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Monday, July 27, 2015

KRUGMAN: Of course Greece had a plan for a new currency (GREK, EUR, EURUSD)

Well, duh. Greece had a plan to introduce a new currency if it got forced from the euro, and Nobel Laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman can't believe people are shocked (shocked!) to find this out.  "I mean, really: it would have been shocking if there weren't contingency plans," Krugman writes. "Preparing for something you know might happen doesn’t show that you want it to happen." Krugman continues: Someday, maybe, we’ll know what kind of contingency plans the United States has had over the years. Plans to invade Canada? Probably. Plans to declare martial law in the event of a white supremacist uprising? Maybe. Krugman's point, in short, is that any sort of outrage over the existence of what seems like crazy Greek plan "hack" its own banking system and introduce a parallel currency in the event Greece was pushed from the euro is just outrage for the sake of it.  If you're Greece, a nation that is waiting for the result of a referendum vote on a bailout that has expired, and you've already missed a payment to a major creditor that could potentially freeze the government out of any future financial aid, you're going to have a plan for keeping the economy moving if the worst case scenario comes to pass.  Now,of course,  it's all very exciting to hear recording to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis explain to fellow European leaders how Greece's Syriza government planned to pull this off.  But it's not like, that amazing that a plan exists. In fact, what would actually be crazy is if there were no plan in place.  Alas, it has not come to this. SEE ALSO: The real reason everyone was worried about Greece is gone Join the conversation about this story »


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German Media: SYRIZA Members Worked on Drachma ‘Coup’ Since May 2014

Greece’s former Energy and Finance Ministers worked secretly on schemes to return to the drachma, according to two German media. Spiegel Online featured an article about the reactions of Greek opposition parties to the alleged scheme by former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis for a return to the drachma. At the same time, popular tabloid Bild


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SYRIZA Left Platform ‘Show’ Marks the Split in Greece’s Ruling Party

The absurdity of Greece’s ruling party is a mirror of the paradox of the country’s public opinion and political thinking. Greece’s most popular leftist party has a “Left Platform.” On Monday night, SYRIZA’s infamous Left Platform put on a great show that looked suspiciously like an election campaign. With the country one inch from bankruptcy


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Fifty Communist and Labor Parties Sign KKE Solidarity Campaign

Fifty communist, labor parties and organizations across the globe have joined an international campaign in solidarity with the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and its struggle, according to an announcement. The campaign was launched last week by five leftist parties – the Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism, the Brazilian Communist Party, the Communist Party of the Peoples of


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Finance minister’s secret ‘Plan B’ leaked

LEAKED recordings show Greece’s ex-finance minister had a secret plan for a parallel banking system, as creditors begin work on a bailout package.


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Education Minister: Greek Schools Are 20,000 Teachers Short

Greek Education Minister Aristides Baltas said that Greek schools are about 20,000 teachers short at the moment. Speaking on national broadcaster ERT on Monday, Baltas said that the government is putting every effort so that staff shortages will be minimized when the new school year starts in September. Along with the teaching staff shortage there is also


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Paul Krugman on Greece drachma contingency plan

Greece had a plan to introduce a new currency if it got forced from the euro, and Nobel Laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman can't ...


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Israel, Greece hope to grow closer economically despite differences

Eitan Levi scoops Greek olives he bought for cash at a steep discount in his Tel Aviv deli on July 20, 2015. Greece and Israel have drawn closer over ...


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Greek government sources deny existence of 'drachma plan'

#politics


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Greek exchange may be hurt by global selloff when trading reopens

Trading in Greek stocks may reopen this week, but it may be more drama in Athens for the beleaguered market amid a global stock rout sparked by a ...


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Tsipras Races to Secure Greek Bailout

ATHENS—Talks to complete a bailout program between Greece and its creditors will start Tuesday, almost a week later than planned, raising pressure on Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as he struggles to keep his party from falling apart. A delegation ...


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Summer of Finnish discontent: Is Greek crisis distracting from Finland's woes?

