How the world sees Greece
 Reason Online (blog) | Greeks Are Good at Dodging Taxes, But the Greek Government Is Better at ... Reason Online (blog) Riffing off a new research paper, Justin Lahart at the Wall Street Journal has some interesting data on the truly vast, indeed, awe-inspiring degree of tax evasion that Greeks have accomplished in recent years. Even more impressive, if the Greek ... |
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 Human Rights Watch | Vigilantes Are Targeting Immigrants In Greece, Human Rights Watch Says NPR (blog) The watchdog group says beatings are becoming all-too-common as some groups take out their frustrations on newcomers. Amnesty International has also recently released a report criticizing Greek police for excessive violence against migrants. Rights group seeks 'urgent action' in Greece amid surge in race crimes Greece: Migrants Describe Fear on the Streets Xenophobic attacks on migrants, refugees on the rise in Greece |
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Greek Cash Reserves To Last For At Least One More Month -Sources Wall Street Journal As the economy stumbles through its fifth year of recession, Greek government revenues have suffered from personal income tax payments dropping due to wage cuts and record high unemployment, while soaring business bankruptcies have weighed on ... Greek Deficit Narrows But Revenues Off Target Greek Jan-June Budget Deficit Narrows But Revenues Off Target |
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Challenge to constitutionality of the EU's permanent bailout scheme has dealt a blow to hopes of its swift ratification
The German government was on tenterhooks on Tuesday as the country's most powerful court opened a hearing challenging the constitutionality of the EU's permanent bailout scheme which could wreck the entire plan to save the euro.
Should the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe decide for the 12,000 citizens who have brought the case under the collective banner "More Democracy", it could have the drastic effect of preventing Germany from joining the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
The court hearing has dealt a blow to chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of getting the ESM and the accompanying fiscal pact ratified and implemented fast.
The finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, warned the court of "serious consequences" were it to stop or slow down the delayed treaties.
"A considerable postponement of the ESM, which was foreseen for July this year, could cause considerable further uncertainty on markets beyond Germany and a substantial loss of trust in the eurozone's ability to make necessary decisions in an appropriate timeframe," Schäuble told the court's eight-judge panel who were clad in their trademark red gowns and hats.
If the Constitutional Court (BVG), which, after the US supreme court, is the most powerful judicial body in the world, rules that government legislation is unconstitutional it cannot become law. Seen as the defender of Germany's Basic Law, or constitution, the BVG has played a key role in shaping the country's democracy since the founding of the federal republic after the second world war when it was established to stop Germany returning to a dictatorship. But it is rarely so intensely under the spotlight as now.
The main petition was delivered to the court by former justice minister Herta Däubler-Gmelin. A group of professors, as well as politicians from the right and far-left, also submitted petitions.
Several demonstrators gathered in front of the courthouse and acted out a mock burial of the constitution, to illustrate their warning that the ESM would gravely undermine German sovereignty by passing too much power from the German government to European institutions. At the heart of the decision is also the future of European integration and just how much further it can go.
A cardboard tombstone surrounded by candles and flowers carried the words: "Here rests in peace the constitution of the German republic, born May 23, 1949, died 29 June 2012. The citizens mourn."
The BVG's presiding judge, Andreas Vosskuhle, said the court would not look to dissect the constitutionality of the ESM and fiscal pact, but would focus on deciding whether the president, Joachim Gauck, should delay signing it into law allowing more time for it to be examined in detail. "In politics unusual situations and crises often require unusual measures," he said, adding that "Europe needs democratic constitutional states just as democratic constitutional states need Europe".
Those giving evidence to the court over the next days are expected to include the head of Germany's central bank, Jens Weidmann, as well as leading economists and rebel members of Merkel's own coalition, other politicians and members of the public.
Merkel has expressed her impatience with the court, reportedly saying at a private meeting of her Christian Democrats that it was "pushing her limits".
During its history the court has often been accused of being aloof from political life, an impression intensified by its geographical position in south-west Germany, deliberately far away from other federal institutions. But supporters say that separateness is a central point of its existence. In 2009 it delayed the Lisbon Treaty which updated the European Union's constitution. But it has not yet rejected as unlawful any of the several bailouts for Greece or other countries.
