Rolling coverage as Greece’s new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, chooses his new cabinetCabinet announcement expected this afternoonYanis Varoufakis says he’ll be sworn in this afternoonProfile: Varoufakis is Keynes with a dash of MarxCameron offers Greece help with its taxes 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 |