From the archive, 19 October 1979: The wanderings of Odysseus

Odysseus Elytis, 68, who was yesterday awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, can hardly be called a name to conjure with

YIVA WIGH IN ATHENS

Odysseus Elytis, 68, who was yesterday awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, can hardly be called a name to conjure with. Although critics have called him the foremost poet of Greece, he has, he says, spent most of the last 20 years turning down literary awards and honours.

"As time passes I become more frightened of the glare of publicity. I even get a strange feeling when I see my books in a shop-window. What do you want of me? I try to avoid the limelight. That's why many people think I have no ambition or aspirations. But that's not so. I do have some aspirations, it's just that I don't get any pleasure out of public applause. "My ambition is simply that young people be able to turn to my books when they feel lonely. This sort of indirect personal contact, provided it is lasting, is what I consider all-important. For me poetry is a war against time and decay. I wage this war alone in my flat, and that's how I find satisfaction whether or not I win. In a materialist age which values quantity above quality, I regard poetry as the only thing that can preserve man's spiritual integrity."

He received the Greek national prize for literature two decades ago: when he heard a few days ago that he might be offered the Nobel Prize he admitted that he would be neither able nor willing to turn it down: the award would be an honour not just for himself but for his country. The themes of his work are taken from aspects of Greek nature – the islands, the sea, the sky, the mountains, the flowers and above all the sunlight. He is the first Greek poet to make the sun a central theme of his poetry: hence his nickname Iliopolis Elytis – Elytis the sun-drinker.

But his poetry is much more than a homage to nature. Natural phenomena are the vehicles for other messages. Elytis has tried to distil the essence of what is truly and peculiarly Greek in Greek history and literature from Homer to the present day. He has taken a close interest in the Greek language itself.

Elytis was born on Crete, the youngest of six brothers and sisters (the family originally came from Lesbos). When he was three, they moved to Athens where his father and an uncle established a soap factory. Since the family name Alepoudelis was thereafter always associated with this factory, Odysseus changed his name to Elytis. He lives in a small two-roomed flat in the centre of Athens. He sleeps by day and works at night. It might seem strange that the poet whose nickname is Sun-drinker produces his work at night. But etched in his mind are the pictures which he brings back from his long summer voyages over the sun-drenched Aegean Sea.

Full the article here

These archive extracts, compiled by the Guardian's research and information department, appear online daily at gu.com/fromthearchive

PoetryNobel prize for literatureAwards and prizesGreeceEuropetheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

EU Backs Polish, Greek Energy Projects

The European Commission on 16 October approved €465 million and €134 million in project financing “for natural gas pipelines and modernisation works” in Poland and Greece respectively.

“Last Wednesday, the European Commission decided that both projects, Poland’s GAZ-System and Greece’s DESFA comply with EU state aid rules,” Maria Madrid, a spokeswoman for Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, told New Europe on 18 October. The Commission has concluded that the projects will further EU energy goals without unduly distorting competition in the internal market.

In March, Poland notified plans to support the development of the Polish gas transmission network to the Commission. The aid, which is financed by EU Structural Funds, will be granted to GAZ-System, the State-owned gas transmission system operator in Poland.

GAZ-System will build a network of new pipelines that will help setting up a North-South Corridor of gas supply in Poland. The corridor is a network of infrastructure intended to facilitate the access to gas supply sources in the North (i.e. Norwegian gas and the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie) and to better integrate the Polish gas market with the gas markets in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

As the pipelines will have a higher transmission capacity, it will be possible to give network access to a greater number of gas suppliers, in line with the principle of Third Party Access defined in EU internal market rules, the Commission said. This will stimulate competition in the gas supply market, it added.

“The broad aim of creating energy independence and of reliable supply is one of the factors that affect our investment,” Shirin Wheeler, spokesperson for Regional Policy, told New Europe on 18 October.

