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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

What's Being Done To Stop The Mediterranean Migrant Crisis And Why It's Not Enough

The deaths of more than 800 people in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday have led to renewed calls for international action to address the region's ongoing humanitarian crisis, in which thousands of migrants have lost their lives attempting to reach Europe by water. While Sunday marked the single deadliest day of the crisis thus far, it was not an isolated incident. More than 3,000 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean last year while attempting to cross from North Africa to Europe, and since the beginning of 2015, as many as 1,600 more people are believed to have lost their lives. The high level of risk has not stopped migrants from making the journey. If anything, the volume seems to be increasing. The death toll in the first four months of 2015 was 30 times higher than what it was during the same period in 2014. Crossing the Mediterranean is one of the most perilous ways to reach Europe. Travelers face numerous dangers, from choppy and unpredictable waters to the poor seaworthiness of smuggler's boats. Many migrants can't swim, and if their vessels are wrecked or capsized, they often drown. Those who do make it to European shores can face complicated asylum processes and even deportation. Many wind up homeless or in poverty. Survivors of the smuggler's boat that overturned off the coasts of Libya lie on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard ship Bruno Gregoretti, in Valletta's Grand Harbour, Monday, April 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Lino Azzopardi) After the deaths of 360 migrants off the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, the Italian Coast Guard launched a mission known as Mare Nostrum, or “Our Sea.” As part of the operation, five warships were put in constant patrol in the Mediterranean, aided by air support and drone surveillance. Over the course of a little more than a year, Mare Nostrum was credited with saving more than 100,000 migrants in the Mediterranean. The cost of the mission was estimated at around 9 million euros a month, a heavy burden for Italy to bear. After repeated calls by the Italians for European Union assistance, Mare Nostrum came to an end, and the responsibility to address the migrant crisis was charged to a joint European mission called Operation Triton, overseen by the European border control agency Frontex. Triton launched on Nov. 1, 2014, and many found the results underwhelming. “Europe's Operation Triton is a woefully inadequate replacement for Italy's Mare Nostrum," said António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, less than four months later. Migrants on a Coast Guard dinghy arrive at the Sicilian Porto Empedocle harbor, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Calogero Montanalampo) Frontex was conceived over a decade ago to coordinate migration issues across Europe. But analysts and activists say its missions are often underfunded and ill-equipped -- and those limitations put lives at risk. Unlike Mare Nostrum, Operation Triton is not a search and rescue operation. Instead, its main focus is border control. Its budget is a third of Mare Nostrum's, at just 2.9 million euros per month, and it has less than 10 percent of Mare Nostrum's manpower. Frontex also has no vessels of its own, relying on member states to contribute boats and planes to its missions. There are some smaller national and private efforts in addition to Operation Triton, such as the Greek team that rescued passengers from a recent wreck. Frontex also runs Operation Poseidon Sea, an undertaking based in Greece whose budget for 2014 was less than 1 million Euros a month. “What we've ended up with is a much less robust program that's more focused on security than it is on humanitarian activities, so that right there is helping to put more people in danger," Daryl Grisgraber, a senior advocate with the humanitarian group Refugees International, told The WorldPost. Frontex argues that while the agency does all it can to save lives, its main priority is border control. Search and rescue, the group says, was not part of the mandate given to it by European Union member states. "We do not have any mandate in search and rescue," Ewa Moncure, a spokeswoman for Frontex, told The WorldPost. "Of course, when there is a boat in distress and a call comes in, we suspend all our activities and participate in the search and rescue.” Moncure disputed a widely reported claim that Operation Triton only patrols 30 nautical miles off the Italian coast. “Our operational area is bigger than the territorial waters," she said. "In practice, the great majority of these incidents are taking place some 40 nautical miles off the Libyan coast.” In this Wednesday, March 4, 2015, file photo, rescued migrants wait to disembark from an Italian Coast Guard vessel in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, southern Italy. (AP Photo/Francesco Malavolta, File) The Mediterranean migrant crisis comes at a moment when there are more displaced people worldwide than at any other time since World War II. People fleeing conflict, repression or