After a long dispute the Syriza-led government in Athens has rehired finance ministry cleaners laid-off in austerity cuts in 2013 Continue reading...
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How the world sees Greece
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Caught in the Middle: Greek Debt Deal Hurt by Contradicting IMF, EU Demands
With Greek hopes of securing a quick cash-for-reforms deal dashed, Athens faces a daunting task to pay its IMF obligations next week. However, many ...
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Defiant Greece rehires public workers despite tough aid talks
Greece is rehiring thousands of public sector workers, including cleaning ladies, despite sustained pressure from its international creditors. Greek MPs ...
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Varoufakis Says Greece Ready to Take EU Impasse Down to the Wire
Greece has less than a week to prove to the European Central Bank that it's serious about reaching an agreement with international lenders. Failure to ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bloomberg.com |
The Other Damage Greece's Government Is Doing
Greece mostly attracts attention these days for the difficulty it's experiencing negotiating new terms with its creditors. But that's only half the story.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wsj.com |
Defiant Greece rehires public staff
Greece is rehiring some 4,000 public sector workers, including cleaning ladies, despite its tough aid talks with international creditors.
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Greece's Syriza and the Question of the European Union's Political Will: Is a Compromise Agreement Enough to Keep the EU From "Dis-integrating?"
With Greece again appearing to be edging towards the brink of a "Grexit," financial markets are sensitive to daily headline news about EU negotiations, and what a potential default would mean now for Greece and EU integration policy. Greece's Syriza and the question of the European Union's political will: Is a compromise agreement enough to keep the EU from "dis-integrating?" I am of the view that the immediate risk that Greece will leave the EU is overstated and will be surmounted as a "compromise" agreement in May. Syriza and Greece will likely bear the brunt of the anticipated compromise, as Syriza moderates its policy to meet the demands of its creditors and pressure from the European Union. A default and a "Grexit" from the EU will be avoided near term. If Greece were to exit now, it would not be due to the political will of the EU or Greece, but rather a financial market "accident" due to the months of political brinkmanship between all parties and an investor panic. The EU, however, has missed an opportunity to recognize the legitimacy and truth in many of Syriza's assertions. It is EU integration policy needs to evolve to keep the European Union together in the years to come. A compromise will emerge in May, at the expense of Syriza's anti-establishment "radicalism." Compromise between Syriza and the EU has been the likely outcome since Syriza won Greek elections in January, as it is in no one's best interest, not the EU and certainly not Greece, to see a Greek "exit" either from the Eurozone or the EU. As is often the case, "radical" parties, become more moderate post-election, when faced with the institutional demands of elected office. Syriza has been slow to evolve from a "radical," anti-establishment, platform, but will likely do so now, even at the expense of losing the more "radical" factions within the party, given the calendar of debt payments looming in May. In anticipation of a compromise, Syriza will likely show a greater degree of true reform and austerity measures in Brussels, please its creditors, and also find a way to justify a compromise to its Greek constituency (who are mostly pro-Euro, but anti-austerity). A Greek "referendum" remains unlikely. The EU is aware that Greece cannot meet all of its demands, adding to the likelihood of a compromise. The Syriza win in Greece could have been good for EU integration policy had the influential policy makers within the EU, the IMF, and the ECB acknowledged the merit of Syriza's viewpoints. Syriza came to power on humanitarian grounds, reflecting the political will of its constituency, the Greek people, that the policy of austerity, as it has been implemented, has not produced economic growth. Even the IMF acknowledges that point. Austerity policy, as implemented, contributed to the collapse of the Greek economy in the post global financial crisis era. Syriza acknowledges the need to cut Greece's public sector and create a more favorable investment and business climate. However, Syriza correctly voices that austerity and cost efficiencies don't necessarily produce economic growth. Greece needs to stimulate growth and employment not only to resolve its humanitarian crisis, but also to remain solvent to be able to pay back its many creditors. To pay back the debt, Greece would require a fundamentally different business model, one that would put Greece on a sustainable development strategy that includes competitive export sectors that create employment. The heart of the euro crisis in the post global financial crisis era is the divergence in competitiveness and productivity between the underlying real economies of member states, now roughly divided between core and periphery. The missed opportunity in recent months is on behalf of the EU, as EU integration policy has failed to evolve despite the evidence that austerity policy, as implemented in recent years, has failed to