How the world sees Greece
The representatives of Greece’s creditors will meet at 10:00 am on Friday with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis to continue negotiations over the country’s third bailout program. The four representatives – Declan Costello from the European Commission, Rasmus Rueffer from the European Central Bank (ECB), Nicola Giammarioli from the European Stability Mechanism
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Greece’s ruling party looks likely it will split in two after Thursday’s Central Committee emergency session saw the left platform accusing the prime minister of “shackling Greece with a bailout memorandum.” Earlier in the meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked for party unity in order for the leftist government to implement the reforms required for
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What do you call a country that has grown 4.6 percent—in total—since it joined the euro 16 years ago? Well, probably the one most likely to leave the common currency. Or Italy, for short.It's hard to say what went wrong with Italy, because nothing ever went right. It grew 4 percent its first year or so in the euro, but almost not at all in the 15 years since. Now, that's not to say that it's been flat the whole time. It hasn't. It got as much as 14 percent bigger as it was when it joined the euro, before the 2008 recession and 2011 double-dip erased most of that progress. But unlike, say, Greece, there was never much of a boom. There has only been a bust. The result, though, has been the same. As you can see below, Greece and Italy have both grown a meager 4.6 percent the past 16 years, although they took drastically different paths to get there.Read full article
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After railing against austerity, the Greek leader has come to accept it as a necessary evil to keep Greece in the euro. The U-turn leaves Tsipras on the ...
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The International Monetary Fund said Thursday it will only participate in a third Greek bailout once eurozone creditors have made concrete debt-relief ...
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gestures as he delivers his speech during a central committee of leftist Syriza party in Athens, July 30, 2015.
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Father Anthony Stratis with the Saint George Greek Orthodox Church said it's a way to say "thank you" to the community for their support following the ...
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Five countries were bailed out by their European partners during the region's debt crisis, and of those only Greece is still going backwards. Here's a ...
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Talks over an €86bn bail-out for Greece have been thrown into turmoil after just four days as the International Monetary Fund said it would have no ...
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Greece’s Prime Minister has made a last-minute bid to secure unity in his increasingly fractured Syriza party, with the offer of an internal referendum this Sunday.
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The circumstances we have experienced in these past several years in Greece are not unprecedented. We can find such situations in many other countries as well. As examples I could quickly mention the former socialist countries, Europe's periphery countries, and countries in Latin America and Northeast Asia. However, we have also encountered these situations a number of times in Greece's past. For example, at the end of the 19th century, during the 1920s, as well as during the Reconstruction period. But what do these cases have in common? It would be advisable not to refer to them as "crises," a term which in the current lexicon is extremely vague, but as "attempts at economic stabilization." More specifically, it is very often the case that different countries, including Greece, pursue policies which are clearly and without a doubt not viable in the long-term. For example, policies based on the accumulation of large deficits, which result in an explosive increase in public debt, continue to be pursued despite the fact that there is no doubt that such deficits will have to be eliminated sooner or later. Let's take the Greek example: for Charilaos Trikoupis and Anargiros Simopoulos, former ministers of finance, Greece already found itself bankrupt as of 1882, but borrowings nonetheless continued up until 1893, whereupon the country went bankrupt. The question that arises here is why these countries do not pursue stabilization immediately as soon as it becomes clear that it will not be possible to pursue the policies that are being implemented, and that a change in policy will in any case come about at some point. And indeed, the longer the delay in stabilizing the economy, the higher the cost to be paid. There are many explanations for such a stance, some more and some less persuasive. I will confine myself to citing the one that I consider to be the most persuasive. This explanation entails understanding the process leading to stabilization as a "struggle of attrition" among different socio-economic groups with opposing distributional goals. The term "struggle of attrition" comes from biology. Stabilization occurs when political consolidation leads to a resolution of the distributional conflict. More specifically in cases such as those which I described and such as the one we are experiencing, there is political agreement on the need for fiscal change, but at the same time there is also a political impasse with regard to how the burden of higher taxes or expenditure cuts will be shared. And in the context of today's reality it is readily apparent that the political clash with respect to how stabilization is to be achieved has as its central variable the question of distribution. When stabilization is achieved, it coincides with political stabilization. Often one of the constituent groups involved is in a politically dominant position. The burden of stabilization is often very unequal to those groups who are weaker politically and who thereby assume the greatest burden. Often this equates to the poorest groups as well. Viewed in the context of the terminology stated above, in order for stability to be achieved, there will have to be concessions on the part of one of the groups involved, and that will occur when pursuing a confrontational approach becomes costly. And at the same time the benefit to the other side will exceed this cost. It is often the case that many failed attempts, and often one or more failed programs as well, precede a successful stabilization of the situation. And, indeed, it is often the case that a failed program appears to be the same as a successful one. In addition, we need to take into account the fact that a macroeconomic stabilization policy, which entails increased taxes and reduced expenditures, is different from a policy of structural changes with market liberalization. The second process is much harsher than the first with regard to what I referred to previously as a war of attrition. In the first case, the relative share of income of GDP decreases; in the second, the existence of entire social and economic groups is called into question. Within this climate, the question that immediately arises is how what we term the foreign variable enters into the equation, and what consequences it has. It is clear that each crisis has its own particular features, which are attributable to both the domestic economic and political situation, as well as international circumstances. In all of these cases the intervention of the foreigner comes into play only to the extent that a securing of his own specific interests and priorities is being pursued. What is it that he achieves? In reality, he imposes a political stabilization policy, which in turn results in effective reform efforts. In other words, the cost is minimized for those political groups who will have to make decisions as these are shared, while their participation (4) in these decisions is a result of the demand of a third external player, which is quite expedient for the domestic players. Or to put it another way, foreign intervention, that is to say, the international element, strengthens one of the sides participating in the war of attrition, making it clear to the other sides that the cost of their pursuing a confrontational course will be high and that the long-term struggle will be futile. The fact that the reality we are experiencing today can be placed within a more general context, which Greece, and other countries as well, have experienced before, cannot, I imagine, give us a great deal of comfort. However, it can help us demystify the political speech of "heroism" and "dignity" and put it into its true perspective. This post originally appeared on HuffPost Greece and has been translated from Greek. -- 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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Yesterday, John Taylor and I testified on the Greece crisis before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security ...
