has raised the risks of that Greece will be downgraded, rating agency Moody’s has warned.In a new report, Moody’s said the election outcome Is “Credit Negative Because It Prolongs Financing, Liquidity and Economic Growth Risks”.Syriza’s position is in direct opposition to the Troika and will make negotiations for renewing the programme very challenging when the current agreement with the European Commission expires on 28 February. All in all, we expect that the policy uncertainty and the reduced liquidity in the economy will weigh on Greece’s economic growth. Following an expansion of the Greek economy for the first time since 2007 last year (which we estimate at around 0.6%), we currently forecast real growth at slightly above 1% this year. However, we see significant downside risks because we expect investment and consumption levels to remain low and to be further dampened by the political and policy uncertainty associated with this election outcome. 10.28am GMT Here’s Jon Henley on the news that Yanis Varoufakis is getting the keys to the finance ministry:Varoufakis, 53, studied in Britain and has also taught in Australia, Greece and the US. In pre-election interviews he promised to end what he described as Greece’s humanitarian crisis, slice a chunk off its €320bn debt mountain, and destroy the country’s oligarchs who “viciously suck the energy and the economic power from everybody else”.A prolific blogger and media commentator who dresses in brightly coloured shirts and jeans, Varoufakis – who has dual Greek and Australian nationality – abandoned a job at the University of Texas to join Tsipras’s team in the election runup, and celebrated Sunday’s result by paraphrasing Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, saying: “Greek democracy today chose to stop going gently into the night. Greek democracy resolved to rage against the dying of the light.” 10.27am GMT Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads up the eurogroup of finance ministers, will meet the new Greek government on Friday, his spokesman says.That could be a lively meeting, given Yanis Varoufakis has condemned austerity as ‘fiscal waterboarding’.Spokesperson says #Dijsselbloem will visit Athens this Friday. He will meet with the Greek PM Alexis #Tsipras and the new finance minister 10.08am GMT Yanis Varoufakis has pledged to keep blogging his views on the Greek economy once he becomes finance minister (later today).The time to put up or shut up has, I have been told, arrived. My plan is to defy such advice. To continue blogging here even though it is normally considered irresponsible for a Finance Minister to indulge in such crass forms of communication. Naturally, my blog posts will become more infrequent and shorter. But I do hope they compensate with juicier views, comments and insights.For hope to be revived we must all strive to change the ways of a dismal past. Maintaining an open line with the outside world may be a small step in that direction. 9.57am GMT The Greek stock market is in retreat today, adding to yesterday’s falls.The main Athens stock market has lost another 3%. Bank shares are leading the fallers: 9.55am GMT Cast your vote, please: 9.42am GMT From Athens, freelance journalist Omaira Gill is tweeting the latest cabinet speculation:Nikos Pappas might be state minister of communications #greekelections #cabinet #government @tovimagrTo Vima: Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis will be in charge of the department of labour #greekelections @tovimagrDepartment of Education & Culture will be run by Aristedis Baltas according to info from To Vima @tovimagr #greekelections #ekloges2015Rania Antonopoulos, State MP of SYRIZA, professor @ Bard College expected to be Deputy Minister of Labour @tovimagr #ekloges2015 #greece 9.37am GMT Rumours continue to swirl that Independent Greek leader Panos Kammenos will become Greece’s new defence minister.#Tsipras will announce his cabinet today. Kammenos rumoured to be defence minster. #syriza #greece #sealtheborders #defence #politics 9.10am GMT Tsipras is expected to announce his cabinet in the early afternoon, once the details have been hammered out.If there are only 10 ministers, as Syriza tweeted earlier, the new PM must be merging several ministries together....#Tsipras expected to announce cabinet in early afternoon #greece #ekloges2015Panos Kammenos says role of Independent Greeks in new government is that of "regulator" #greece #ekloges2015 9.02am GMT Economics professor Yanis Varoufakis has confirmed to Irish radio station Newstalk that he’ll be appointed finance minister today: It hasn’t been announced yet, but since I’m talking to my Irish friends, I might as well concede that this is happening today. Later on in the afternoon we shall be sworn in.“As the next finance minister, I can assure you that I shall not go into the eurogroup seeking a solution that is good for the Greek taxpayer and bad for the Irish, Slovak, German, French and Italian taxpayer.” 