starvation in countries like Eritrea and Syria report that under current conditions, they have little choice but to leave their homes in search of asylum. Countries in the Middle East and North Africa have absorbed much of this migration -- nearly 25 percent of the people now living in Lebanon are Syrian refugees -- but many migrants are seeking to enter Europe as well. In the coming summer months, as the seas calm and the weather heats up, the Mediterranean migrations will likely increase, if past years' patterns are any indication. That seasonal uptick could be further exacerbated by the lack of border control in conflict-torn Libya, a place that Moncure called "a paradise" for human traffickers. Another major reason for the scaling-down of Mediterranean operations -- besides budgetary issues -- has been the concern that continued search and rescue would create an incentive for more migrants to attempt the crossing. The United Kingdom, for its part, has refused to support any such operations, citing what Joyce Anelay, the British Foreign Office minister, called "an unintended 'pull factor'" for migrants that would cause more deaths. Cecilia Malmstrom, home affairs commissioner for the EU, has also said the Italian rescue effort had the effect of intensifying human trafficking. Critics have also charged that the EU's increase in funding to restrict migration over land and fortify land borders has contributed to the increase in migrants seeking dangerous alternative passages, and has also led to a heightened reliance on human traffickers. Rights groups have repeatedly disputed the "pull factor" theory. Benjamin Ward at Human Rights Watch has written that the argument is "specious," and says that "even if rescue were shown to be a measurable pull, it is surely a moral failure unworthy of Europe to let some migrants drown in order to deter others." "It's a bit of a bizarre analysis, because the fact is that migrants are going to keep migrating no matter how dangerous and difficult it is," Grisgraber told The WorldPost. Grisgraber said she saw this firsthand while working with Syrian refugees who had tried migrating from the north coast of Egypt. "There were people in the water watching their tiny children drown. There were people who lost entire families," Grisgraber said. "These people said nonetheless they were going to try again, because they didn't see a future for themselves in Egypt." A migrant is helped to disembark in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, Italy, early Monday, April 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) On Monday, European foreign and interior ministers unveiled a 10-point plan to increase funding for Operation Triton and expand the intervention zone, though the details remain vague. They are scheduled to meet on Thursday to flesh out the plan. Yet already there are concerns that the proposals will fall short of what's needed. “It took the deaths of 1,000 people in the space of a week to see EU leaders focusing on this, but it’s just not going to be enough,” Judith Sunderland of Human Rights Watch told The Wall Street Journal this week. Critics have pointed out that even doubling the current rescue efforts -- a step that has reportedly been proposed -- would still leave Triton with less capacity than the Mare Nostrum mission, which itself could not accomplish all it set out to do. In this file photo taken on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, provided by the Italian Navy, rescue crews approach migrants on a rubber boat some 40 miles from the Libyan capital, Tripoli. (AP Photo/Italian Navy, file) There is also the issue that even with an effective search and rescue operation in place, the flow of migrants is unlikely to stop while push factors such as conflict and economic hardship are still going on in their countries of origin. Migrants are seen on the shore in the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes, Greece, on Monday, April 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Nikolas Nanev) And Grisgraber told The WorldPost that sweeping changes will also need to be made to European immigration policies in order to stop migrant deaths. "Migration into Europe from these less-developed countries needs to be regularized. There need to be safe and legal ways for people to get to Europe if that's what they want to do," Grisgraber said. "People who are fleeing persecution need to be allowed in as asylum seekers and have their claims adjudicated." "Basically, to make it illegal to show up at a border and try to seek either protection or a better life is clearly backfiring," says Grisgraber, "and that's why we're having people die at sea." But relaxation of immigration policy is politically difficult, especially with a number of anti-immigrant parties gaining ground in Europe and vocally opposing such measures. Nevertheless, Grisgraber argued that the immediacy and scope of the tragedy make it imperative for the EU to change existing policies. "People in charge are going to have to start thinking twice [about] how to deal with this," she said. "You can't have hundreds, close to a thousand people, periodically showing up at the sea border dead." -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Popular tourism locations embrace sports events