Earlier in October, Polish state-controlled PGNiG said in a statement it would kick off talks with Gazprom on the Yamal-Europe pipeline. However, Poland, which currently still imports close to 70% of gas, most of it from Gazprom, looks to diversify its gas supplies and get a discount from the Russian gas giant.

A European Commission source told New Europe “the aim of the North South corridor is to reduce dependency on Russian gas”.

Meanwhile, the EU and the Greek state are financing four projects of Greece’s DESFA, the majority stake of which is about to be sold to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, aimed at improving and expanding the Mediterranean country’s gas network. These projects aim at increasing the gas transmission capacity and security of gas supply within Greece and indirectly at reducing CO2 emissions.

“The aid will help Greece to expand and strengthen its gas network. This will improve competition between gas suppliers and will benefit consumers, also by diversifying energy sources,” Almunia said in a statement.

DESFA, Greece’s only gas transmission operator, is obliged to ensure that third party access is available to its network for all suppliers of gas. DESFA plans to increase the storage capacity of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Revithoussa and install a natural gas compressor station in Nea Messimvria. Moreover, the new high pressure gas pipelines will allow for diversification of energy sources in areas that did not have access to gas before (Aliveri and Ag Theodoroi-Megalopoli).

The Commission said that these projects help to develop the gas market in Greece by enabling DESFA to offer extra gas transmission capacity. In addition, the projects have indirect environmental benefits resulting from the possibility of using a less polluting fuel in areas that so far relied on heavy fuel oils in energy production, the Commission added.

Wheeler told New Europe that there are a variety of different objectives when Cohesion Policy funds energy projects. “The issue of energy dependency and supply is one of the key guiding aims in the investment. But for us there are other issues like environmental and general growth issues for Greece that make us do these investments,” she said.

follow on twitter @energyinsider

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu

Wait: What About Europe's Other Banking Crisis?!