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The hot topic across global financial markets at the moment is Greece. People there are experiencing monetary woes, but it seems like their ...
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Doubts about the IMF’s participation in a third bailout package for Greece emerged on Thursday as an IMF official said the Washington-based fund would only sign up to a bailout programme once an agreement on debt relief is reached. As the IMF’s chief ...
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Those defending Constitution are 'ridiculous' she wonders
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Delia Velculescu, the new representative of International Monetary Fund in Greece, arrived in Athens Thursday afternoon with her luggage full of austerity measures: cuts in main and supplementary pensions, cuts in civil servants’ wages, ‘cuts’ in early retirement. Velculescu will start her meetings with Greece’s financial ministry team to whom […]
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Tirana, 30 July 2015/Independent Balkan News Agency By Edison Kurani Relations between Albania and Greece don’t seem to have relaxed as it was expected, following the visit of the Greek Foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias and the agreement for the division of sea borders is expected to be settled in the arbitrage. Albanian PM, Edi Rama […]
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Alexis Tsipras was welcomed with applause by members of his party, but has yet to reach a fairytale ending. Speaking in an old cinema, the Greek…
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The International Monetary Fund is wary of any financial contribution to a third Greek bailout and is unlikely to provide funds at the first stage.
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By Miranda Alexander-Webber CALAIS, France (Reuters) - Migrants massed around the entrance to the Channel Tunnel said on Thursday they would keep trying to sneak across to Britain, undaunted by the arrival of 120 extra riot police on the French side. A police officer said the number of migrants trying to enter Britain eased slightly overnight compared to earlier in the week, with about 800 migrants around the site and some 300 intercepted by police. Some 3,000 migrants live around the tunnel entrance in a makeshift camp known as "The Jungle", making the northern French port one of the frontlines in Europe's wider migrant crisis alongside Italian and Greek islands used an entry point for those crossing the Mediterranean from Africa or the Middle East.
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The Oresteia – three hours and 40 minutes of Greek tragedy premiered in Athens in 458 BC – is set to become this year's most unlikely West End ...
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Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis may face criminal prosecution after senior state prosecutor Efterpi Koutzamani ordered parliament to examine several complaints against him. So far Varoufakis is slapped with five separate lawsuits, with the serious charges of “treason, violation of privacy data, breach of duty, violation of currency laws and belonging to a criminal organization.”
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Loose checklist may have caused deadly Greek F-16 crash in Spain ... The Greek pilots killed were Panagiotis Laskaris, 36, and Athanasios Zagas, 32 ...
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In recent weeks the Greek crisis has receded into the distance, other concerns such as the volatility in the Chinese stock market and the timing of a ...
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Before a deal was even struck, naysayers from Greece, to the European Union and elsewhere were sounding the death knell for a rescue package.
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ATHENS, July 30 (Reuters) - Buoyant sales in the United States helped Greece's second-largest cement maker Titan post a 26 percent rise in ...
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The IMF said it can't reach a 'staff level agreement' on Greece's €86 billion bailout at this stage and will make the decision on further involvement in ...
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The International Monetary Fund reiterated its unwillingness to provide more financing to Greece without debt relief by euro-member states and further ...
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The “official” unemployment rate in Greece stands at more than 25 percent. Unemployment has the highest impact on young people aged 15 to 24 ...
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Fund official confirms it will not sign up to any formal support programme unless eurozone creditors reach ‘explicit and concrete’ agreementThe International Monetary Fund will refuse to participate in a new bailout for Greece until there is an “explicit and concrete agreement” on debt relief from the country’s eurozone creditors, an IMF official has confirmed.Without the IMF’s involvement, Greece’s eurozone partners will have to find more funds to meet Athens’ short-term financing needs, raising questions about whether the outline €86bn (£60bn) bailout thrashed out earlier this month will prove workable. Related: IMF negotiator prepares to join Greek talks as deadline looms Continue reading...