Sports events in Greek tourism hotspots are increasing, with the Spetsathlon 2015 taking place on Spetses this weekend (April 24-26) including swimming, cycling and running.


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Talks move slowly as Athens eyes political deal

A teleconference of eurozone Finance Ministry officials on Wednesday concluded that much more work needs to be done before a deal can be reached with the country’s creditors while Greece’s envoy in the negotiations currently taking place in Paris said any decision must be reached on a “political level.”


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Construction the worst-hit domain

Construction has been hit harder than all other economic sectors during the Greek crisis years, with its added value dropping 78 percent within five years, while one of the biggest local firms, Michaniki, has just been forced into administration.


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Greek exports to the US rose 10 pct last year

Greek exports to the United States in 2014 enjoyed their second-best year since 2007 in terms of growth and exceeded $1 billion for the first time in that period, according to data from the US International Trade Commission (USITC).


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Germany Doubts Greece Will Get Debt Deal Soon

Chances are low that a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on April 24 will produce a deal that might unblock urgently needed bailout funds for Greece, Germany said, because reforms remain undone and political conflicts remain. The post Germany Doubts Greece Will Get Debt Deal Soon appeared first on The National Herald.


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Migrant Bus Stowaway Found Dead

Greek authorities say a migrant died after hiding in the undercarriage of a bus waiting to be loaded onto a ferry heading to Italy. The post Migrant Bus Stowaway Found Dead appeared first on The National Herald.


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Greece Faces Soccer Ban Over Politics

UEFA and FIFA say they have sent a final warning to Greece that it faces suspension from international football for government interference. The post Greece Faces Soccer Ban Over Politics appeared first on The National Herald.


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ECB Doubles Greek Bank Aid

The European Central Bank is pumping more emergency liquidity into Greek banks to keep them solvent as they bleed deposits fast. The post ECB Doubles Greek Bank Aid appeared first on The National Herald.


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Opinion: If Greece can survive 2015, it's home free

With nearly 20 billion euros owed to creditors over the next six months, the two sides are far apart, and the risks of a default or “Grexit” — Greece's exit ...


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CANADA STOCKS-TSX retreats as concern over Greece spurs caution

Europe's come back to center stage in terms of what's going to happen to Greece," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, ...


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Reforming Greece: Myths and Truths

Greece has largely itself and its leaders to blame for the country's economic crisis, but Europe could help the entire region with some well-targeted aid, ...


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Greece’s Long and Painful Odyssey

On April 23, 2010, George Papandreou stood in front of a camera on Kastelorizo, the tiny eastern-Aegean island farthest removed from the Greek mainland. With its idyllic harbor as an incongruous backdrop, he announced that Greece had requested a bailout ...


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Top Greek Businessman Pays €1.8 Mln After Arrest for Unpaid Taxes

One of Greece’s top businessmen, Ellaktor Managing Director Leonidas Bobolas, appeared before a public prosecutor after his arrest by the Financial Crime Unit today, accused of major tax evasion but was subsequently released after paying the sum of 1.8 million euros, based on favorable measures recently passed by the Greek Finance Ministry for those repaying sums owed to the Greek State. Bobolas had been arrested on the basis of evidence uncovered in the so-called “Lagarde list” investigation, which showed a discrepancy of 1.866 million euros between his declared income and deposits at HSBC’s Geneva branch. The list has been leaked by an HSBC employee to the French authorities and was then forwarded to the Greek government by then French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. The total amount owed by Bobolas had subsequently reached 4.1 million euros, after the addition of fines and interest. According to sources at the public prosecutors’ department, Bobolas had been asked to proceed with the payment of this amount in mid-April but had raised legal objections. The file was then forwarded to the Center for Investigating Very High Income Taxpayers, which set a fine that was also not paid and then initiated legal action against him, sending the case to the Financial Prosecutors. It was then forwarded to the first-instance court prosecutors with instructions to proceed with his immediate arrest, in accordance with the law. Bobolas’ counsel claimed his client appeared before authorities voluntarily in order to settle his debt and noted that he previously went to the Center for Investigating Very High Income Taxpayers for this purpose, proceeding with a special act of settlement on the basis of the 2015 law for tax debtors. Out of about four million euros owed, Bobolas paid 1.8 million in order to avoid criminal prosecution for tax evasion and for legalizing income from illegal activity, and was subsequently set free. After the process of payment is complete, an order for his acquittal will be issued. Bobolas, 52, is the Managing Director of construction, energy and real estate holding group Ellaktor. His father, George, and brother, Fotis, are involved in print and electronic media, and have often come into the current government’s cross-hairs. Fotis Bobolas is the director of Teletypos, Greek television station Mega Channel’s holding company, in which Leonidas Bobolas has no stake. The Bobolas family also controls Ethnos newspaper, a daily and Sunday newspaper, other print media and websites.