Two weeks ago, when Finland signed on to a third bailout deal for Greece, many Finns were surprised when the foreign minister did not withdraw from the government. After all, Timo Soini is not just the most hawkish member of a strongly pro-austerity Finnish government. “We want to spend the next four years getting Finland into shape,” he declared, quoting the slogan used by Prime Minister Juha Sipila’s Center Party in its successful campaign in April, while supporting the government’s continued hard-line on Greece.


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Greece crisis: Yanis Varoufakis admits 'contingency plan' for euro exit

Politicians react angrily to ‘dark narrative’ of former finance minister’s plans for parallel currencyGreece’s former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, has been thrust back in the spotlight as he vigorously defended plans to launch a parallel payment system in the event of the country being ejected from the euro. Saying it would have been “remiss” of him not to have a “plan B” if negotiations with the country’s creditors had collapsed, the outspoken politician admitted that a small team under his control had devised a parallel payment system. The secret scheme would have eased the way to the return of the nation’s former currency, the drachma. Related: Yanis Varoufakis defends secret plan for parallel Greek payment system - live updates Continue reading...


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ECB warned to pump more money to save eurozone as Varoufakis denies hacking into Greek tax system

… and continued emergency support for Greek banks. Greece's painful internal … #Greece #ECB #eurozone— Peter Ka?imír (@KazimirPeter) July 27, 2015 Greek stock … 28, but with continued restrictions. Greece has been lumbering under capital …


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Kipper Williams on the Greek parallel currency

Former finance minister hits back over leaked briefing to top financiers about his secret plan Continue reading...


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Secret 'Plan B' for Greece revealed in explosive Varoufakis recording

Secret 'Plan B' for Greece revealed in explosive Varoufakis recording ... As negotiations between Greece and its creditors reached a stalemate, ...


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Greece's Varoufakis confirms covert plan to hack tax codes

Greece was on the verge of tumbling out of the euro single currency before striking an 11th-hour deal on July 13 that imposes a new round of austerity ...


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Varoufakis defends ‘Plan B’ tax hack

Greek opposition fury over scheme to set up parallel payments system


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IMF targets for privatisations in Greece 'unrealistically high', Austrian railways chief says

#economy


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The EU's biggest champion doesn't deserve the vitriol it's getting from Greece