As politicians voiced their fears that the BVG risked jeopardising Europe's future, the justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, warned her colleagues against interfering with its work. "Government and politicians should absolutely keep out of this," she said. "The Constitutional Court doesn't need any advice … the judges know the significance their decision will have for the economy," she said.
The court is expected to reach a decision by the end of the month, but experts urged the court to speed up its ruling, arguing that anything beyond two weeks would raise doubts about Europe's ability to tackle the crisis.
The ESM was meant to start working in July but like the fiscal pact, which is due to come into effect in 2013, can only start operating once it has been ratified by most states.
President Gauck, who has said he is "glad that this action is being taken", has chided the government for failing to explain the debt crisis measures to ordinary Germans.
"Sometimes it's tiresome to explain what it's all about, and sometimes the energy is lacking to tell the population openly what is going on," he said in a television interview on Sunday.
The relationship between ruling politicians and the BVG has never been smooth. "These frictions are more or less anchored in the Basic Law," wrote the daily Die Welt. "As the government and members of the Bundestag know, anything they try to turn into law can be annulled at a single stroke of the BVG's feather quill."
In the 1970s when the court was examining the eastern bloc policies of chancellor Willy Brandt a leading member of Brandt's Social Democrats, Herbert Wehner, was famously quoted as saying: "We're not going to let those arseholes in Karlsruhe ruin our politics."
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 Voice of America | Greek Police Ignores Migrant Abuse, Rights Group Accuses Voice of America New Human Rights Watch report finds clear pattern of increasing violence against migrants in Greece. Greek police ignore rising attacks on migrants: HRW Rights Group Urges Greek Crackdown on Race Crimes |
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Greece's budget gap narrows in first half, revenues off track Reuters ATHENS, July 10 (Reuters) - Greece's budget deficit narrowedby 6.2 percent in the first half of the year, helped by spendingcuts, but tax revenues fell short of the country's fiscaltargets, the finance. |
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Greece's GSEE Union Threatens Nationwide General Strike Wall Street Journal ATHENS--Greece's largest private sector umbrella union said Tuesday that it plans to call a nationwide general strike on an as yet unspecified date, depending on the outcome of ongoing labor market reform talks with employer representatives and the new ... Greece: Government steps up tax collection |
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OP-ED | 'The Greek' Says 3 Things No Longer Hold True In CT-05 CT Newsjunkie The state's 5th Congressional District race has attracted a lot of attention for many reasons. With the Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy stepping aside to run for the U.S. Senate, both parties face hotly contested nomination fights. Both sides have ... |
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 CNBC.com | Greece Expects Euro-Region Help for August Funding Needs Bloomberg Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said euro-area governments vowed to prevent Greece from defaulting next month while reviewing the nation's eligibility for more aid amid a worsening recession. Greece Sees No Quick Extension on Fiscal Targets Greece Denied Softer Bailout Terms...for Now Greek Finance Minister Sees No Quick Target Extension |
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 The Guardian | Greece may have to face a choice between the euro and the radical left The Guardian Richard Seymour: The dominant forces in Syriza remain committed to the euro, but an increasingly radical powerful left has other ideas. |
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The dominant forces in Syriza remain committed to the euro, but an increasingly powerful radical left has other ideas
In this crisis, we have already seen "zombie banks" and "zombie companies"; now Greece has a "zombie government". Before the elections, New Democracy and their coalition partners had pledged to renegotiate elements of the austerity programme outlined in the memorandum of understanding. Predictably, the Troika offered no compromise – having already made it clear that they would not renegotiate. Achieving some mitigation was the government's last chance. Now this cadaverous coalition is defunct, awaiting the day of internment.
So, where now for Syriza? The current Greek government, unstable as it is, is compelled to press ahead. But the left and labour militants have not experienced a significant defeat since the 1970s. This is a recipe for the escalation of a struggle that has included 17 general strikes since 2009, multiple waves of protest, occupations and the indignados. Three times last year, parliament was surrounded. And the radical left parties have all played a key role in organising these struggles.