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FIFA-UEFA Send Ultimatum to Greek Sports Minister Over Proposed Sports Bill

FIFA and UEFA sent an ultimatum to Greece that the country’s national football team and domestic clubs run the risk of being excluded from international competitions if the legislative bill to combat corruption and hooliganism in all the country’s sports, proposed by Deputy Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis, is passed. The international football federations consider the SYRIZA-led government’s proposed bill as interfering in the autonomy of the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO), the governing body for football. Jerome Valcke and Gianni Infantino, the general secretaries of FIFA and UEFA respectively, warned Greece earlier today. Infantino hoped that the threat will make the Greek government reconsider its actions in regards to the autonomy of sports, “so we can still work together to resolve the issues affecting Greek football.” Football’s governing bodies have strict rules protecting their member federations’ independence to run their own affairs, thus teams and officials from suspended countries cannot take part in international matches and meetings. FIFA’s and UEFA’s primary objections lie on the bill’s provisions giving state authorities the right to ban Greek clubs from international competitions, forcing teams to implement e-tickets, suspend matches suspected of bet-fixing, appoint a special football prosecutor and perform tax bureau audits for referees. Although, EPO agreed on the government’s initiative to tackle violence and allowed the Deputy Sports Minister to impose fines on clubs whose fans were responsible for any trouble. On his behalf, Kontonis appeared confident that the government will proceed with the proposed bill despite the international bodies’ objections. “Where public money is involved, no one can be excluded from control. We want self-rule, but all sports federations will be monitored and managed in a uniform manner, with no exceptions,” he said. It should be noted that in late February, the Greek government decided the temporary suspension of all national professional sports championships due to violent incidents that have stigmatized the country. The suspension followed violence at a league match between fierce rivals Olympiakos Piraeus and Panathinaikos Athens. This was the third time within the current season Greek professional championships were suspended due to football-related violence.


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MarketsDebt drama hits Greek bonds again

A slump in Greek bond prices has intensified, as Athens and its creditors remain deadlocked on bailout terms. The yield on Greece's three-year bonds, ...


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CompaniesGreek banks rebound on hopes for a deal

Shares in several Greek banks picked up on Wednesday, after finance minister Yanis Varoufakis sounded an optimistic note on hopes for a deal with ...


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Critics attack €500m Greek navy deal

Syriza faces censure for upgrade to maritime patrol while cutting anti-poverty projects


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Europe Needs to Keep Greece in Euro Zone

The same general point applies to the official creditors stance toward Greece. Greece is guilty purely by being a debtor. After all, in German and Dutch, ...


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The 2010 'flash crash': how it unfolded

In just 20 minutes the New York Stock Exchange had witnessed it’s biggest stock plunge in decades, all traced to one gargantuan sell orderIt was 6 May 2010. In the UK it was general election day, in the US,Wall Street was gripped by mounting anxiety about the Greek debt crisis. The euro was falling against the dollar and the yen, but despite the turbulent start to the trading day, no one had expected the near 1,000-point dive in share prices.In a matter of minutes the Dow Jones index lost almost 9% of its value – in a sequences of events that quickly became known as “flash crash” . Hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped off the share prices of household name companies like Proctor & Gamble and General Electric. But the carnage , which took place at a speed never before witnessed, did not last long. The market rapidly regained its composure and eventually closed 3% lower. Related: 'Flash crash' case: UK trader to fight extradition to US Continue reading...


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Euro debt crisis: Greek prime minister to meet with Angela Merkel

However, the Greek government's demands for £200billion from Germany for Nazi era war reparations, made earlier this month and met with a stony ...


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One Way To Help Greece Recover: Help Greek Companies To Obtain Financing

News about the Greek economy continues on the front page of every major newspaper, as the country continues its six-year struggle to reenergize its ...


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Foreign Office blasts Greece for terrorist’s release

The British Foreign Office has followed the US State Department in condemning the new bill that will allow the release from prison of Greek 17 November terrorist Savvas Xiros. In a statement, the Foreign Office says that it strongly ...


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UEFA, FIFA warn Athens over soccer Grexit

UEFA and FIFA said on Wednesday they have sent a final warning to Greece that it faces suspension from international soccer for government interference.


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Greek, US officials discuss prison bill

A day after Washington placed two convicted Greek guerrillas on a terrorism blacklist, State Minister Nikos Pappas met with US Ambassador to Greece David Pearce for talks that are said to have focused on a new Greek law whose provisions allow the transfer from prison to house arrest of a convicted terrorist.


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Emergency cash for Greece doubled as deal elusive ahead of talks

The European Central Bank almost doubled an increase in emergency funding to Greek banks from last week, suggesting deposit flight is accelerating as bailout talks drag on.