Anti-German sentiment that has been simmering in Greece for the past few years has boiled over in recent weeks in response to the conditions Germany has imposed on the country in return for financial bail outs. This was most clearly demonstrated by the hashtag #BoycottGermany that sprung up in response to the conditions of the deal. Perhaps inevitably, Greek newspapers have long drawn on Germany’s unsavoury past with photomontages of Angela Merkel sporting a swastika armband, and depictions of the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, as a leading Nazi, threatening to make soap from Greeks’ fat. Newspapers are also quick to remind Germans how they (or rather West Germans) were helped to get back on their feet by other countries during the early 1950s when they were in dire need following defeat in the World War II. Anti-Greek sentiment in Germany Meanwhile, exasperation with Greece, and the single currency in general, has grown within Germany in recent years, demonstrated by electoral success for the anti-euro (though not anti-EU) party, the Alternative For Germany (AfD), which only just failed to reach the 5% threshold required to gain seats in the Bundestag at the last federal election in 2013. This suggests while pro-Europeanism was for decades compulsory in the Federal Republic, many Germans finally feel that the time has come to break the taboo surrounding euroscepticism and to express sentiments that are common in many other European countries, most notably Britain. After all, Germans gave up the trusty Deutschmark on condition, or at least on the assumption, that they would not later be asked to bail out other countries within the eurozone. Many western Germans also feel that they have already had to bail out eastern Germany. But anecdotal evidence suggests that on both sides, and particularly among Greeks, animosity is directed more at politicians than at ordinary citizens. Greece is a popular holiday destination for Germans, and Western German cities are home to thousands of people of Greek descent whose parents or grandparents came to the country as guestworkers during the 1950s and 1960s. Unfair criticism? Does Germany deserve the criticism? It certainly is hard to deny that Berlin calls the shots in the EU today, but this is arguably more by accident than design. People forget that the very first European community, the European Coal and Steel Community, founded with the Treaty of Paris in 1951, was designed to constrain West Germany and to prevent it ever dominating Europe militarily again. At the heart of the European project was the Franco-German relationship which over the decades has been reminiscent of a seesaw, with France originally the heavyweight, followed by many years with a more balanced relationship. France, like other European countries, particularly Britain and Poland, was concerned about the prospect of German reunification, fearing that reunited Germany would become too dominant and that Germany would become the more weighty partner on the seesaw between Paris and Berlin, perhaps with good reason – indeed their relationship has famously been described as designed “to hide the strength of Germany and the weakness of France”. But at the time, leading German politicians sought to allay such fears, stating that they were striving for a “European Germany” and not “a German Europe”. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which paved the way to the single currency, aimed to link reunited Germany irrevocably to the EU, and was an attempt by Kohl and then French president François Mitterrand to bind their successors to the European project. Greeks in particular should also bear in mind the enormous contributions Germany has made to the EU budget over the years, in spite of the economic difficulties of incorporating the former East Germany into the Federal Republic, especially during the 1990s. Germany has also played a key humanitarian role in accepting large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from various trouble spots, not least from former Yugoslavia. At present, the volume of asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Germany has become politically difficult to manage, and Merkel recently hit the headlines for telling a tearful young refugee that Germany cannot accept everyone. Damned if they do … In many ways Germany cannot win. It gets criticised for being too proactive, and also for not doing enough. This is most noticeable in defence and security matters at an international level, especially in NATO. The country has been criticised, particularly by the US, for not contributing enough in terms of military intervention and peacekeeping in countries such as Afghanistan, and pacifism is widespread among the German population. But if Germany were to be overtly keen on military intervention one can be sure that this would also be seized upon by critics who would quickly resort to tired old allusions to Germany’s past. Whether or not Angela Merkel can win the battle to save Greece and even the euro as a whole, not to mention her own reputation and legacy, remains to be seen. So far she has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the future of the single currency and the European project, inherited from her mentor during the 1990s, Helmut Kohl. Her domestic personal ratings remain largely undamaged by the eurocrisis, with most Germans still regarding her as a “safe pair of hands”, a theme which helped her earn re-election in 2013. There are clearly grounds for criticising the current package offered to Greece, in particular, the absence of debt relief, and the proposed sale and privatisation of Greek assets will remind many people of the measures imposed on eastern Germany in the early 1990s, which led to mass unemployment. But maybe there would be less animosity all round if the Greek government and media could bring themselves to adopt that old British adage: “Don’t mention the war.” Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This animation collects and analyzes all the theories behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370


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The Puerto Rico Debt Crisis, Explained