truly integrate the European Union. By many measures, there are high degrees of divergence in competitiveness and productivity in underlying EU member state economies. Aggregate economic growth numbers for the EU mask the divergence between member states. EU integration policy is based in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which has austerity as its cornerstone to measure debt containment and fiscal consolidation. The Treaty doesn't, however, measure the costs of fiscal consolidation in terms of lost economic growth, the cost of lost output, nor unemployment. As with many other "peripheral" countries, Greece's achieving Maastricht "convergence criteria" and qualifying for entry into what is now the Eurozone did not result in Greece's becoming more competitive and productive. In short, over 20 years after the Maastricht Treaty, Germany is still producing and exporting BMWs, and Greece is still producing and exporting olives.As expressed in 2014 by Mr. George Provopoulos, Governor of the Bank of Greece from 2008-2014: "Back in 2001 it was expected that Greece's inclusion in the core of European economies would act as a catalyst to accelerate its real convergence with the advanced European countries. Unfortunately, these expectations did not materialise ." As long as EU policy fails to address the underlying crisis of competiveness between EU member states, of which Greece is an extreme example, the EU will continue further on the path of what I have referred to as "dis-integration," a deconvergence economically, politically, and socially, between member states. The "core" and "periphery" will remain apart in competiveness and productivity, solidifying at least a two-tier EU, creating an uncertain future for the viability of the sustainable integration of the European Union as a whole. It is now broadly understood and recognized that EU integration policy must not only ensure debt sustainability and market confidence, but also must be complemented with a sustainable growth strategy, as Syriza asserts. Footnote: Quote from George A Provopoulos: "The Chronicle of the great crisis - The Bank of Greece 2008-2013" Speech by Mr. George Provopoulos, Governor of the Bank of Greece, on the publication of "The Chronicle of the great crisis - The Bank of Greece 2008-2013", Athens, 11 June 2014. -- 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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France Says Greek Talks On Track
France says talks between Greece and its bailout creditors are going the right way and hopes that the May 11 Eurozone meeting will see progress. The post France Says Greek Talks On Track appeared first on The National Herald.
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Mystery woman from Pulp's Common People hit 'is wife of Greek finance minister'
Now the identity of the mystery Greek woman Jarvis Cocker sang about in his 90s hit has been revealed as the wife of the Greek finance minister.
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Which Countries Stand to Lose Big from a Greek Default?
The IMF has turned up the heat on Greece's Eurozone neighbors, calling on them to write off “significant amounts” of Greek sovereign debt. Writing off ...
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Eurozone 'not contemplating' Greek exit
Eurozone finance ministers have no intention to push Greece out of the monetary union, but tough talk is needed to keep the Greek government in ...
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Greek debt talks near ‘drop dead’ moment
Athens faces default unless creditors agree two rescue deals in seven weeks
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Bicycles popular but not yet part of day-to-day life, study finds
One in four Greeks has a bicycle but only 3 percent use it as one of their main modes of transport and just 32 percent of owners have used their bikes over the last 12 months, according to a survey carried out on behalf of the Greek branch of WWF.
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Greek foreign minister to meet Turkish PM in Ankara next week
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is due to meet Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday, on the first day of his four-day trip to Turkey.
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Gov't bows to UEFA, FIFA pressure as violence bill passes
The Greek parliament on Thursday voted into law a controversial bill to curb violence in domestic sports after bowing to pressure for changes from soccer governing bodies UEFA and FIFA.
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Russia offers to help Greece in World War II claims investigation
Moscow is helping Greece in its investigation into possible Second World War reparations from Germany by providing access to previously unused archives.
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ATHEX: Relief after gov’t U-turn
Traders hailed the government’s facing up to reality and conceding to the demands of the country’s creditors, as the Greek stock market enjoyed another day of healthy growth that came on an increased turnover too.
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Compromise unlikely at Greece, eurozone meeting
European Union countries have been urging Greece for a compromise, but Athens is hesitant about making reforms that might affect citizens.
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What Greece Has To Do With Taper Tantrum II
Greece is winning the war against German austerity. There is going to be a haircut on Greek debt. Twenty percent? Forty percent? Eighty percent?