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Markit: 90 percent chance of Greek default

Greek five-year credit default swaps have been recently trading at more than 2,600 basis points, implying a default probability of almost 90 percent, according to data from Markit.


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Slight optimism stops Greek yields from growing

All it took was a glimmer of optimism over Greece’s debt negotiations for the country’s bonds to jump on Wednesday, pushing 3- and 10-year yields down from the highest levels since 2012.


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Why When It Comes to Greece, 'Stupid Lenders Lose Money'

Nobody forced anyone to lend Greece any money, yet today we stand with Greece's mountain of debt threatening to wreak havoc in the Eurozone and ...


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TIMELINE-Key dates in Greece's funding talks with euro zone

Greece would then also be eligible to receive 1.9 billion euros in profits the ECB made by buying ... Below are key dates for Greece in the negotiations:.


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Greece and weak growth in Eurozone are risks for Germany, Gabriel says

The situation in Greece and the overall rather weak growth in the Eurozone are the biggest risks for German economy, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference, German Vice Chancellor noted ...


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Greek Oligarchs SOS: Ellaktor CEO L. Bobolas arrested over tax evasion (Lagarde-List) & released after he paid €1.8 million

He is member of one of Greece’s most influential business families and CEO of Greece’s largest construction group ELLAKTOR. He is also CEO of Attiki Odos, Attica Toll-Fees, Aktor Parachorisis, MOREAS SA, Aegaio Highways, HERHOF GmbH, while he is also president of Board or Directors in another three infrastructure companies. […]


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UEFA, FIFA warn Greece over government's planned new laws

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA and FIFA say they have sent a final warning to Greece that it faces suspension from international football for government interference.


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European Officials Have Limited Expectations on Greek Issue Ahead of Eurogroup

The German Finance Ministry is rather skeptical ahead of Friday’s Eurogroup in Riga, Latvia, where Greece’s proposed reforms list will be examined. According to Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s spokesperson Martin Jaeger, Berlin has limited expectations from the Riga meeting regarding Greece’s crisis. Jaeger told a news conference that the single currency’s Finance Ministers are expecting an interim report on Greece, but, as he said, the expectations are “manageable.” In a similar tone, Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) head Thomas Wieser said Greece will not present a list of economic reforms to Eurozone Finance Ministers on April 24. “The clock is ticking. There will not be a new list in Riga, but over the course of May it must finally be reached. The liquidity situation in Greece is already a little tight, but it should be sufficient into June,” he told Austrian broadcaster ORF yesterday. Although, Wieser expressed his optimism that a solution can finally be reached sooner or later. “It is my central belief that the negotiations with Greece can still be successfully finished,” he concluded. The Greek government had reached an agreement with its European partners in February, which among others indicated that the two sides would strike a deal on a comprehensive list of reforms in order to disburse the remaining 7.2-billion-euro installment from the 240-billion-euro bailout program by the end of April. Eurozone officials had expected the revised list on Friday, during the Finance Ministers’ meeting, but such hopes appear to be slim.


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Former Greek PM George Papandreou Denies Divorce Rumors

Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has denied rumors that he and his wife Ada have decided to get a divorce after 26 years of marriage. “Today’s reports regarding George A Papandreou’s personal life bear no relation to reality or truth. Everything has a limit,” noted the simple statement issued by the former Prime Minister’s office. According to Greek tabloid Espresso, Ada Papandreou left the house that the couple shared on Monday evening and is now staying in a downtown Athens apartment. Furthermore, the tabloid claimed that the couple had been having marital problems for a long time, since they were arguing a lot, according to people from their inner circle. It was also rumored that George Papandreou’s mother, Margarita Papandreou, played a significant role in the divorce since she never believed that Ada could bear a surname with such history. George and Ada Papandreou met in the mid-1980s in Rio, Greece, during a PASOK executives’ event. They met and almost instantly fell in love. The got married in 1989 in Kalentzi, western Greece. It was George Papandreou’s second marriage, since he used to be married to Greek-Cypriot Eva Zissimidou, with whom he had a son, Andreas. Later, he had a daughter with Ada named Margarita-Elena.