Puerto Rico is on its way to one of the largest debt defaults in history, right up there with Greece and Argentina. If you want to know what's happening in Puerto Rico, Anne Kruger is where you must start. At 81, the former chief economist for the IMF has written, with two co-authors, a brief but incisive paper that has become the playbook for both the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its creditors. In an earlier piece in The Huffington Post, published on April 14, 2015, I cautioned that Puerto Rico's bondholders were going to have some sleepless nights. Just 10 weeks later, the island's governor, Alejandro García Padilla, announced that the Commonwealth was unable to pay its debts, and would try to negotiate a "restructuring" with the bondholders. The Krueger report shows that their worry should not be about whether their bonds will be paid in full and on time--her analysis shows that is simply not possible--but rather how big are the concessions they will have to make. Equally important, she outlines the policy errors that are leading to default. Finally, she suggests a way out, using some of the pro-growth strategies of supply side economics. I will summarize the gist of her analysis. The market has lost confidence in Puerto Rico's ability to repay debt. This kind of prophecy tends to be self-fulfilling. First lenders demand super premium interest rates, making debt service more burdensome. Default becomes more likely, and lenders shut off the spigots entirely. This loss of confidence has been driven by economic stagnation, even contraction, and persistent deficits in public finances. These deficits have been worse than investors expected: in part because public finances have been opaque, and in part because budgets were based on wildly optimistic economic assumptions. Moreover the economic stagnation, or contraction, is not merely a result of an economic cycle but of major long term problems that make the island uncompetitive. The government of Puerto Rico has created many of these problems with its own misguided policies, but the Federal government has made a bad situation worse. "The single most telling statistic...is that only 40% of the population--versus 63% on the US mainland--is employed or looking for work." Krueger attributes this to a Federal minimum wage which is far higher than unskilled labor earns in competing Caribbean islands, aggravated by local regulations on overtime, paid vacations, and dismissals which are more costly and onerous than on the US mainland. An overly generous welfare system undermines the incentive to take jobs at all: "one estimate shows that a household of three that is eligible for food stamps, AFDC, Medicaid, and utility subsidies could receive $1743 a month." That amount is actually higher than the median family income on the island. Energy costs, another key economic input, are also exceedingly high, several times mainland prices. The government's electric utility, PREPA, is inefficient, overstaffed, and technologically antiquated. The Federal government's Jones Act makes things worse by requiring that all oil imports be conducted with US vessels and crews. Indeed, that Act applies to all shipments to and from US ports and drives transport costs generally to uncompetitive levels. Local regulation of rates and licensing for ground transportation adds to the problem. Turning to government finances, Krueger finds that "the overall deficit is larger than recognized, its true size obscured by incomplete accounting." Public sector debt has risen every year since 2000, reaching 100 percent of GNP in 2014. One attempt after another has failed to balance the budget, which is based on extremely optimistic revenue projections (on average revenues have been only 85 percent of projected levels). Falling revenues don't drive lower spending: instead the agencies simply fail to pay their suppliers, who are required to wait longer and longer to collect. Lax verification of payrolls aggravates the problem; and deficient accounting masks it. Consolidated reports are dense, hard to penetrate, and not timely (the most recent is for fiscal year 2013). Information on the Treasury's General Fund operations is timely but "greatly understates the true deficit and the challenge ahead." It reports on a cash basis (that is, it doesn't count purchases the government has made but not yet paid for as spending) and excludes some 150 government agencies (whose deficits it nonetheless needs to fund with cash) as well as capital expenditures, which also deplete cash balances. It's as if, in budgeting for your household, you omitted credit card purchases, expenses incurred by your children, and the cost of buying a new car. Taking these and like items into account makes the cash situation far more problematic than is generally understood. Similar cash deficits flow from the three big state enterprises (the monopolies for electric power, water and sewers, and highways and transportation), as well as from the Employee Retirement System for government employees (which has no liquid assets at all) and the Teachers Retirement System (which will likely run out of money in a year or two). With all of this cash depletion combined, the government will need to raise nearly 5 percent of GNP to keep operating in 2016--a near impossibility in a zero growth economy with no access to new borrowing. Even this bleak picture can get worse if a fully blown fiscal crisis pushes the economy into a sharper retraction. Is there a way out? The report suggests there is, but it must be both comprehensive and ambitious. The Federal Government, the bondholders, and the government of Puerto Rico must all make difficult decisions. The solution must begin with a revival of growth. The key is supply side reforms. The Commonwealth can fix local labor regulations, and eliminate obstacles to doing business. It can bring energy costs down by opening competition for electric generation to new and more efficient suppliers. The Federal Government needs to make welfare payments consistent with local market conditions, suspend the Federal minimum wage, and exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act. A major fiscal adjustment is required. Revenue measures should be as growth friendly as possible, and might include VAT/Sales tax and property tax overhauls. Expense measures should include right sizing of education services (PR has more teachers per student than the wealthiest counties on the mainland), a means test for tuition at the University of PR, and elimination of Medicaid benefits in excess of Federal standards. After several years, supply side reforms ought to result in 2.5% growth, which will drive increased revenue collections. But even after a major fiscal effort, and a resumption of growth, a large residual financing gap will remain. A comprehensive discussion would benefit from the orderly processes of Chapter 9 of the US bankruptcy code, which Congress should extend to Puerto Rico's public enterprises. Bondholders will suffer if the Commonwealth cannot provide essential services, if there is a breakdown of order, or if the economy collapses in the wake of a crisis. They will need to relieve the island of a meaningful proportion of the interest and principal coming due in the next six or seven years. To agree to do that, they will want to be sure that the Commonwealth government is committed to politically difficult structural reforms, and that the Federal government will grant Puerto Rico the required exemptions from regulations that raise costs and stifle growth. Supply side reforms will not be a panacea for decades of bad policy decisions, but they are an essential part of the solution. -- 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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Top causes of death in EU countries (info-graphic)

Greece performs well


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More reforms for cash says European Commission

No more needed says Greece according to EU-19 agreement


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Parties continue to make progress towards ‘shared vision’ of a united Cyprus, UN envoy says

The positive and results-oriented climate of the talks between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders continues to foster the progress required towards conclusion of a settlement as soon as possible, the United Nations Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, confirmed today.