The key slogan through which Syriza won support was its call for a government of left unity to express popular opposition to austerity. Amid a deepening nadir of European social democracy, and a protracted crisis of global capitalism, the issue of leftist governments is going to be a recurrent one. Syriza was the first of the European left parties (Die Linke, Fronte de Gauche, etc) to come near to taking office, but it is unlikely to be the last.
However, Syriza now finds itself in an ambiguous position. Having come close to forming a left government, the pressure will be on to establish its credentials with international lenders and EU leaders. But they must somehow do so without losing the support of the most radical workers. Already, before the election, there was a tendency to soften their stances; pledging to repeal the memorandum laws, but insisting that they would not act "unilaterally". These pressures will only increase in the coming months.
Yet, Syriza's stances will not emerge in a vacuum. Strategically, its trajectory will unfold within four key co-ordinates.
First, there is the eurozone itself. This world-historic achievement of European capitalism brought together 17 national markets into a union. But it was always a union characterised by uneven and combined development, with a dominant core and weaker states losing competitiveness and building up debt. As a consequence, the union is now bedevilled by crises from Italy to Spain. The outcome of each of these crises depends on the struggles between national elites and turbulent popular masses. And the EU's strength in these situations is not negligible. Even so, the weakness is systemic, and it will be a small miracle if the euro survives.
Second, there is the scale of the crisis in Greece. It is like Weimar combined with the Great Depression. Greece has been in recession for five years, and official unemployment is over 22%. Wages have fallen by 26% over the past 13 months and the economy will shrink by an estimated 6% this year. The state apparatus is crumbling. The government hopes to avert some of the political consequences by asset-stripping the state, which they claim will raise €19bn (£15bn) by 2015 and thus reduce the need for cuts. It is unlikely they will raise that sum. Every wave of austerity brings the day of Greece's bankruptcy forward.
Third, there are the mass movements in Greece. Here, the dominant trend, despite the rise of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, has been one of continued radical left advance, and accelerated union militancy. For example, the steel workers have been striking for months against a 40% pay cut and job losses. The employers took heart from New Democracy's victory and attempted to finally break the strike but failed. The resilience of such militancy will have an effect on how Syriza opposes. Already, the Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras is threatening to mobilise mass protests if the government proceeds with the first of its new privatisation measures.
Finally, there is Syriza itself, which is not just another social democratic party. It is a heterogeneous coalition, with an ecumenical approach to the left. Its dominant forces are reformist, but it has a far left wing, rooted in the social movements and is now looking to deepen its base in the unions. It has taken Pasok's place as the dominant electoral party among left workers.
Its major faultline, though, is the euro. Traditionally pro-European, Syriza had been developing a more critical stance – "not one sacrifice for the euro". In practice, this slogan was dropped before the election and the dominant forces in Syriza remain committed to the euro. The pressure brought to bear by the European leaders, reinforced by the material threats of capital flight and speculative attack, has much to do with this. The leftist forces in Syriza, who have been calling for a break with the eurozone, will have to fight for their position.
What happens to Syriza, whether and how it governs, will have a huge impact on the European left, and not just on Greece. For the European left, it is obvious that Greek workers should not have to pay for this crisis. It is not as obvious how this burden will be lifted.
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 Kathimerini | Greek Government Discredits Minister Who Quit Greek Reporter The Greek government is taking shots at Nikos Nikolopoulos, who quit his post as Deputy Labour Minister because he said Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was too. A welcome ministerial departure |
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Greek central banker confirms bank deposits returning Reuters ATHENS, July 10 (Reuters) - Greece's central bank chief saidon Tuesday that bank deposits were returning at a satisfactorypace after elections last month reduced uncertainty about thecountry's future. |
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Human Rights Watch | Greek police ignore rising attacks on migrants: HRW Chicago Tribune ATHENS (Reuters) - Gangs of Greeks are regularly attacking immigrants with impunity across the country and authorities are ignoring or discouraging victims from filing complaints, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in a report on Tuesday. Greece: Migrants Describe Fear on the Streets |
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 Toronto Star | Greece: Brash mayor Sotiris Methenitis takes on business, fascists, and the ... Toronto Star In the Athens suburb of Markopoulo, brash reformer Methenitis has had an unusually eventful 18 months in office. |
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