The European Banking crisis is old news. False. The Western European Banking crisis is old news. The crisis in "the banks of Europe" has not been fully covered. Last Thursday, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) produced a report highlighting the sharp contrast in borrowing rates for SME's in peripheral Europe compared to those in countries like Germany. Shortly after, the Financial Times pointed to the crippling effects this could have on the economy. Today, I make a plea for shifting the focus before we determine the course of action. It would be a mistake to perceive this as an isolated event. Understanding the dislocated interdependence between the banks in the core and the periphery of Europe is vital to resolving the issue. The relationship they crafted is a tale of naiveté: overemphasizing opportunities and underappreciating risks. Under Communism, Eastern Europe had its own banks. These were traditionally large state banks and a few specialized banks. There was no incentive to conduct proper risk management and the banks were left to cope with a lot of bad loans as a result. Cleaning up banks' balance sheets after the fall of communism was a tricky problem. While their post-Soviet economies needed new businesses, their banks often did not have sufficient funds to generate the necessary loans. Meanwhile on the other side of Europe, European integration had reshaped the banking landscape of Western Europe. The integration of EC markets led to a massive increase in non-domestic claims as banks were now also able to set up branches in other parts of the union. From 1999 on, the lion's share of the member states' liabilities originated outside their borders. Further, the legal requirement for the functional separation of banks was omitted. Both of these European banking directives led to an entirely new concept of banking in the West. Banks were not only altered in size and regional scope, they were also broadened functionally. As a consequence of this fairly radical deregulation, western banks generated an incredible flow of funds. These funds needed to be invested somewhere but Western Europe did not offer very interesting projects. The new Eastern banking market did, and had a need for a capital that it could not generate on its own. Supply and demand successfully met and so Western European banking deregulation created the opportunity to fund the transition of post-communist Eastern European banking sectors. A new banking model emerged. The financial sector in Eastern Europe became ever more detached from state intervention and boomed with the inflow of Western credit. Western banks opened branches in the East which fed local economic growth. Eastern subsidiaries were largely the result of large scale mergers and acquisitions rather than gradual emergence of a banking sector, as had been the case for their Western counterparts. Neighboring Western countries such as Austria were the first to acquire foreign assets from Central and Eastern Europe. Soon Italian, Belgian and French banks also held large shares. There was reason to celebrate. Banking in Eastern Europe developed exponentially. Local banks are benefiting from the same favorable market conditions, but they often have a better knowledge of their still relatively immature markets. Poland is the prime example of East European countries that meanwhile have sufficient funds and a flourishing economy to fall back on so that their lending machine is not dependent on the presence of foreign banks. Their debt levels have decreased and their labor markets remain more flexible than they are in the West. Successful regional banks have even started to expand across borders. The prospect of Eastern cross-country banks' expansions must have been ominously familiar for the West where this risky model led to banking collapses and near-collapses in 2008, but the mix in the East was even more interesting. Besides the cross-border banking component, the entire existence of banking in the East was reliant on funding from the West. The dream of a 'Polish road to financial independence' soon vaporized for many countries in Eastern Europe as the side effect of the Western sovereign debt crisis. Western parent banks were struggling to clean up their balance sheets, which required them to fix their eroding basis structure during ongoing calls for recapitalization, at the expense of their foreign commitments. The direct result was a clear reversal of Western banks' medium and long term objectives in Central- and Eastern Europe. The regions' rising share of non-performing loans could potentially create an additional threat to their already fragile West-European home bases. So far a total credit crunch has been avoided. Under the non-binding Vienna initiative, Western European banks promised to refrain from excessive de-leveraging in their central European subsidiaries. Although this commitment managed to stop some of the bleeding, such decisions are decreasingly under the control of the banks themselves. Belgian bank KBC, for instance, was forced to cut back on their commitments in its Eastern 'second home market' after receiving an EU rescue package. Only Poland, perhaps, could shrug off the withdrawal of Western funds. Meanwhile, investors are getting anxious in less politically stable countries like Hungary. The Economist reports an exodus of the country's only hope of recovery, as almost half of young Hungarians plan to emigrate. Hungary's foreign debt is now woven into the Western banks' balance sheets, although Hungary is situated outside of the Eurozone. Meanwhile Hungary is still standing in the rain next to the EMU umbrella that is still trying to shelter Greece. Attempts to resolve either side of the problem should highlight this interdependence. While the air is being squeezed out of the lungs of the East, the already-patched-up Western economy takes another punch to its vital organs. Crippled Europe could now, really, crack down.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

Greece seeks Interpol help to ID girl believed stolen by Roma

POLICE in Greece said they would seek assistance from Interpol to identify a four-year-old girl found in a Roma camp who is believed to have been abducted at birth. “So far we do not have a declared disappearance of a child of this age in Greece ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theaustralian.com.au

Greek Cyprus agrees base for Syria chemical inspections

Hurriyet Daily NewsGreek Cyprus agrees base for Syria chemical inspectionsHurriyet Daily News"The decision by the United Nations for the establishment of a support base of the mission in Greek Cyprus demonstrates the stabilising and upgraded role of Cyprus in the region," said the statement. Earlier this month UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for ...UN sets up Greek Cyprus support base for Syria chemical armswww.worldbulletin.netall 210 news articles »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.hurriyetdailynews.com

Greek police try to identify mystery girl found in Roma camp

GREEK POLICE RAIDED the camp in search of drugs and weapons, part of a crackdown on illegal activity in the Roma community. But during the operation, an accompanying prosecutor noticed something else that stood out: a blonde, blue-eyed little girl.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thejournal.ie

Roma couple in Greece held in 2009 kidnapping of childA four-year-old girl found in a Roma or gypsy settlement in Farsala Greece was kidnapped in 2009 by two of the residents police said Friday.

A four-year-old girl found, in a Roma, or gypsy, settlement in Farsala, Greece, was kidnapped in 2009 by two of the residents, police said Friday.A DNA test on the two alleged abductors showed they were not the girl's biological parents.The couple was detained for questioning and kept changing their stories about how the girl, a fair-skinned blonde with green eyes and no resemblance to the ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.greekherald.com