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Of all the actors who fathered the provisional deal that has for now kept Greece inside the eurozone, one senior European Union politician was surprisingly absent from the endgame of the negotiations. A self-proclaimed “friend” of Greece and a veteran ...
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Co-authored by William Witenberg a contemporary artist focused on abstract painting The headlines on the talks between Brussels and Athens on the 86 billion euro bailout of Greece seem to indicate nothing but problems. It appears that even before talks can begin, Greece is being asked to enact further laws. The blog of the Greece's former Finance Minister Yanis Vaoufakis is filled with nothing but criticism of the creditors. Rather than the parties embracing the prospect of an agreement they seem to be entrenched in debates. In the meanwhile Athens stock market is opening this week for the first time in a month. There is little doubt that world's financial markets have expressed nervousness about the fate of Greece and the Euro. Next to the sharp fall in China's stock market, Greece is contributing the most to the international financial market concerns. This drama unfolding in Europe replaced the situation in eastern Ukraine in the headlines. Despite the absence of headlines, relations between the West and Russia are not showing any signs of thawing. It is important to remember that Greece is a member of NATO. Not only is it part of NATO, but its military spending has been among the highest, as a percentage of GDP, of all of NATO members except the United States. Much of that is for pensions and personal expenses; which creditors are demanding to be reduced. The United Sates is operating a naval base on Crete. If the demanded cutbacks force Greece to not support that Naval base, it cannot help the military footprint of the United States. Without a doubt Putin is watching the developments in these drawn out negotiations. After Greek voters rejected the terms of the EU, Putin called Prime Minister Tsipras to express Russian support for the Greek people. The Greek defense minister has labeled Russia a 'brother country" - a term few European defense ministers ever used to describe Russia. The importance of Greece as a member of NATO is clear. As military expert Robert Kaplan has stated...."Greece is the only part of the Balkans accessible on several seaboards to the Mediterranean, and is thus a crucial gateway to and from the West." Simply put NATO is not as powerful without Greece and during this time of Greece trouble it would not be surprising to see Putin become friendlier to Greece. While it is unlikely that Greece will leave NATO there is no doubt that Russia benefits from Greece's discomfort with its bailout. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US security advisor has expressly stated that because "NATO is bound by the principal of unanimity"....a Greece that is friendly to Russia could "paralyze" NATO due to its veto power. Greece's membership in NATO in this time of American and Russian renewed cold war is undoubtedly on the minds of all participants in the debt negotiation and clearly being watched very carefully by Putin. In the final analysis, it maybe that Greece's significance to NATO is the most powerful chip the Greeks have during these negotiations. -- 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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… SYRIZA party congress for September #greece— Kathimerini English (@ekathimerini) July 30, 2015 … mainstream now questioning approach to Greek crisis #Greece— Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) July …
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And what a spanner it is that the International Monetary Fund has thrown into those talks over how to solve, once and for all, Greece's debt problems. I think we can take it, as a result of this, that as the Fat Lady hasn't sung yet then the opera isn't [...]
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ATHENS The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will take part in top-level talks on Greece's third multi-billion euro bailout program on Friday, a Greek ...
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The IMF has teamed up with the European Union and the European Central Bank in recent years to lend Greece money repeatedly to save it from a ...
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Greece narrowly averted an exit from the euro zone for now when it struck an 11th-hour deal with lenders this month, but that cost Tsipras the support ...
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The deal with creditors was “not of our choice,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said, adding that Greece faced the dilemma between a difficult ...
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Barter is not illegal in Greece as long as each trade is covered by legal documents, but the finance minister is closely monitoring the growing trend.
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The economic crisis in Greece has left hospitals and other healthcare providers underfinanced and understaffed, forcing the ill to rely on friends and ...
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The impact of Greece's ongoing debt crisis is perhaps less a conversation about losses in the market and more a discussion about how currency and ...
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It seems unlikely that decisions made recently during tense negotiations between eurozone leaders and the Greek government on a potential Greek ...
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Barclays Bank has admitted that it is pulling out all the stops to sell what remains of its operations in Portugal for fear of what will happen if Greece shows new signs of weakening. This is the message coming from Portugal’s Económico website this morning, alongside its Spanish pink-page counterpart Expansión.
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Many Greek and Cypriot professors and educators endorse letter
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Can't get the tax evaders, let's catch the beach party animals...
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivered a speech at the Syriza party's central committee in Athens on Thursday. Tsipras, under fire from his ...
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WASHINGTON (AP) — An International Monetary Fund official says the IMF cannot participate in another Greek bailout until Greece and its creditors make difficult decisions on economic reforms and debt relief.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government is seeking to wrap up negotiations in time for a major debt payment due on Aug. 20. Germany's ...
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There is no point in denying reality. By crushing a rebellious Greek government and disciplining its voters, the 'Masters of Austerity' have won a great ...
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Police in İzmir have collected substandard life vests from Syrian migrants, who buy them prior to their attempts to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece
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