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Greece, Bulgaria and Romania Agree on Constructing ‘Vertical Gas Corridor’

The Energy Ministers of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania agreed on the construction of a gas interconnection grid, which is scheduled to begin on March 2016 and completed by the end of 2018. According to Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, the three Ministers’ talks were focused on the prospective construction of the so-called “Vertical Gas Corridor,” linking gas grids of the three European Union member-states. The meeting was held in Sofia and Petkova hosted her Greek counterpart Panagiotis Lafazanis and Romanian Energy State Secretary Mihai Albulescu, as well as management officials of the Greek, Romanian, and Bulgarian entities taking part in the project. The idea for the ambitious project was first tabled in December 2014, following the demise of Russian Gazprom’s South Stream gas pipeline. It is estimated that the new gas infrastructure could carry between 3-5 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Azerbaijan and Greece’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. As Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev highlighted, Europe’s gas map is changing and interconnections with neighbors allow Bulgaria to be ready for “all future scenarios.” “We often talk about diversification, security of supplies. Without real connectedness among neighbors this is just eyewash,” he underlined, according to Focus News Agency, adding that the nascent European Energy Union would be “impossible without a network of regional projects.”


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Almost €2 Million Found at Dead Pensioner’s Home in Northern Greece

The 2,000 euros found in the pockets of a Greek pensioner who died in a Thessaloniki coffee shop was just a drop in the ocean compared to the fortune found in his home. The man was a retired high-ranking official of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) and was living alone. The deceased had no relatives and a Cretalive.gr report said he had not left a will other than a promise to his acountant that he would leave all his fortune to him when he dies. The pensioner died of natural causes in a coffee shop. Since he had no relatives, people who knew him went to his home, accompanied by the authorities, to see if he had a left a will. When they searched the house for bank passbooks or other documents, they found 1.5 million euros in cash and gold coins worth 350,000 euros. The pensioner’s fortune was hidden in tupperware containers all over the house, in the attic, in drawers, closets and cabinets.


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ECB Executive: Eurozone Needs Greece

European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Benoit Coeure highlighted earlier today that the rest of the Eurozone needs Greece to stay in the currency bloc, just as much as the country itself needs the single currency, while he characterized the possibility of a Grexit as “out of the question.” In an interview with Greek newspaper “Kathimerini,” Coeure stressed that the current situation “is clearly not sustainable and requires quick and decisive action by the Greek authorities to turn things around.” In addition, he explained that there has been “tangible progress” in talks with the institutions overseeing the country’s bailout program. But “significant differences on substance remain and further work is needed,” he added. Coeure’s statements come just 24 hours after a similar positioning from Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who also expressed the expectation that a deal will soon be reached between Athens and its creditors. As he explained, Greece’s presence in the single currency is not only in the interest of Athens but also in the Eurozone’s. Moreover, he said Greece must meet its obligations and agreements if it wants to remain in the currency bloc, adding, though, that a Grexit is “not an option.” If Greece leaves “the Eurozone, you [would] get very dangerous instability,” he said in an interview to German broadcaster RTL.


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Why there's little hope for Greece's unemployed

Eurostat figures show 73.5pc of people who were unemployed in Greece in 2014 had been out of work for more than a year, compared with 67.1pc in ...


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Critics round on €500m aircraft deal for Greek navy

Syriza faces censure for upgrade to maritime patrol while cutting anti-poverty projects


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Greece struggling under weight of migrant influx

Families of migrants from Asia, who entered Greece from the islands of the Eastern Aegean, wait for a bus to Athens. Photograph: Panayiotis ...


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Victory for Greece: First big tax dodger snared

One of Greece's most prominent businessmen, Leonidas Bobolas, was arrested for tax evasion and forced to pay 1.8 million euros.


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Euro Working Group Teleconference on Greece Concludes

The Euro Working Group (EWG) teleconference, in which Greece participated with Greek Finance Ministry general secretary Nikos Theocharakis and economic experts’ team head George Houliarakis who are currently in Paris, concluded on Wednesday evening.


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FTSE 100 falters on interest rate concerns and Tesco's record loss

Investors nervous about outlook amid UK election and Greek talks Leading shares ended the day lower despite a positive start, with Tesco hit by its worse than expected £6.4bn loss and renewed talk of interest rate rises in both the UK and US.Among the fallers Standard Chartered lost 16p to £10.49 after Credit Suisse issued a downbeat note, cutting its price target from 880p to 850p. It said:Ahead of the interim management statement [on 28 April] we have cut 2015/2016/2017 estimated underling earnings between 9-15%... The company is now prioritising building capital by holding back growth, but we think that gives up future earnings. The risk/reward still looks unattractive, and we remain underperform as we expect new management to significantly restructure the balance sheet and capital. Continue reading...