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Austria's Schelling warns Greece of dangers of default
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's finance minister warned Greece on Thursday about the dangers of defaulting on its debt and said a sensible solution to ...
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Pulp's Common People subject found?
Could the wife of the Greek finance minister really be the subject of the Pulp song Common People?
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European Central Bank plans for Greek 'parallel currency'
The Greek government is refusing to surrender austerity “red lines” to the eurozone ahead of critical negotiations next Monday raising the prospect of ...
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Greece approves amended sports law after UEFA objections
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has adopted an amended version of a new sports law aimed at fighting soccer violence and match-fixing, after initial objections from UEFA which threatened to suspend Greece from international competition.
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Pulp’s Common People and Syriza: pop’s most intriguing mystery sorted?
Jarvis Cocker has always been vague about the rich young woman who inspired the hit. But could it be the wife of the Greek finance minister?She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge. She studied sculpture at St Martins College. But who the hell was she? Well, the wise druids at music website the Quietus might just have found out who the Pulp song Common People is actually about, and the answer will amaze and astonish you. Or at least, it amazed and astonished us, because the rumoured muse is none other than artist Danae Stratou, wife of the controversial Syriza politician Yanis Varoufakis. Which means the only sexually attractive finance minister in the known universe might now share an unlikely bond with Jarvis Cocker, and this mental image pleases us here at Lost in Showbiz greatly. Not because of anything inappropriate, you understand, but because we are interested in ties, and the pop star most likely to wear a tie will now forever be bound in romantic pop triangles with the politician least likely to wear one. Continue reading...
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SYRIZA MEP Glezos: ‘Germany Refuses to See Reality on War Reparations’
The issue of the German war reparations to Greece has been transferred from Greece to Germany, stated Europarliament SYRIZA deputy Manolis Glezos clarifying that is not a difference between the two countries but between the German people and their government. “The German people will give the solution by pressing their government,” he said at a press conference he gave with Die Linke Europarliament deputy Martina Michels in Berlin late Wednesday. Glezos noted that he does not consider the German people responsible for the Nazis’ crimes but blamed the German governments which “refuse to see the reality.” The ‘weapon’ in this case is “the right, the restoration of justice” he underlined and explained that he does not recommend the judicial way “I do not like courtrooms. What I request is a Treaty between Greece and Germany to be signed. Typically we are at ceasefire. What does that mean, that we are at war? For the moment the treaty is signed, Germany will have to pay,” said Glezos. Asked on the course of the negotiations with the institutions, Glezos stated his position which is clear and has not changed “Not a single step back. No retreat,” he added and reiterated his proposal for a payments’ moratorium for a year. On Thursday, Glezos will be the keynote speaker at a Die Linke event on the occasion of the 70-year anniversary from the end of WWII that will be held at the federal parliament. (Source: ANA-MPA)
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Greek PM Tsipras Holds Meeting With Laid-Off Finance Ministry Cleaning Staff
Fifty members of the Greek Finance Ministry’s cleaning staff who were laid-off last year took a group photo along with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the steps of Maximos Mansion after their meeting, on Thursday May 7. Last year 420 members of the ministry’s cleaning staff were laid-off, after the incident they camped out, outside the building rallying for their rights as public sector employees. The 50-members delegation met with Alexis Tsipras, one day after the bill providing for their reinstatement was passed by the Greek Parliament. At the meeting Tsipras noted that their struggle gave him strength to continue his own battle with Greece’s partners. “I draw strength from your fight,” he told them, receiving a long round of applause from the delegation members. Tsipras also stressed that the situation in Greece is difficult at the moment, adding that during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel he brought up the example of the laid-off cleaning staff to illustrate how unjust the austerity measures were for the Greek people. On their part, the cleaning staff members stated that they are willing to continue fighting, since there are one million unemployed people in the country. Coming out of Maximos Mansion the cleaning staff members expressed their satisfaction, noting that they had finally found justice. Today, May 7 marks the one-year-anniversary since the cleaning staff decided to set up tents outside the Greek Finance ministry. One year later they decided to gather their tents and organize a small celebration before they leave.
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Greece Will Make Next Debt Payment, Varoufakis Says
BRUSSELS — Greece's finance minister said Thursday that the country would make its next major loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund ...