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Heat wave to hit Greece with 39°-41° C in the shadow

One does not need the weather forecast to be aware that a heat wave is on the way. Athenians woke up on Monday in a “boiling” atmosphere with high humidity levels and the air full of dangerous smog-particles. After weeks of north winds sweeping away the summer heat, the time […]


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Greek PM to take on party critics over unpopular bailout

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday set the scene for a bruising showdown with his critics by demanding a congress at his ruling Syriza party to tackle a brewing revolt over an unpopular EU-IMF bailout.


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Varoufakis denies ‘Plan B’ wrongdoing

Greek opposition fury over scheme to set up parallel payments system


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Varoufakis unplugged: The transcript

Greek finance minister’s Plan B on tape


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Greece news live: explosive Varoufakis parallel currency plot prompts official investigation

Thanks for joining today's live coverage of events in Greece. That's enough from me. You can catch up with all the day's events with our story below: ECB warned to pump more money to save eurozone as Varoufakis denies hacking into Greek tax system 18.30 ...


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Greece's secret plan to hack its own tax system

Greece's former finance minister was ready to hack into the country's tax collection system as part of contingency planning for a possible exit from the ...


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Varoufakis Tapes: Listen to Excerpts From Greece's Former Finance Minister on the Crisis

The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum recently released an audio recording of a July 16 meeting with Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's ...


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Report: Greece's Tsipras Asked Putin for $10B Bailout Ahead of EU

Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras secretly tried to secure a $10 billion loan from someone who has a less-than-cordial relationship with most of the ...


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Yanis Varoufakis 'parallel' currency ploy sparks uproar in Greece

ATHENS: Revelations by Greece's flamboyant former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis of secret plans for a parallel currency have sparked uproar in ...


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Fifty Communist and Labor Parties Sign KKE Solidarity Campaign

Fifty communist, labor parties and organizations across the globe have joined an international campaign in solidarity with the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and its struggle, according to an announcement. The campaign was launched last week by five leftist parties – the Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism, the Brazilian Communist Party, the Communist Party of the Peoples of


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Ancient Carriage Road Unearthed in Vouliagmeni, Greece

Greek Culture Ministry officials recently announced that archaeologists discovered a 300-meter long stretch of an ancient carriage road during excavations at Megalo Kavouri beach in Vouliagmeni, Athens. The ancient pathway, which is approximately 300 meters long and 1.90 to 6.10 meters wide is considered to have been used during the 4th century BC to connect the ancient municipality of Aixonidon Alon


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New Heat Wave in Greece This Week

With mercury expected to flirt with extremely high temperatures, there is no respite expected from the sizzling Greek heat until the end of the week. According to Greek meteorologists, temperature will reach 39C on Tuesday in Serres, Thessaly and central Greece, while it will climb to 35C in the islands. Humidity levels will increase and winds will be weak.


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Excavations for Greek Military Airmen, Shot Down by Friendly Fire in 1974

Excavations to locate the remains of 19 Greek airmen, killed when their aircraft was shot down by friendly fire during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, began on Monday at the site where the NORATLAS crashed. The aircraft was part of a secret mission from Greece to assist the Greek-Cypriot National Guard fighting the advancing


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Greek PM Tsipras Calls for Emergency SYRIZA Convention

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the SYRIZA Political Secretariat on Monday afternoon and asked for an emergency party convention as soon as possible. In a speech that called for the protection of the party’s unity, Tsipras recognized that there are divisions within the party and said he wants the convention to bring them to the surface. “During this journey,


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Tax Evasion on Greek Islands Exceeds 50%