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Greek myths that inspire strong feelings

The Greek epic continues. It will not end well if the people involved do not recognise they are clinging on to myths. Here are six, each of which poses intellectual and emotional obstacles to reaching a solution. A Greek exit would help the euro zone ...


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Greek banks said to win more emergency cash as talks loom

Greece won access to more emergency funding for its banks as euro-area governments prepared for another round of talks on the country’s financial crisis.


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Merkel learned about meeting with Tsipras 'through media'

The spokeswoman for German chancellor Angela Merkel neither confirmed nor denied a meeting between her boss and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the  sidelines of the emergency EU summit on immigration Thursday. According to Greek state TV channel NERIT, Merkel ...


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Training camp roster for Senior Women’s National Team

As the countdown to EuroBasket Women 2015 continues, TBF announced the 19 women who will head to training camp. Turkey will compete in Group B alongside Greece, Poland, Belarus, and Italy at the tournament that tips-off on June 11.


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Spanish Bonds Advance as Germany's Slide Amid Greek Progress

Spanish and Italian bonds rose, reducing the yield premium over their German counterparts, after Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis fueled ...


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Deaths at sea: scant hope for the future from Europe's history of failure on migrants

Migrants arriving in Salerno. EPA/Ciro FuscoEurope is today the deadliest migration destination in the world and the Mediterranean is becoming an open-air cemetery. In spite of worldwide condemnations – from civil society to global institutions such as UNHCR – the EU’s approach has been hopeless. While deploring deaths at sea, it has been unable, over the past three years, to act as the responsible political authority it ought to be – preferring to leave Italy to tackle the problem alone. The tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean is a severe blow for the European common migration and asylum policy. Thought of initially as an accompanying measure to the achievement of the EU single market by easing the freedom of movement of people internally, it has drifted towards a Fortress Europe for most outsiders. In 2004, between 700 and 1,000 died each year as they tried to cross into Europe from Africa depending on whose numbers you consulted. This number almost tripled in 2011 and included migrants dying in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Malta, Italy, Spain, Algeria, Greece, but also people shot dead on the Moroccan-Spanish border in Ceuta and Melilla or drowned in the Evros river on the Greek-Turkish border. Migrants have long tried to escape both poverty and violent conflict by crossing into Europe, but the consensus is that the building of a restrictive common EU migration policy – which allows fewer legal ways of coming to Europe – and more sophisticated surveillance to enforce this policy have contributed to this stark increase in the number of deaths. So, one of the most popular migrant routes in 2004, the West African route – which involved taking sea passage from West African countries, mainly Senegal and Mauritania, into the Canary Islands – has become largely disused. Compared to the 31,600 illegal migrants detected by Frontex in 2008, only 275 migrants took this route in 2014. Cooperation between Spain, Mauritania and Senegal involving more sophisticated surveillance – as well as repatriation agreements with West African countries which have returned thousands to their countries of origin – have prompted migrants to take different routes, mainly the central Mediterranean route that goes through Libya. The Gilbraltar strait is now well controlled by the Spanish Integrated System of External Vigilance which has forced migrants to divert via longer and more dangerous routes. Since the fall of Gaddafi the absence of a stable government in Libya has caused a considerable disruption of border controls in and out of the country which has led human traffickers concentrate their efforts there. And it has also been reported that restrictive border controls in Israel and the Gulf – Saudi Arabia has built a 1,800km fence on its border with Yemen – has prompted many migrants, notably from East Africa, to head for Europe instead. After Syrians fleeing the civil war, Eritreans are the most common nationals found attempting the central Mediterranean route. Mare Nostrum and Triton Faced with the indecisiveness of its European partners over the migratory flows the Italian government unilaterally established its Mare Nostrum operation, which ran from October 2013 to October 2014 and patrolled 70,000km in the Sicily Straits at a cost of Euros 9m per month (US$9.6). This involved more than 900 Italian staff, 32 naval units and two submarines taking shifts amounting to more than 45,000 hours of active operations. The Italian navy reports that during the Mare Nostrum operation it engaged in 421 operations and saved 150.810 migrants, seizing 5 ships and bringing to justice 330 alleged smugglers. But by the end of 2014 the burdens of running Mare Nostrum alone were becoming too much for Italy, which was keen to involve its European partners. The Triton programme, coordinated by the EU border agency Frontex and under the command of the Italian ministry of Interior, was