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Amid Greece debt crisis now GERMANY runs out of cash as strikes trigger crisis
... has been the best performing in the eurozone since the 2008 financial crisis and has helped to prop up ailing countries such as Greece and France.
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Greece Special Police Unit seeks volunteers
The Greece Special Police Unit is looking for volunteers. The volunteer unit averages 5,000 hours a year assisting the Town of Greece and the Greece ...
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Greece signals growing optimism over bailout deal
Greece's deputy prime minister has endorsed growing expressions of optimism over talks with the country's creditors, saying enough “common ...
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Greece Will Make Next Debt Payment, Varoufakis Says
BRUSSELS — Greece's finance minister said Thursday that the country would make its next major loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund ...
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The End of 1945
NEW YORK -- On May 8, 1945, when World War II in Europe officially ended, much of the world lay in ruins. But if the human capacity for destruction knows few limits, the ability to start over again is just as remarkable. Perhaps that is why mankind has so far managed to survive. No doubt, millions of people at the end of the war were too hungry and exhausted to do anything much beyond staying alive. But, at the same time, a wave of idealism swept across the wreckage, a collective sense of determination to build a more equal, peaceful and safer world. That is why the war's great hero, Winston Churchill, was voted out of office in the summer of 1945, even before Japan surrendered. Men and women had not risked their lives simply to return to the old days of class privilege and social deprivation. They wanted better housing, education and free health care for all. Similar demands were heard all over Europe, where the anti-Nazi or anti-fascist resistance was often led by leftists, or indeed Communists, and prewar conservatives were frequently tainted by collaboration with fascist regimes. There was talk of revolution in countries such as France, Italy and Greece. This did not happen, because neither the Western Allies nor the Soviet Union supported it. Stalin was content to settle for an empire in Eastern Europe. But even Charles de Gaulle, a resistance leader of the right, had to accept Communists in his first postwar government, and he agreed to nationalize industries and banks. The swing to the left, to social-democratic welfare states, occurred all over Western Europe. It was part of the 1945 consensus. A different kind of revolution was taking place in Europe's former colonies in Asia, where native peoples had no desire to be ruled once more by Western powers, which had been so ignominiously defeated by Japan. Vietnamese, Indonesians, Filipinos, Burmese, Indians and Malays wanted their freedom, too. These aspirations were often voiced in the United Nations, founded in 1945. The UN, like the dream of European unity, was also part of the 1945 consensus. For a short while, many prominent people -- Albert Einstein, for one -- believed that only a world government would be able to ensure global peace. "Today, 70 years later, much of the 1945 consensus no longer survives. . . The European dream is in crisis. And the post-war social democratic welfare state is being eroded more and more every day." This dream quickly faded when the Cold War divided the world into two hostile blocs. But in some ways the 1945 consensus, in the West, was strengthened by Cold War politics. Communism, still wrapped in the laurel leaf of anti-fascism, had a wide intellectual and emotional appeal, not only in the so-called Third World, but also in Western Europe. Social democracy, with its promise of greater equality and opportunities for all, served as an ideological antidote. Most social democrats were in fact fiercely anti-Communist. Today, 70 years later, much of the 1945 consensus no longer survives. Few people can muster great enthusiasm for the UN. The European dream is in crisis. And the post-war social democratic welfare state is being eroded more and more every day. The rot began during the 1980s, under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Neoliberals attacked the expense of entitlement programs and the vested interests of trade unions. Citizens, it was thought, had to become more self-reliant; government welfare programs were making everyone soft and dependent. In Thatcher's famous words, there was no such thing as "society," only families and individuals who ought to be taking care of themselves. But the 1945 consensus was dealt a much greater blow precisely when we all rejoiced at the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the other great 20th century tyranny. In 1989, it looked as if the dark legacy of World War II, the enslavement of Eastern Europe, was finally over. And in many ways, it was. But much else collapsed with the Soviet model. Social democracy lost its raison d'être as an antidote to Communism. All forms of leftist ideology -- indeed, everything that smacked of collective idealism -- came to be viewed as misguided utopianism that could lead only to the Gulag. Neoliberalism filled the vacuum, creating vast wealth for some people, but at the expense of the ideal of equality that had emerged from World War II. The extraordinary reception of Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" shows how keenly the consequences of the collapse of the left have been felt. In recent years, other ideologies have also emerged to fill the human need for collective ideals. The rise of right-wing populism reflects revived yearnings for pure national communities that keep immigrants and minorities out. And, perversely, American neoconservatives have transformed the internationalism of the old left by seeking to impose a democratic world order by U.S. military force. The answer to these alarming developments is not nostalgia. We cannot simply return to the past. Too much has changed. But a new aspiration toward social and economic equality, and international solidarity, is badly needed. It cannot be the same as the 1945 consensus, but we would do well, on this anniversary, to remember why that consensus was forged in the first place. © Project Syndicate -- 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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A Look At the Next 10 Years in US-European Relations
Dear HuffPosters, Ten years from now will we still be siblings, cousins, part of a family that is separated, but still stands solidly together on both sides of the Atlantic? Or will the great globalization blender have chewed up the shape the West has held for the past three centuries? In other words, will we Europeans and you Americans still be as close in 10 years as we are today? Robert Kagan asked this question a few years back in his book Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order, in which he lent a deeply romantic spin to geopolitics -- describing the USA as "from Mars" and Europe as "from Venus." Kagan claimed that the perspectives of the two continents are growing further apart. Taking stock of the world today, it seems clear that Kagan's perspective has some merit. The two sides of the Atlantic have grown further apart, but this divergence is not necessarily a bad thing. Today, we're separated by the same two elements that brought us together during the postwar period: technology and the cycle of great economic crises. For a long time, the European continent appeared to lag behind the US in Internet use, in terms of the percentage of the population with Internet access and familiarity with the Internet. But today it has become clear that Europe also lags behind the US in the evolution of its production system. During the decisive years of Internet development in America, industrial innovation continued to advance apace in Europe, although at different speeds in different European countries. The gap between the two sides of the ocean has yet to be bridged today. Only now are people realizing that the distance isn't so much about use, but about the ownership of these technologies: today the Internet and its most important companies are still entirely American -- and thus the new horizons for the future of the Internet, and their profits, are entirely American as well. Europe has let things develop, trusting the US -- as it has since the end of the last century -- to invent and populate new frontiers. Today Europe is waking up to take stock of the results of this approach, and finally seeing that things don't add up. The European continent has discovered it's neither well-equipped nor independent to be a full part of a world driven and shaped by digital innovation. Ironically, the first reaction -- provided by the government in Brussels -- has been to "tax" the Web's biggest companies, imposing stricter regulations and tariffs against Internet giants like Google. Overall, the reaction to the "American invasion" of the Internet is ironically reminiscent to a 21st-century Boston Tea Party: apparently taxation is still at the center of the cultural divide between Europe and the US. There's a paradox at play here: the United States's reckless financial sector was the driving force behind the global financial crisis, and over the past years the U.S. has been embroiled in a series of complex conflicts abroad -- yet the American government has been able to mitigate the impact of these decisions. Meanwhile, a reluctant and indecisive Europe has found itself stuck on the front lines, deep in the heart of the grand turmoil that has characterized these years: terrorism and Middle Eastern refugees; migrants from Africa dying on the Mediterranean; the remnants of simmering Cold War conflict within a still-troubled Eastern Europe. The continent also has to grapple with the effects of global economic instability, financial speculation, the relentless expansion of the Chinese economy as well as those of the major foreign funds. The cumulative effect of these fiscal stresses has driven Europe's currency to the verge of collapse, and left its managerial class increasingly unable to meet modern challenges. So what is Europe to do? Save Greece? Welcome wave after wave of refugees? Send soldiers to fight terrorism? Work towards a solution in Libya? Fight Putin? Devalue the Euro? Combat the brain drain of the Euroskeptic? European governments -- including strong ones like Germany's -- appear surprised, unprepared to face what's required of them. Rather than compensating for a lack of preparation within the governments of its member states, the European central government, in the moment of its greatest formal unity, has withdrawn into a bureaucratic management style that its citizens openly detest. And yet... Precisely within this risk of major collapse lie signs of a new path. For many years, Europe has delegated its involvement in the world to the United States, preferring to play the role of a supporter that maintains fundamental values. This division of roles has worked up until today, but in recent years the US has evinced other priorities, just as Europe is returning to the front lines, and can no longer sit wars out. For all of us over here in Europe, this seems like our weakest, loneliest moment. But it is high time for Europe to grow up, and as everybody knows, there's no better way to force someone to grow than to inflict a little suffering on them. I imagine that in 10 years, you over there in HuffPost in the US and we over here in HuffPost in Europe will seem a little less alike than we do today. But we're counting on the fact that opposites attract. This post was originally published on HuffPost Italy and was translated into English. This post is part of a series commemorating The Huffington Post's 10 Year Anniversary through expert opinions looking forward to the next decade in their respective fields. To see all of the posts in the series, read here. -- 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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Yannis Kotsiras Shines and is Honored at AKTINA Benefit Concert
The audience was mesmerized by Yannis Kotsiras at the recent sold out benefit concert for AKTINA FM, which was celebrating its 22nd anniversary, and AKTINA TV. The concert was part of AKTINA’s Greek Music Journey concert series that is produced by AKTINA founder and on-air host Elena Maroulleti. At the event Kotsiras was honored with […] The post Yannis Kotsiras Shines and is Honored at AKTINA Benefit Concert appeared first on The National Herald.