Sweeping tax audits are in progress on Greek islands since last weekend and the first results show high tax evasion rates. The highest rates were recorded in hotels, restaurants and bars, where they did not issue receipts. It was reported that during 63 inspections carried out over the past days in Heraklion, Crete, Greek authorities encountered 33 violations


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Varoufakis: ‘Greece Will Never Get the New Loan’

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis claimed that Greece will never get the new bailout loan and that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offered him another Ministry after he resigned. Varoufakis spoke to the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) on July 16 and the content of his speech was released on Monday in audio form. Other than


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Greek Long Distance Swimmer Gianniotis Finishes Third in World Aquatics Championships

Spyros Gianniotis won the bronze medal in the 10 kilometer open water race in the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia. Gainniotis, who hails from the Greek island of Corfu, swam the race in 1 hour, 50 minutes and 00.8 seconds. He finished behind race winner Jordan Wilimovsky from the United States and Ferry Weertman from the


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German Media: SYRIZA Members Worked on Drachma ‘Coup’ Since May 2014

Greece’s former Energy and Finance Ministers worked secretly on schemes to return to the drachma, according to two German media. Spiegel Online featured an article about the reactions of Greek opposition parties to the alleged scheme by former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis for a return to the drachma. At the same time, popular tabloid Bild


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Secret 'parallel' money plan clouds start of Greek bailout talks

The Greek government and its international creditors began work on a mammoth new bailout Monday overshadowed by revelations that Greece's ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis had been secretly planning for a parallel system of liquidity.


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Greece Readies for Bailout Talks as Plan B Details Revealed

Greek bailout talks poised to start as government reels from Varoufakis' 'Plan B' confirmation


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Adrian Pascu, Danone South East Europe CEO

Starting on August 1, Adrian Pascu will take over as CEO for Danone’s South East Europe dairy division, being set to lead the management team for Danone Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova and Adriatic countries, replacing Dieter Schulz whose three-year tenure ends and who will take over new responsibilities within the Group. Adrian Pascu will return […]


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Greek creditors seek third wave of reforms before loan

BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) - International creditors want Greece to enact a third wave of politically sensitive reforms before they will release any money to keep the near bankrupt country afloat under a third bailout they began negotiating on Monday.


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The Greek Grexit Plan: Varoufakis Had A Scheme All Along, A Secret One

… was thinking, well, Syriza, the Greek government, they have a backup … caused a political storm in Greece and confirm just how close … forward in solving the main Greek economic problem: the country’s …


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IMF warns euro area not to become complacent on Greek risks

#economy


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2 charts show why we're not going to see Greek headlines stop anytime soon (GREK)

Greece seems sort of fixed. At least for now.  After a July 5 referendum that saw Greek citizens vote against Greece's latest bailout, the Greek government struck basically the same deal with its creditors anyway. This is what Europe wanted, what markets wanted, and this deal avoided a worst-case scenario that would've seen Greece potentially pushed out of the euro currency union.  But the real drama surrounding Greece, the long-term, existential drama, is that Greece has tons of debt outstanding and it seems like it's going to be very hard for Greece to pay all of it back, on time or otherwise.  In a note to clients, Credit Suisse includes 2 charts, one showing the monthly repayment schedule for the next year, and another showing what Greece owes over the next 5 years.  And while Greece has just gotten more bailout funding in order meet its upcoming obligations — that is, after all, what a bailout is for — these bailouts are conditional, basically, on the Greek government implementing agreed-upon reforms and these reforms actually working to boost the Greek economy.  Credit Suisse notes that, "Recent declarations from officials in Greece and in Europe more generally suggest that the focus is indeed shifting away from austerity and debt relief, and more towards reforms and ways to boost growth through European- supported investment projects." So this seems like a good thing.  But these are, however, just declarations. As it stands right now, Greece has a lot of debt due over the coming months and years. And it's also worth keeping in mind that one year ago Greece seemed to be making measured progress towards meeting its obligations. Six months later, there was a new government, a new Greek crisis, and, eventually, a Greek default.  Greece has seemingly come back from the brink, but the drama is not over.SEE ALSO: Here's what Obama said to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis Join the conversation about this story »


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Moody’s credit agency says depositors’ bail-in possible

If Greek bank recapitalization over 25 bln then hair-cut probable under new law


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