How the world sees Greece
ATHENS, GREECE—Greek farmers wielding shepherd’s staffs and throwing rocks clashed Friday with riot police in central Athens during a two-day protest against the government’s plans to impose new tax hikes and overhaul the pension system. Riot police ...
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NAPLES, Fla. – The sights, sounds and flavors of Greece are alive in Naples, as Greek Fest at St. Katherine’s Greek Orthodox Church kicks off for a fun filled weekend of excitement. More than 15,000 are expected to gather to enjoy authentic Greek Food ...
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While Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras struggles with the competing demands of bailout creditors and demonstrators on budget austerity cuts, and with Spain's top politicians unable to unblock a post-election stalemate, Costa is providing a lesson for Europe's financially troubled southern countries on how to move things forward. Critics says Costa is making high-stakes gambles: already, his budget moves appear to be spooking some investors, with a rise in Portugal's government borrowing rates this week indicating concern about the country's financial prospects. Among its boldest anti-austerity steps, his government is restoring civil servants' pay that was cut, slashing taxes for low-income families, increasing the lowest pensions, and bringing back four public holidays. When some criticized his government's recent increase in taxes on auto sales, gas and tobacco, Costa said in a televised public meeting that people should use public transport and quit smoking. If DBRS joins the other three agencies and cuts Portugal to junk status, Portuguese government bonds would no longer qualify for inclusion in the ECB's asset purchase program and leave it exposed to market volatility.
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Economic growth in Germany and across the eurozone continued at a crawling pace in the final three months of last year, as Italy fell short of expectations and Greece fell into recession, according to official figures released Friday. Eurostat reported 0.3 percent eurozone growth in the fourth quarter, the same as in the preceding three months. Compared to the same period in 2014, GDP expanded by 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent for the eurozone and EU respectively. The largest economy in the eurozone, Germany, saw output grow by 0.3 percent in the final quarter, which was unchanged on the previous quarter, and 1.3 percent year-on-year. Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING-Diba in Frankfurt, attributed the “decent” German growth to “government consumption, a bit of private consumption and another surge in the construction sector.” However, he warned that 2016 could be more challenging due to the refugee crisis, a slow down in China and emerging markets, low oil prices and possible weakness in the U.S. economy. Greece officially entered recession after GDP fell 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, after shrinking 1.4 percent in the third quarter. The result, which was better than the 0.8 decline forecast in a Bloomberg survey, came on the same day as violent clashes between farmers and police in Athens over government plans to raise pension contributions and taxes. Elsewhere, for the whole of 2015 Italy’s calendar-adjusted GDP growth of 0.6 percent came in below the 0.9 percent that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had counted on in his economic forecast last year. Italy’s GDP grew a meagre 0.1 percent in the final quarter of 2015, lower than the expected 0.3 percent. In France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy, growth slowed slightly to 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 0.2 in the preceding quarter, though still a 1.3 percent improvement on the same period in 2014.
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Austria today demanded Macedonia 'completely stop' the flow of migrants across its border from Greece after saying it had nearly reached its 'maximum' intake. Macedonia has erected metal fencing topped with razor wire along the border at the main crossing ...
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This week, the Euranet Plus members prominently covered NATO’s decision to send military ships to the Aegean Sea. At the same time, the EU executive put pressure on Greece to help restore the return of asylum seekers. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decided this week to give its support to address the refugee crisis and enforce […]
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The European Union has told Greece to improve its border controls, or be suspended from the Schengen agreement that allows free movement between its borders. Police and border guards from six European countries have been sent to the Macedonian-Greek border ...
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