duly established, on a much smaller scale than Mare Nostrum – Triton deploys two ocean patrol vessels, two coastal patrol vessels, two coastal patrol boats, two aircraft and a single helicopter. It also has no mandate for rescue-at-sea operations since its job is to control EU’s external maritime and land borders. Before last week’s tragedy, 24,400 irregular migrants have been rescued since November 2014, mostly by Italy. Some 7,860 migrants were saved by assets co-financed by Frontex. Italy has been left to bear the brunt of rescue missions. EPA/Marco Costantino The horror at the rocketing numbers of deaths in the Mediterranean in recent weeks has at last prompted the EU to call for concerted action by its member states – and the ten-point action plan endorsed by European foreign and interior ministers on April 20 calls for an strengthening of Frontex Triton and Poseidon’s operations. But the question of Frontex mandate on rescue at sea has not been addressed and nor has its inadequate budget, which is around Euro 2.9m monthly – just one-third of Mare Nostrum’s. Instead, increased cooperation between Europol, Eurojust, the European Asylum Support Office and Frontex and the deployment of immigration liaison officers to “gather intelligence on smugglers” are very vague action points which appear to merely repackage existing measures. Needed: a joined-up policy It is actually quite clear what the EU should be aiming for. First, a much larger rescue-at-sea operation should immediately be put in place. Since Italy halted Mare Nostrum, deaths at sea have increased rapidly. Its inadequate replacement, Triton, provides a convenient scapegoat for politicians who should never have mandated Frontex – the EU Border agency – for the task of rescue at sea in the first place. What is needed from the EU is to agree a collective system of rescue at sea – rather than relying on the efforts of individual EU member states. Second, there must be safer, legal, avenues for asylum in Europe. Migrants are not just fleeing poverty, they are fleeing violence, danger and repression. At present most of them end up in Libya, which is in itself a very dangerous place; the hope of reaching safety in Europe prompts these refugees to risk highly perilous – and expensive – escape routes. Many are dying at sea. This is not likely to go away anytime soon and building legal, virtual or real fences won’t help. For some of those migrants, Europe could offer humanitarian visas and others could take advantage of family reunion with relatives already in Europe. Employment programmes could identify jobs to fill key shortages in the European economy. Offering more and easier legal means would necessarily lead to a fall in irregular migration. We also need to establish a joined-up policy involving not just destination countries, but places of origin and transit countries. For many years the EU has been relying on non-members to police its borders. This is a flawed approach – rather than simply offering financial compensation, the EU needs to revise its incentives and provide what these origin and transit countries want: visa facilitation and trade and access to the EU single market. It’s time to work out an effective cooperation, not merely trying to impose a top-down security agenda, which is doomed to fail. Also doomed to fail is the traditional approach which has relied on southern European states and their neighbours dealing with the surge of refugees. Meanwhile, in Libya. EPA/STR The Dublin convention, which was established in 1990 to regulate the assignment of asylum applications processing, is surely no longer viable. A system that reassigns applications of asylum-seekers to the country they first entered puts southern Europe under excessive strain – especially as countries such as Greece lacks the capacity to host and process applications while observing their human rights obligations. The 2015 Tarakhel vs. Switzerland is the latest of a series of cases which highlight the inefficiency of that system. It is high time to review the notion of “burden-sharing” within the EU. Not needed: the Australian solution Tony Abbott’s suggestion that Europe should follow Australia’s example and simply turn boats back, or ship all rescued refugees and migrants to off-shore processing centres is certainly not a serious proposal. By diverting migrants to Papua New Guinea islands of Manus and Naura, Australia has been found to violate its international law obligations. Meanwhile, to Australia’s shame, Amnesty International has documented numerous human rights abuses in these processing centres. Australia’s refugee policy is not only inhumane, but apparently rather expensive: AU$342.2m ($256.5) was spent by Australian Customs and Border Protection Service for its Civil Maritime Surveillance and Response programme – which involves policing illegal maritime arrivals. Following Australia’s example is unrealistic as it relies so heavily on siting its offshore facilities in its neighbouring countries. Given the long-standing reluctance of north African and Middle Eastern countries to play that role – and given their own limited capacities, this is never going to work. The migratory flows are much larger, for a start. Adopting Australian’s offshore processing of boat people would not only contravene EU and international law but would also probably reveal that the EU is going adrift and that, next to a governance crisis, it is undergoing a deep moral and ethical crisis. Sarah Wolff receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust and has previously received funding from the Fulbright-Schuman Grant and the Rijksbanken Jubileumsfond


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