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EU employment rates rise
Even most damaged labour markets such as Greece, Italy and Spain see growth
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EU employment rates rise
Even most damaged labour markets such as Greece, Italy and Spain see growth
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Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis' wife 'inspired Pulp's Common People'
Cocker told NME in 2013 that he met the Greek girl in the song during 'Crossover Fortnight', when St Martins students switched into another discipline ...
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The sorry saga of Syriza
IN RECENT months the walls of the B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation in Athens have been lined with mementoes of European support for Greece’s freedom. “Philhellenism”, an exhibition, tells the story of the material and moral backing that Romantics like the English poet Byron gave Greece during its independence fight against the Ottomans. The contemporary resonances are obvious. Showing some children around, Dimitra Varkarakis, who with her husband, Michael, owns the works on display, pointed to a German painting. One girl stopped short. “Aren’t we in a fight with Germany?” she asked. “No,” replied Mrs Varkarakis. “We are all friends.” After recounting this tale she casts Charlemagne an earnest look. “Europeans,” she says, “must love each other.” That is a noble aim, for some Europeans have lately struggled even to speak to each other. Two weeks ago, after a particularly disastrous meeting, Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s finance minister, declared that he welcomed the hatred directed against him in the euro zone. After more than three months of fruitless negotiations with Mr Varoufakis, the reserves of Philhellenism among Greece’s partners have run...
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New kids on the block
THE monumental neoclassical headquarters of Languedoc-Roussillon is a model of statement architecture. With defiant, muscular authority, it stands across the river from the historical centre of Montpellier, its plate glass glistening in the sun. It also towers over an assembly of faux-Greek esplanades and avenues, the outsized legacy of a former regional president, George Frêche. Under Frêche, who for 27 years was Montpellier’s Socialist mayor, the regional government made its mark, and not just in buildings. Between 2005 and 2010, the region’s annual payroll costs ballooned from €22m to €108m ($143m). Now, however, Montpellier is to lose its position as regional capital. As part of an efficiency drive in a country notorious for its millefeuille of administrative layers, the government plans to shrink the regions from 22 to 13 in January 2016. Some will keep existing borders, including Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, where Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, grand-daughter of the now shunned Jean-Marie Le Pen, may be the National Front’s regional presidential candidate in December. Others are to be reunified, such as the two...
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TIMELINE-Key dates in Greece's funding talks with euro zone
To clinch a deal, Greece must agree on a comprehensive list of reforms with representatives of the European Commission, the International Monetary ...
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World View: Greece Tries to Avoid Bankruptcy as Europe Stands Firm, for Now
Greece's government apparently succeeded in making a 200 million euro interest payment due on Wednesday. It did so by scraping up money ...
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7 Ways Greece Affects International Markets
Greece's dance along the financial tightrope has kept markets, and investors, watching closely. Due dates come and go with no action, but with many ...
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Dijsselbloem: Discussion of Greek debt relief not a taboo
The discussion for the relief of the Greek debt is not a taboo, Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem stated in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde on Thursday noting that "progress have been made in the negotiations in ...
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Greek far-Right Golden Dawn party's trial adjourned
Greek far-Right Golden Dawn party's trial resumed on Thursday at a specially converted hall inside Korydallos prison at Piraeus after a two weeks break.
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Schaeuble sees no breakthrogh on Greece at Monday's Eurogroup
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday he does not have high expectations for any sort of a breakthrough on Greece at euro group negotiations on Monday. "One shouldn't assume any kind of spectacular results -- that is not within ...
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Steve Smith: The Moody Blues deliver at L.A.'s Greek Theatre and more music news
The Moody Blues delivered another classy performance — as the band has been doing for decades — at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. This tour ...
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Greek Government Spokesman: ‘The Red Lines Will Not Be Surpassed’
“We are well aware of the society’s red lines, we are aware of the limits and everyone should be assured that the red lines will not be surpassed,” Greek government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis on Thursday said in a press briefing. Regarding the debt issue, he stressed that it is an issue that needs to be addressed. Sakellaridis stated that the institutions should not expect that Greece must retreat in all issues so that an agreement is reached. There is no such mandate and this is not a message of rupture, he noted. “We have proved since February 20 that we are willing to find a mutually beneficial solution,” the government spokesman said. “Although we know that the debt is not sustainable, we do not raise the issue at this point of the negotiation,” he added. The best for the country is a decision to be reached at Monday’s Eurogroup or at the joint statement of Finance ministers within the framework of the government’s plans. In reply to another question, he said that the willingness of the Greek government is reflected to its stance and the fulfillment of its obligations. The funding issue will be discussed by the Greek government in the coming period and will not be a new memorandum and new austerity measures, the government spokesman noted. Negotiations in Brussels will continue until late on Thursday and will even continue on Friday if need be, according to Sakellaridis. The Greek government has set red lines and is seeking to reach an agreement with the partners within that framework; the red lines are confirmed at the joint statement of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Sakellaridis said and added: “in the joint statement, we see the need to establish collective bargaining at the highest European level. Signing the joint statement, Juncker defended the European acquis, which is the collective bargaining.” He clarified that “by no means are we talking about reducing pensions” and noted that “the Greek government’s position is that this agreement should be reached as soon as possible.” (Source: ANA-MPA)
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Greek Foreign Minister Focuses on Active Foreign Policy in the Balkans
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias expressed his intention for an active foreign policy in the Balkans with specific immediate steps, late on Wednesday, in statements to a radio station. He announced that he will make a tour to the Western Balkans (Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Macedonia) next June while the revival of tripartite cooperation with two EU Member States — Romania and Bulgaria — is among his plans. We are, he said, “three countries that should have an opinion and view on the rest of the Balkans, because, if we do not have, third forces may monopolize operations in the Western Balkans.” Concerning the Western Balkans, Kotzias noted that “it is a source of instability. And the source of instability generates nationalism and nationalism may cause problems.” He clarified that “the role of Greece is not to become a part of this problem, but to defend its national interests and act in a manner that will solve its own issues and the issues of other states in relation with the EU.” (Source: ANA-MPA)
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ND: ‘Greek People Are Victims Of Fallacy’
Greece’s main center-right political party New Democracy (ND) unleashed harsh accusations against the current government for its persistence in misguiding the Greek people. Specifically, New Democracy claims that the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) along with the representatives of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) that now form the new Greek government will proceed with the implementation of additional measures of around 14 billion euros, according to a non-paper entitled “Truths and lies on the alleged ‘proud’ negotiation.” “Mr. Tsipras is cheating twice the Greek people. Not only because he proposes more fiscal measures than those included in ‘Hardouvelis e-mail’ but because he copied most of those proposed and added extra taxes, taxes and taxes,” are some of the caustic phrases mentioned in the non paper. From the aforementioned claims, one can conclude that the main opposition party is referring to a potential government’s initiative to apply extra recession measures through the abolition of the tax free threshold and discounts. Additionally, ND attacked SYRIZA for its continuous undermining of its efforts while they were in the leadership of the country and for the fact that the Greek people are now accountable to their false promises, their inaction and their lack of skills. Source: ANA-MPA
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With funding deal elusive, Greece rides into storm
FRANKFURT, May 7 (Reuters) - With a deal to resurrect its aid-for-reform programme elusive, Greece risks running out of money in the coming weeks, ...
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