8.58am GMT The selloff in Greek bonds is picking up pace, forcing up the yields (or interest rates) on its three-year and 10-year debt: 8.54am GMT Congratulations @yanisvaroufakis new finance minister of Greece, member of the Eurogroup & general dude: pic.twitter.com/qtsSqWD6p0 8.51am GMT Yanis Varoufakis will be a formidable opponent for those eurozone ministers who insist Greece cannot renegotiate its debt deal, predicts Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Daily Telegraph:Problem of EMU core is that @yanisvaroufakis intellectually more agile, better economist than their FinMins. Will demolish their platitudes 8.49am GMT Economics professor and blogger Yanis Varoufakis has dropped an extremely heavy hint that he is Greece’s new finance minister (as expected) - by republishing a profile from the Telegraph onto his own blog:Good to know: Greece's finance minister is no extremist - THE TELEGRAPH http://t.co/YSKt4r7jIuJohn Maynard Keynes with a hint of Karl Marx is how one analyst described the self-proclaimed “accidental economist” who is now to become Greece’s finance minister and a key negotiator with its international creditors. 8.38am GMT Greek government bonds are falling in value this morning, as the prospect of a battle over debt restructuring looms over the markets.The yield, or interest rate, on Greek 10-year bonds has jumped to 9.6%, from around 9.2% last night. That means the debt is seen as riskier (yields rise when the value of a bond falls) 8.29am GMT David Cameron has offered British assistance to help Greece tighten up its tax collecting operations.Speaking on the Today Programme, the PM said he spoke with Alexis Tsipras last night to congratulate him on his win. That is something we can work with the Greek government on.Cameron says he offered Greece's new PM help on tax transparency. Dave & George Osborne breaking promise to publish their own tax returns 8.20am GMT Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has just told reporters in Brussels that Europe isn’t to blame for Greece’s problems: *SCHAEUBLE SAYS STRUCTURAL REFORMS IN #EU ARE A NECESSITY 8.17am GMT My colleague Phoebe Greenwood is in Athens with a film crew. She reports that hopes turned to anxiety yesterday as it emerged Syriza was partnering with the populist Independent Greeks: 8.09am GMT There’ll only be 10 ministers in Tsipras’s cabinet, Syriza tweets:New government is set to consist of only 10 ministers. 8.07am GMT Prime minister David Cameron has cited Greece’s problems as a reason for UK voters to stick with him at the next British general election, in 100 days time.Interviewed on Sky News this morning, Cameron said that the eurozone’s political landscape is undergoing major change.In Greece, it is reaction to economic failure. The economy is a fifth smaller than before the financial crisis....The eurozone is a system that is not working properly. .@David_Cameron on Greek elections: "There is a huge contrast between Britain…and the failure and risks we see in Greece" @BBCBreakfastWith 100 days to go to the election - I'll be on @BBCr4today at 810am, explaining why the choice is between competence and chaos. 7.55am GMT Alexis Tsipras has a nasty surprise when he arrived at the prime minister’s headquarters yesterday, the To Vima newspaper reports.The new government found the Maximos Mansion almost bare, with no sign of computers or paperwork. Even the bathrooms were cleared out.“They took everything and left. I was looking for an hour to find soap.”#Tsipras finds PM's office empty: previous occupant #Samaras cleared out everything, apparently. Even took the soap. http://t.co/GfeHTL6Eiw 7.49am GMT #Greece's new cabinet to be announced today. Final hour modifications... 7.48am GMT Alexis Tsipras is expected to start the process of unpicking Greece’s austerity programme quickly, once his cabinet is in place.His first bill is expected to raise the minimum wage back to €751/month, and to bring back regulations allowing collective wage bargaining. The bill foresees the new payment plans leading to no more than between 20 and 30 percent of taxpayers’ annual income going toward repaying their debts. 7.42am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of events in Greece.SYRIZA’s left wing, or Left Platform, will probably be represented in the government by Panayiotis Lafazanis, Dimitris Stratoulis and Nikos Hountis.Rania Antonopoulou, the director of the Gender Equality and the Economy program at the Levy Institute, is expected to be appointed to the Labor Ministry, possibly as a deputy to Stratoulis.Tuesday's Guardian front page: Radical Greeks vow to see off age of austerity #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/6cxIbNhPPv Continue reading...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |