Greece gets lifeline as ECB agrees €3.3bn extra emergency funds

Greece's prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, right and finance minister Yianis Varoufakis said they were confident the government's plan would be ...

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Greece Is Making an Offer Germany Can't Refuse

Without exception, the other 18 finance ministers of the eurozone have demanded that Greece request an extension of the current program as is.

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Greek Parliament Elects Former Conservative Minister as Head of State

Greece’s parliament elected Prokopis Pavlopoulos to a five-year term as head of state, ending months of political wrangling over the largely ceremonial position of the Greek president.

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The Five Absences from the Presidential Ballot and Mitsotakis’ Statement that ‘Froze’ New Democracy

With a total of 233 votes the Greek Parliament elected Prokopis Pavlopoulos as the seventh President of the Hellenic Republic. Pavlopoulos was elected with the votes of coalition partners SYRIZA and Independent Greeks (ANEL) as well as the support of his party, New Democracy. Five MPs -two from SYRIZA and three from New Democracy- were absent during the election procedure. Those absent were SYRIZA MPs Giannis Michelogiannakis and Anna Gaitani as well as New Democracy MPs Alexandros Kontos, Savvas Anastasiadis and Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The first two New Democracy MPs declared they would be abroad during the Presidential Ballot but Mitsotakis was also absent from the procedure. His absence, though, in combination with a statement he released just hours before the election procedure was the one that spread quandary to New Democracy’s headquarters. In his statement, Mitsotakis explained why he decided not to be present during the voting procedure and based his reasoning on three basic arguments. “I honor Prokopis Pavlopoulos as a Professor and an excellent jurist, with deep scientific knowledge. Through his political path, however, I am not convinced that he is the most appropriate for the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic for three reasons.” As Mitsotakis explained, Pavlopoulos, during his term as a Minister, failed to resist the citizen-state “client relation,” he appeared deficient to deal with one of the country’s greatest crises of recent history (the one of December 2008, after the assassination of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos) and finally his position in regards to Greece’s place in the European Union does not reflect Mitsotakis’ views. In conclusion -and after wishing Pavlopoulos to prove him wrong- Mitsotakis said his absent from the voting procedure is justified by his unwillingness to vote against Pavlopoulos. Greek Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou will visit Pavlopoulos at his political office for a formal announcement of the Presidential Election results. The new Greek President will assume his duties on March 13, when the term of his predecessor, Karolos Papoulias, is complete.

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STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know (DIA, SPY, SPX, QQQ, TLT, OIL, USO, XOM, XHB, BOND, BND)

Stocks went nowhere on Wednesday as the market was focused on the Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting, which showed that the Fed is prepared to keep interest rates at zero for longer.  First, the scoreboard: Dow: 18,025.7, -21.9, (-0.1%) S&P 500: 2,099.3, -1, (-0.05%) Nasdaq: 4,904.9, +5.7, (+0.1%) And now, the top stories on Wednesday: 1. It was all about the Fed on Wednesday, as the Minutes from the January FOMC meeting were released, showing that the Fed is comfortable keeping rates at zero for longer. The Minutes showed that a number of FOMC members saw the risks weighted towards raising rates too early, with at least one member recommending more policy accommodation, not less. Regarding the economic outlook, the Minutes showed that the Fed saw the economy showing activity expanding at a solid pace over the second half of 2014 with labor market conditions again improving in recent months. The January FOMC meeting took place before the latest jobs report, which showed that payrolls continue to grow at a solid pace.  2. In the Minutes, the Fed expressed concern regarding the liquidity of the bond and loan mutual fund markets, saying that, "the increased role of bond and loan mutual funds, in conjunction with other factors, may have increased the risk that liquidity pressures could emerge in related markets if investor appetite for such assets wanes." In an email on Wednesday, Deutsche Bank's Torsten Sløk laid out the Fed's "master plan."  3. In Greece news, reports from Dow Jones on Wednesday said that the European Central Bank has extended its liquidity program to Greek banks by two weeks. An AFP report said the ECB did not just extend its program but increased the funding available to Greek banks.  4. Yale professor Robert Shiller appeared on CNBC on Wednesday and said, "I'm thinking about getting out of the United States, somewhat ... Europe is so much cheaper." Shiller famously predicted the dot-com and housing bubbles, and said that he has already invested in some indexes in Italy and Spain. Shiller added that half of his money is in stocks and that is not hedging currencies.  5. On the economic data front, housing starts in January declined 2% to an annualized rate of 1.065 million, a bit below what economists had been expecting. "Adverse weather across the Midwest and Northeast was likely a factor in restraining activity," Barclays' Michael Gapen said following the report.  6. Energy prices continue to weigh on inflation across the economy, with the latest report on producer prices showing prices fell 0.8% month-on-month in January, more than the 0.4% decline that had been expected. Excluding the more volatile costs of food and energy, "core" PPI still declined by 0.1%, more than the 0.1% increase that was expected.  7. The Federal Reserve released its latest report on industrial production, showing that production rose 0.2% in January, a bit less than the 0.3% increase that was expected, while capacity utilization declined to 79.4% from 79.9% the prior month. The big declines were in the energy sector, as production in energy declined by 5% over last year.  Don't Miss: Wall Street's brightest minds reveal the most important charts in the world »Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Nationwide's Super Bowl commercial about dead children is about corporate profits ... in a way that we can all appreciate

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Lazard's Matthieu Pigasse is 'the self-marketed rock star of finance'

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal profiled Matthieu Pigasse, the investment banker and vice-chairman of Lazard Europe who is currently advising the Greek government on its debt deal with the Eurogroup. But he's so much more than just your average investment banker. From the WSJ:  In France, Mr. Pigasse, a one-time guitar player, has shot to fame as the self-marketed rock star of finance. He co-owns the left-leaning French newspaper Le Monde, listens to punk rock in the office and, despite working for one of the most storied names in finance, says he wants a social revolution against the "conservative status quo." The WSJ profile leaves out the time in 2010 when Pigasse allegedly rented a house in the Hamptons and then skipped out on it after two days because he "didn't like the view."That seems like a pretty rock star thing to do, though. As for Pigasse's banking activities, WSJ reports that, "his debt-advisory team met with Greek officials in Brussels to work on the practical elements of a plan under which private-sector investors will write off 50% of €206 billion ($277 billion) of Greek sovereign debt they hold." And as for what Pigasse has to say for himself, he told the Journal: Mr. Pigasse described himself as a pro-market Socialist. He is a financier who wants more market regulation and a millionaire banker who doesn't own real estate or a car. "I don't see any contradiction here," he said. "I think you can defend ideas that are not, financially speaking, in your interest."SEE ALSO: The Lazard Banker Who "Didn't Like The View" Is Busted For (Allegedly) Lying About Wire Transfer Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch Giant Robots In Beijing Battle To Celebrate Diplomatic Relations With France

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The ECB reportedly just extended emergency funding for Greek banks

The European Central Bank has extended its liquidity program for Greek banks by two weeks, according to a Dow Jones report via CNBC. According to CNBC, it is a "a roughly €68 billion, two-week extension on emergency liquidity."  AFP is reporting that the ECB both extended and increased the funding. This doesn't necessarily mean that Greece is any closer to a bailout deal with the troika, however. This extension and increase of emergency liquidity funding was expected, as nervous people have started to pull their money out of Greek banks and it's in the ECB's interest to keep those banks liquid, at least until February 28, the looming deadline when Greece's current debt program ends.   The Irish Times reported Tuesday that "daily outflows were in the region of 300 million to €500 million on average."SEE ALSO: Leaked documents reveal what Greece had say at the Eurogroup negotiations Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do

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GLOBAL MARKETS-U.S. dips after Fed minutes; Europe up on Greece hope

… raises emergency funding cap to Greek banks - source * Stocks in … uncertainty over Greece's negotiations with its creditors. The Greek government … is on the table and Greece must stick to the terms …

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Juncker : The Troika insulted Greece’s dignity

“Ministers deserve confer with their counterparts and not with employees”, says Juncker

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Greek banks pin hopes on political accord

Regulators confident sector will stay afloat if bailout deal is reached soon

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The Economic Ruination of Greece

It is now beyond a reasonable doubt that Germany and its austerity cohorts want to drive Greece out of the eurozone by insisting that it adhere to its agreement to pass most of its meager budget surplus to service its foreign debt, rather than invest it back into the Greek economy. It is insisting that Greece cut government spending enough so that it carries what is called a huge 'primary' budget surplus of 4.5 percent (a surplus before its bills are paid--ie, largely interest to its creditors). The EU, led by Germany, had crafted several agreements that gave Greece large loans to service that debt, while forcing it to submit to severe austerity and wage cuts. "The results have been catastrophic," said a blogger on the Guardian in a 2013 post: "Cumulative economic contraction approaching 25 percent, adult unemployment at nearly 30 percent, youth unemployment close to 65 percent, unprecedented poverty, destruction of the welfare state and humanitarian crisis in the urban centres. Greek debt, meanwhile, is currently higher than in 2010, standing at €321bn and, since the economy has collapsed, its ratio to GDP approaches an exorbitant 180 percent. This is the background to the current debate." But to do so would in effect drive Greece even further into its depression, since it means lower tax revenues, which makes it impossible to pay down any of that debt. The consequence is the layoff of more workers and further reduction of average household incomes. Paul Krugman put up a graph of the cutbacks in spending that in turn have made Greece's debt burden worse, compared to other countries that agreed to the EU's austerity terms. Greece has already paid the piper, in other words, while Germany now has the largest budget surplus of all Western countries. "Greece has done a lot more austerity than those countries cited as supposed success stories," says Krugman, "(which is another issue -- success being defined as "not total collapse, and slight recovery after years of horror" -- but that's a different story)." Graph: Trading Economics So Greece has little choice but to exit the euro currency, unless some last-minute compromise with the EU is possible. Its unemployment rate is 25.8 percent, the worst in the eurozone (slightly more than Spain's 23.7 percent), as it has been in a deflationary spiral, further depressing its economic activity. Graph: Trading Economics Although Greece mostly lived up to the terms of the bailout, the promised growth never materialized. As the Greek Prime Minister recently said: "We are not negotiating the bailout; it was cancelled by its own failure." Calculated Risk tabulated the difference between the forecasted results of its austerity cutbacks and the actual result. Greece: Annual GDP growth Forecast and Actual Year Promised vs. Actual • 2009 -2.0 vs. -4.4 • 2010 -4.0 vs. -5.4 • 2011 -2.6 vs. -8.9 • 2012 +1.1 vs. -6.6 • 2013 +2.1 vs. -3.9 The only choices are to allow Greece to run a smaller primary surplus (currently 1.5 percent of GDP), leaving more of its revenues to benefit its own citizens, or for Greece to leave the Eurozone and default on all their debt. What will it be?

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UPDATE 1-ECB raises emergency funding cap to Greek banks to 68.3 bln euros

The ECB had already raised the ELA available to Greek banks by 5 billion euros to about 65 billion last Thursday. The new cap is roughly 3.3 billion ...

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Greece 'optimistic' new debt loan proposal will please all

Greece said Wednesday it was "optimistic" it would resolve the bailout crisis by meeting the demands of both the electorate and creditors with its proposal for a loan extension, despite EU scepticism. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis insisted a deal was still possible even after a firm preemptive "nein" from EU paymaster Germany to its planned offer, which has reawoken the spectre of a ...

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Power Broker in Greek Debt Crisis Could Be the E.C.B.

With or without a resolution in Brussels, the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, may hold the keys to keeping Athens solvent.

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Grexit: Win for both EU and Greece?

If, in the next 48 hours, Athens and Brussels fail to strike a bailout deal, Greece could be forced to leave the eurozone, and that might not be so bad ...

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Greece hopes lift global stock markets ahead of Fed minutes

17, 2015, as investors continued to watch Greece's debt talks and hoped a deal would eventually be reached to keep the country from falling out of the ...

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Greece asks for time and Snapchat's $19 billion valuation — 5 things to know today

Wall Street stock futures are up slightly this morning, while earlier in the day European markets rose to a seven-year high on expectations that Greece ...

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Greece bailout: Time is running out to avoid 'catastrophic' Greek exit from euro, warns EU

Eurozone finance ministers and officials have warned that time was running out to avoid a “catastrophic” Greek exit from the single currency, as they awaited a new proposal from Athens aimed at keeping Greece afloat beyond the end of this month.

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Greek bailout: US urges Athens to agree a deal

Rolling coverage of the ongoing Greek debt talks, as Athens announces it will apply for a loan extension on ThursdayLatest: ECB raises Greek emergency liquidity cap Jack Lew tells Varoufakis to find constructive pathSummary: Greek loan application expected ThursdayEU commissioner: Greece can’t ditch bailout pledgesHere are Greece’s eurogroup proposals 8.23pm GMT OK, that’s all for tonight. A very quick recap of this afternoon’s developments.The US government has increased the pressure on Athens tonight, by warning finance minister Yanis Varoufakis that he needs to reach a ‘constructive deal’ soon.Has anyone other than Varoufakis - who has to sound upbeat to avoid causing panic - said anything positive today about latest Greek offer?SYRIZA managed to elect as president somebody who embodies much of what his wrong w/ #Greece's politics. Truly auspicious for the future 8.07pm GMT Reuters is now reporting that the ECB’s liquidity increase might give Greek banks a week’s grace, assuming savers don’t withdraw funds at a faster rate: 7.54pm GMT Our Athens correspondent, Helena Smith, points out that Prokopis Pavlopoulos is a controversial choice as Greece’s new president.#Greece has got its most controversial president in recent history: and that title goes to Prokopis Pavlopoulos tonightPavlopoulos was also in government during the record growth of Greece’s public finances with profligate practices that included rampant public sector hiring.The white-haired Pavlopoulos was among the worst offenders hiring almost everyone there was to hire in his local constituency in central Greece.@graemewearden @LorcanRK Sure, you see Mr Pavlopoulos is the patron saint of the Greek clientele system. Hired 850K people in 5 yrs for 11bn 7.30pm GMT More reaction.....@graemewearden that's pittance if €500M is flowing out over span of a few daysECB's decision practically means that if no agreement reached with the Eurozone until Tuesday, capital controls in #Greece are imminent. 7.27pm GMT Back to the ECB’s decision to give more emergency liquidity to Greece’s banks tonight.Reuters is reporting that the Greek central bank actually asked for the cap to be raised by €10bn, but only got €3.3bn. That does suggest it wanted significant protection against deposit outflows.No vote taken on ELA increase for Greek banks but Jens Weidmann Bundesbank prez thought to have objected - source familiar with #ECB talks 7.21pm GMT There’s not much “wiggle room” for a deal with Greece, according to Germany’s finance minister: 7.13pm GMT Α €3.5bn increase in #Greece's ELA is just peanuts. The Greek banking system will suffer dire concequences if no deal reached until Tuesday. 7.10pm GMT Hang on....make that a reported €3.3bn increase in Greek bank liquidity -- today’s rise to €68.3bn would be on top of the surprise €5bn rise last week (from €60bn to €65bn). So, not as big a move as thought, but better than a poke in the eye with a draft eurogroup statement.AFP: European Central Bank has extended and increased the emergency funding to Greek banks #Greece 6.58pm GMT Greece’s finance minister has declared that he’s confident that eurozone finance ministers will approve his request for a loan extension on Friday, via a teleconference.Reuters has the details: 6.57pm GMT Correction.... just seeing reports that the ECB has also voted to give Greek banks more emergency liquidity.A helpful move under the circumstances, which might calm fears over the health of the Greek banking sector in the coming days. 6.53pm GMT Brace yourselves for a flurry of news flashes.First up: Dow Jones are reporting that the ECB has agreed to extend liquidity to the Greek banking sector for another two weeks. BREAKING: ECB approves 2 week extension of emergency liquidity for Greek banks, DowJones reports, citing source » http://t.co/5pymyTWddh 6.45pm GMT Looking like a landslide for Tspiras' man in Greek presidential election pic.twitter.com/5gpq1mOCFU 6.39pm GMT It’s official. Alexis Tsipras has succeeded where his predecessor Antonis Samaras failed, and persuaded MPs in the Greek parliament to elect a new president.#Greece Habemus President, Prokopis PavlopoulosProkopis Pavlopoulos reaches 3/5 majority votes to become #Greece's new Preseident. 6.36pm GMT There are two candidates in tonight’s presidential vote. Greece’s To Potami party weren’t happy with the government’s candidate, so proposed Nicos Alivizatos, a Professor of Constitutional Law, instead.He’s not got a chance, though -- Prokopis Pavlopoulos can rely on the votes of the opposition New Democracy party (in which he served as a minister), as well as the Syriza-led governmentCurrent Greek presidential candidate votes: #pavlopoulos 169 #alivizatos 25, 27 abstaining #greece #president #greekpresidentialvote 6.33pm GMT Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis spoke during the first round of the presidential vote.... 6.10pm GMT Giovanna Pancheri, Europe correspondent at Sky Tg24, has heard the ECB probably won’t released a statement tonight (which fits with what Bruno was told earlier)#Ecb sources: a Press release on today board is "most unlikely". #ela 5.52pm GMT Nearly time for that vote in Athens....entering parliament, 20 mins late, lafazanis says there won't be leaks from syriza side in parliament's presidential ballot 5.31pm GMT This is a little worrying.... Reuters is reporting that the European Central Bank is split tonight on whether to give Greek banks access to additional liquidity.Germany is not keen to offer extra help to the banks, who have suffered from deposit outflows since the crisis escalated, it says:Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, who has warned against the misuse of the emergency funding to indirectly finance the Greek state, opposed any increase in the cap, the sources said.But while some governors share his reservations, others want more leniency.If the #ECB is equally divided we don't have a problem yet but if it's 67/33... Athens we have problem. 5.20pm GMT Greece’s finance minister has just confirmed that Jack Lew did indeed warn him that Greece will suffer without a deal (and also confirmed that he ‘gets’ Twitter like few other politicians):US Treasury Sec did indeed tell me that nonagreement would damage Greece. He added that it would also damage Europe. Advice to both sides! 5.16pm GMT Heads up: the Greek parliament is convening to vote on whether to appoint Prokopis Pavlopoulos, a former interior minister, as President.#Greece parliament convenes to [finally] elect country's new President. Pavlopoulos vs Alivizatos. Livestream ► http://t.co/yqwSoNmFzg #PtD 5.04pm GMT Sounds like the eurogroup of finance ministers could be meeting again on Friday (assuming Greece submits its proposal in time)EZ working group meeting of officials still scheduled for tomorrow. Based on how that goes, a Eurogroup meeting will be held Friday - source 4.58pm GMT Europe’s stock markets closed higher tonight, apart from the FTSE 100 which finished flat.There is optimism that permission will be granted by Greece’s EU creditors to extend its loan program beyond February and keep the country from defaulting and falling out of the Eurozone.The EU appears generally agreeable to a six-month extension of Greece’s loan agreement. The major sticking point is whether over that 6 months Greece will be beholden to the same bailout terms as the current agreement. 4.45pm GMT Greek bonds have strengthened through the day, too, although prices are still show a high danger of default.It’s 10-year debt is trading around a yield of 10.4% currently, down from 10.6% on Tuesday evening. 4.28pm GMT Back in Athens, the main share index closed 1% higher as traders clung onto hopes that a deal will be reached. 4.03pm GMT Treasury Sec. Lew spoke with Greek finance minister this morning, urged Greek PM to find constructive path forward with EU & IMF - Reuters 3.56pm GMT The United States has waded into the deadlock gripping the eurozone, by giving Greece a clear nudge to find a “constructive” path towards a deal with its creditors, quickly.....noted that failure to reach an agreement would lead to immediate hardship in Greece, that the uncertainty is not good for Europe, and that time is of the essence.”The U.S. is pushing Greece to work it out: @USTreasury Secretary Lew warns @yanisvaroufakis of "immediate hardship in Greece" without a dealJack Lew called @yanisvaroufakis this AM to gently lean on him in the way @USTreasury does so well. Basic message: behave, and hurry up! 3.43pm GMT Greece could be dragged back into recession by the uncertainty over its bailout programme, rating agency Fitch has just warned.The damage to investor, consumer, and depositor confidence is increasing downside risks to growth and Greece’s incipient economic recovery. It may take time to repair even if agreement with official creditors is reached in the coming days or weeks. This echoes 2012, when around 30% of deposit outflows from Greek banks in May and June were not recovered in the second half of the year, even as fears that Greece would leave the eurozone receded. The private sector also experienced a long period of limited or costly access to market financing. 3.35pm GMT My colleague Alberto Nardelli has crunched the numbers, to work out when Greece’s coffers might actually run dry without a new bailout deal. It’s a tricky question. By one measure, Greece might have to start tapping emergency reserves on 24th February, to tide it into mid-March before it faces repayments to the IMF, and then other creditors.If, and it’s a big if, the ECB were to ever pull the plug on Greek banks, the country’s financial system would collapse, and Greece itself would de facto lose its last line of credit.It is hard to see how the house of cards would not then come tumbling down. Simply put, Mario Draghi, the ECB president, holds a sword over Greece’s head.When will Greece run out of money? It's complicated http://t.co/n80ByOid7C 3.19pm GMT Open Europe, the think tank, has helpfully broken down the differences between Greece’s position and the eurogroup.Diffs btwn #Greece & #Eurogroup go beyond words. We lay out, in each policy, what they are & chance for agreement http://t.co/uHW3LreN5r 3.10pm GMT Bruno Waterfield of the Telegraph reckons we won’t hear anything from the ECB about Greek liquidity until late tonight, if at all....I hear from Brussels sources that ECB statement on Greece & ELA is highly unlikely today. If it comes it'll be late evening... 2.59pm GMT The early optimism in the financial markets is evaporating, after Greece revealed it will not submit its request for a loan extension until Thursday.Wall Street has opened lower, the FTSE 100 is now down 15 points, or 0.2%, and the Athens stock market is up just 0.8% (having jumped 2.7% at the open) 2.09pm GMT A quick recap:We believe the terms of the bailout cannot continue by any means.”Asked 3x, @VDombrovskis makes it pretty clear: no loan available to #Greece w/out it meeting conditions of current bailout programme 1.23pm GMT Greece’s minister of state Alekos Flamboraris, a close aide of prime minister Alexis Tsipras, has stirred the waters this morning saying Greece may request an emergency EU summit is held because the Greek crisis is as much political as economic, Helena Smith reports. Speaking to the local radio channel Parapolitika, the minister said in the event that an extraordinary eurogroup wasn’t called by the end of the week, Athens would request that EU leaders convene for an extraordinary summit “as the issue is political.” “Athens is not requesting an extension of the memorandum as the vote of the Greek people has abolished the memorandum.....“Our country is asking that the extension of the loan agreement be agreed so that we can resolve a few things that are still outstanding.” 1.14pm GMT French finance minister Michel Sapin hopes that a Greece deal will be hammered out by the end of the week:AFP reports that Sapin told a cabinet meeting that: “Talks have not yet been successful. France’s objective is for a deal to be reached with Greece by the end of the week.” 12.49pm GMT It’s official: Greece’s application is going to land in Brussels inboxes tomorrow morning, not today as the government said early this morning:Greek govt spokesman Gabriel Sakkelarides tells @SkyNews the official request for loan extension will be sent to Eurogroup on Thurs morning.Little bird tells me delay of submission of bailout xtension request til Thurs involves crucial finetuning both in wording &essence. #Greece 12.47pm GMT In Athens the battle lines are being drawn.The ultra-left anti-capitalist Antarsia party has fired off an excoriating statement following the new government’s decision to request an extension of its loan agreement last night. “We have a Greek government that in reality accepts the overwhelming debt and the immediate obligations that derive from this, commits itself to [pulling off] a primary surplus (that is to say austerity) has asked for an extension of the current loan agreement and declared that it accepts 70 % of the memorandum.” “The European Union’s blackmailing is not the exception but the rule. There is no democratic EU, nor is there an EU of the people.” One the culture clash between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and his eurozone peers: http://t.co/Vuvc1YFl9k pic.twitter.com/7itzVYibNN 12.29pm GMT The head of Greek opposition party To Potami (The River) has said Athens will file its application for a loan extension on Thursday, not today as expected.Stavros Theodorakis was speaking to reporters after a meeting with Greek prime minister Tsipras, where he learned that the proposal will include some costed economic reforms.Potami leader Theodorakis says PM Tsipras told him Greek proposal for loan extension will included reforms & their fiscal impact #GreecePotami leader Theodorakis says has been briefed by PM Tsipras on #Greece's loan extension request; to be sent Thurs pic.twitter.com/OBtl4Lwt5x 12.23pm GMT Rumours are swirling that eurozone technical officials are going to hold talks tomorrow at a Working Group.They would lay the groundwork for a full eurogroup on Friday to discuss Greece’s bailout.BREAKING: officials from eurozone fin ministries to meet in Bxl tomorrow (eurogroup working group), eurogroup expected Friday - srce #Greece 12.16pm GMT Crystal clear. @VDombrovskis says Greece well aware that way forward is to extend the existing programme with conditions 12.14pm GMT Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission vice-president for the Euro, is discussing the Greek situation in Brussels now.There’s a livefeed here..@VDombrovskis "Under the Greek program there are funds available, if Greece wants to tap those funds it has to complete the program".@VDombrovskis: if #Greece wants funds of existing programme, Athens has to close succesfully review (i.e: pension reform, labour market..) 12.01pm GMT Good news for UK holidaymakers (and eurozone exporters); sterling has hit a seven-year high against the euro this morning. One euro is now worth 73.67p, down from 74.3p last night, following today’s strong UK unemployment report.EUR/GBP HITS 0.7366, LOWEST SINCE 2008; BREACHES 200-MONTH MA 11.43am GMT Insiders in Athens say much of the focus now will be on the wording of whatever document is drawn up to keep debt-stricken Greece afloat, our correspondent Helena Smith says. Former minister for international economic relations, Constantine Papadopoulos, says although the new government is now focusing on the loan agreement it is fully aware that it will have to keep “to the general spirit” of the conditions on which rescue funds have been given Greece. “What we are hearing is that the government is making a tremendous effort to reach an agreement in order to ensure there is no abrupt break in our relations with our euro zone partners. It will request a sixth-month extension of the loan agreement which underpins the memorandum of understanding..... ....“but will do so avoiding the term memorandum of understanding which it cannot be seen to be adopting.” “They will focus on the conditions Greece must meet to have the funds released. They cannot be identical to what we had before but Athens also understands they cannot digress too much from the general spirit of [previous] conditions. 11.36am GMT Back in Berlin, German economy ministry has also warned that Greece’s loan agreement cannot be separated from its reform commitments.In other words, no money without austerity. The battle lines are being drawn, even before Athens submits its request. 11.34am GMT European commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has told Germany magazine WirtschaftsWoche that he’s helping to craft a deal.In an interview published this morning, Juncker says:“I am working together with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem to achieve an extension of the existing programme, in order to bridge the time until summer.” 11.24am GMT Germany’s government has welcomed the news that Athens is applying for a loan extension today:* German economy minister gabriel says welcomes signal from Greek government that it is ready to negotiate - RTRS 11.20am GMT Dan Davies, senior research advisor at Frontline Analysts, is tweeting as he reads though the Greek negotiation papers released a few minutes ago.He reckons the documents suggests that there could have, and should have, been more progress:Bottom line - there is lots of common ground here between YV and €group. If it was just his statements we'd have a dealThe question in my mind is - why don't we have a deal, and why is the stuff coming out of Athens so incoherent and combative?yes, YV's remarks to the feb 16 €group weren't bad, but the accompanying technical paper was just ghastly; no specifics, lots of bull.p16, YV has suddenly discovered the foreclosure rules as a red line - this must surely have been driven by Athens & internal politicsp21 the stuff on privatisations is desperately unconvincing. the "avoiding fire sales" stuff will have gone down very badlyp15 - EUR70bn for writeoffs of tax arrears wtff???... lots of €group finmins are going to be kinda horrified that there was 28% of GDP in outstanding tax nonpayment fines in the first place 11.01am GMT This lack of detail from Greece must have made it harder for the eurogroup to assess the concessions which Varoufakis was promising. But I’m not sure it’s a reason to have ditched the Moscovici compromise altogether. 10.57am GMT The immediate impression from these documents is that Yanis Varoufakis talks a pretty good game at the eurogroup, but Greece’s proposals are rather short of actual numbers.@dsquareddigest they brought an MSWord doc to an Excel fight.. 10.47am GMT Classy move from the Greek government. It has published the proposals which Yanis Varoufakis took to the two eurogroup meetings of finance ministers, on 11 and 16 February.It is online here in English (via the invaluable Yannis Koutsomitis), and here in Greek (on Capital.Gr).Greek FinMin has published file with Varoufakis's proposals to the Eurogroup #Greece 10.04am GMT Greece’s government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis has confirmed that Athens will formally ask for an extension to its loan agreement today, but not the austerity measures which it has vowed to reverse. Sakellaridis told Greece’s Antenna TV that:“We believe the terms of the bailout cannot continue by any means.” “Let’s wait today for the request for an extension of the loan contract to be submitted by Finance Minister Varoufakis.”“All along deliberations are going on to find common ground. We want to believe that we are on a good path. We are coming to the table to find a solution.” 9.51am GMT In other UK economic news, the Bank of England has revealed that one policymaker believes the BoE it is as likely to loosen monetary policy as tighten it. The minutes of the BOE’s last meeting also show that all policymakers voted 9-0 to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.5% this month.Minutes of the MPC Meeting held on 4 & 5 February http://t.co/KQ3cCIIJqS 9.49am GMT UK avg earnings +2.1% 3mth yy above f'casts but ex-bonus +1.7%, below @ReutersPolls median. Still a long way to go pic.twitter.com/0tLGkBLyUk 9.47am GMT Today’s UK unemployment report looks pretty decent. The number of people out of work fell by 97,000 in the October-December quarter, lowering the jobless rate to a new six-year low of 5.7%. 9.33am GMT Just in: Britain’s unemployment rate has fallen to 5.7%, a new six year low.And average earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by 1.7%, year-on-year, in the last three months of 2014. Including bonuses, they were up by 2.1%. 9.29am GMT Analysts at French bank BNP Paribas warns that the next few days will be lively: “The tone between Greece and other European partners (is) less harsh but an agreement is still far from being reached. We still expect an agreement will be reached before the end of February, but we also see room for volatility until that time.” 9.27am GMT It’s business as usual outside the Athens parliament today: 9.22am GMT Greek government bonds are continuing their recovery – the yield on its three-year debt has dropped to 17.6%, from 18.8% last night. 8.49am GMT Newsflashes from Athens: Greece’s government has just confirmed that it will submit a request to extend its existing loan today. #Greece government spokesman confirms Athens will submit request for loan extension today 8.42am GMT In other news... Swiss prosecutors have just said they’re probing a local subsidiary of HSBC for suspected money laundering, according to AP:BREAKING: Swiss prosecutors say they're probing local HSBC subsidiary for suspected money laundering 8.40am GMT Greek government bonds are recovering this morning. The yield (effectively the interest rate) on its 10-year debt has fallen from 10.6% to 10.4%, meaning it is seen as slightly safer. The Greek three-year bond is also rallying a little.Greek ASE +0.4% and Greek 3 year bonds are down 90bps following source comments Greece could request a 6m extension to its loan program 8.36am GMT The Greek stock market is also enjoying a relief rally, with the ATG index up 2.7% in early trading.Optimism abounds, even though a) Athens hasn’t submitted an application yet, and b) eurozone finance ministers may not accept a loan extension if it’s not tied to bailout targets. 8.32am GMT Other European markets are also rising in early trading, with Germany’s DAX gaining 0.5% and the French CAC up 0.7%. 8.29am GMT In London, the FTSE 100 index has hit its highest levels in 15 years, and is closing in on its record peak.The blue-chip index has gained 20 points to 6920, not far from the 6930-point level it closed at back in December 1999. The positive open comes as talks between Greece and the Eurogroup continue this week with PM Tsipras indicating yesterday that, while he remains absolutely committed to forging an agreement with the creditors, the two parties remain far from striking a deal. Nonetheless, it is reported that the Syriza government may request a 6-month extension of its bailout today and that will no doubt calm the waters slightly. 8.18am GMT Eurozone ministers have another incentive to get a deal done quickly – it will spare them from any more lectures from George Osborne.“There was a minister this morning, a non-euro-zone member, who asked if we had thought about what would happen if Greece left the euro,” French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told reporters. “Frankly, it’s indecent.”...Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who presided over Monday’s negotiations, also told Osborne at Tuesday’s gathering that there was no alternative to Greece staying in the euro area, one of the people said. 8.09am GMT Europe shares open higher; Greece negotiations still in focus. http://t.co/FMK3gG0k3w $FTSE $DAX pic.twitter.com/MJNFbrkfmh 8.04am GMT European stock markets are inching higher at the start of trading:Stoxx Europe 600 index opens 0.3% higher at 378.32 8.01am GMT One crucial point: Any Greek deal would need to be approved by other eurozone governments.And Germany is very likely to oppose a mere loan agreement, rather than a formal extension of the current bailout + conditions. 1/3 By publicly slaying Dijssel-draft, #Greece prepared internally the ground for a deal on the Moscovici one. But a huge snag remains: ...2/3 "Greece is *also* insisting that the bailout extension would be in the form of a “loan agreement” rather than the current programme”(FT)3/3 ..."German officials say there is no legal means for making such a loan”. http://t.co/QoXsLuEWZc 7.53am GMT Hopes that Greece might make a breakthrough with its creditors today drove Japan’s stock index to its highest level since the financial crisis struck.The Nikkei gained 1.2%, or 212 points, to close at 18,199.17. That’s the highest point since July 2007. 7.43am GMT Good morning.“We are not going to ask for an extension of the programme or memorandum. The Greek government won’t accept ultimatums.”Greece would not roll back economic reforms; it would continue to run a primary budget surplus; it would pledge to pay its creditors in full. In exchange, Athens would be given leeway in deciding which reforms it would agree to.ECB President Mario Draghi is unlikely to want to go down in history as the man who pulled the plug on Greece and undermine the “irreversible” nature of the euro. Continue reading...

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Conservative Pavlopoulos elected Greek president

Greece's parliament has elected Prokopis Pavlopoulos as the country's new president. The move is being seen as part of an effort to strengthen the leftist government's attempts to negotiate its bailout terms with the EU.

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Greek Debt Crisis 101: Getting To The Crux Of The Matter

According to estimates by EuroStat, Greek debt stood at more than 315 billion euros at the end of September 2014.

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Conservative law professor Prokopis Pavlopoulos voted new Greek president

Greece's parliament has elected a conservative law professor and veteran politician as the country's new president, after he received support from the new left-wing government and main center-right opposition party.

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Grexit: How likely is a Greek exit from the Euro and what would happen to the economy?

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addresses his party lawmakers during a meeting of their parliamentary group Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ...

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ECB extends liquity for Greek banks: Report

The European Central Bank has approved a roughly €68 billion, two-week extension on emergency liquidity for Greek banks, Dow Jones reported, ...

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Death becomes her: how Juliette Binoche and Ivo van Hove remade Antigone

How do you breathe new life into an ancient Greek tragedy? If anyone can, then it’s Juliette Binoche and Ivo van Hove. The actor and the director talk to Charlotte Higgins about the personal tragedies that fed into their productionPatrick O’Kane, the actor who is playing the seer Tiresias in Ivo van Hove’s production of Sophocles’s Antigone, is waiting for the working day to begin in a London rehearsal room, watching Andy Murray on his phone in the Australian Open. How do you find Van Hove, I ask. “Impish,” he returns. Indeed, across the room Van Hove and Juliette Binoche lark about, two slender slips of people erupting in laughter. Van Hove is trim and be-cardiganed, Binoche is in jeans and high-heel boots and a sweatshirt that looks incredibly casual but is in fact by Isabel Marant, reminding me that not 48 hours ago she was in the front row at the Armani show at the Palais de Tokyo and is an Oscar-winning star (in 1996 for The English Patient) with a film career spanning from the Three Colours trilogy of the early 1990s through work with Haneke, Cronenberg and Kiarostami.Two and a half years ago, Binoche and Van Hove met at a restaurant at the Gare de Lyon to discuss working together. Van Hove is hugely admired for his ability to excavate psychology and bring plays to the stage with a fresh, breakneck force. A regular visitor to the Barbican with his company Toneelgroep Amsterdam with such productions as The Roman Tragedies in 2009, he cemented his British reputation with last year’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge at the Young Vic in London, which is now playing in the West End (as well as in cinemas on 26 March). One director described Van Hove’s work to me this way: “Often in British theatre, the director and actors have decided that John Proctor is a good man, Abigail Williams is a bad woman [to take the example of Miller’s The Crucible]. But when you watch a Van Hove production, it is clear that Eddie Carbone [in a View from the Bridge] knows he is right. The Sicilians know they are right. There isn’t this sense of the play having been agreed on.” Binoche, for her part, was keen to return to the theatre after Mademoiselle Julie, a version of the Strindberg play that she brought to the Barbican in 2012. Related: A View from the Bridge five-star review – Ivo van Hove reinvents Arthur Miller Related: 'My aim is the ultimate production': Ivo van Hove on directing Arthur Miller Continue reading...

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EconomyECB increases emergency lending to Greek banks

European Central Bank policy makers have approved a €3.3bn increase in emergency support to the Greek banking system. Greek lenders will now ...

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European Central Bank makes emergency funding available to Greek banks

The European Central Bank agreed on Wednesday to raise the emergency funding available to Greek banks to 68.3 billion euros ($78 billion), a slight ...

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Council of State rejects residents' appeal against Skouries gold mine

The fifth section of the Council of State on Wednesday rejected a joint appeal by 264 residents of Halkidiki, in northern Greece, against a controversial gold mining project in the area of Skouries.

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Greece to Propose Extension of European Union Bailout Program

Athens will push for an extension of several months but will not adhere to an underlying memorandum that prescribed many austerity measures.

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ECB offers Greek banks more cash

Additional funding will give Athens more breathing space to agree extension of its EU loan agreement.

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Will Greece's creditors choose to ease up on austerity?

Europe has a chance to admit its failings over the Greek financial crisis – but it may just keep on diggingDenis Healey had a good rule of thumb for policymakers: when you are in a hole, stop digging. Greece provides a classic example of why the former chancellor was right.Work on the hole Europe has dug for itself began in the 1990s when the flawed plan for monetary union was conceived. Instead of a single currency crowning a process of integration, Europe’s policymakers decided that monetary union would be the catalyst for integration. Far from bringing widely different economies closer together, the euro has highlighted the differences between them.Syriza wants to stay in the eurozone but says conditions attached to the bailout are senseless. It is right Continue reading...

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U.S. Joins Europe Pressing Greece to Reach Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Pressure mounted on Greece as U.S. and European officials called on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's government to reach a deal with ...

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Prokopis Pavlopoulos is Greece’s New President

Greece's parliament on Wednesday elected Prokopis Pavlopoulos as the country's new president. The election of Pavlopoulos, 64, ends a stalemate over the selection of a head of state as Greece is trying to wrench a revision of the terms of its bailout deal international lenders. The veteran politician was supported by MPs from the two parties in the government coalition led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who nominated him, and the main opposition party, center-right New Democracy, of which Pavlopoulos is a member. Pavlopoulos was elected in 233-30 vote in the 300-seat parliament, defeating fellow law professor and center-left candidate Nikos Alivizatos who was backed by centrist To Potami party and the center-left PASOK. Tsipras’ radical-left SYRIZA party swept to power in last month’s snap elections called over parliament’s failure to elect Stavros Dimas, the candidate for president nominated by former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, in December 2014. 

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Varoufakis' take on his call with US Treasury Sec Lew

Greek finance mionister Yanis Varoufakis took to social media to give his own side to what transpired in the phone call he received Wednesday from US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew 

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Greece in euro is about more than money

The price of Athens staying within European order is probably worth paying, writes Marc Chandler

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New Bill Regarding Debts to the State to be Tabled in Greek Parliament

The bill to be presented to the Greek Parliament by Greek Deputy Finance Minister Nadia Valavani sees the abolition of surcharges on debts to the State and an increase on the amount above which a person may be imprisoned. The regulation of debts to the tax office and social security funds are among the first tax bills to be tabled in the Greek Parliament. According to Greek media, the new bill will abolish the additional 10%, 20% or 30% surcharge imposed on the original debt if a person pays an installment with 2 months, 1 year or 2 years delay respectively. Furthermore, debts will only be charged with an annual interest rate of 8.75% and no additional surcharges. People with debts larger than 1 million euros will also be included in the regulation, while those who owe more than 15,000 euros will have the option to pay in up to 100 monthly installments. At the moment, the law states that the debt must be repaid in 72 installments. At the same time, the bill provides that people will be able to pay less that 50 euros as a monthly installment, which is the current minimum, while the exact amount will depend on each person’s monthly income. The new regulation will also include debts that were overdue until December 31, 2014, while the total annual payments may not exceed 20% of the borrower’s annual income. This percentage increases to 30% if the regulation concerns social security contributions. The amounts included in the regulation will be increased by 0.5% per month, without any surcharge, charge or penalty, while in the case a person can prove that they had no income in the past 12 months, the law enforcement measures that can be taken against the borrower will be suspended for a period of 12 months. Furthermore, the new bill increases the debt amount for which a person can be detained by 10 times, from 5,000 euros to 50,000 euros. The draft law will give a second chance to 3.5 million Greek citizens to settle their debts, while it will also suspend any confiscation. It will also set new responsibilities for the Financial Crime Unit and audit centers. The new bill sees that no tax audits take place in Greek taxpayers’ homes without the presence of a prosecutor and reinforces the Financial Crime Unit’s responsibility, which will be able to perform fiscal and customs audits. Finally, according to the bill, a new customs service will be set up in order to fight corruption and the inefficiency to combat trafficking in petroleum and tobacco products.

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Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus: Greek-Cypriot Missing from the 1974 Turkish Invasion Identified

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), in a press conference held today at the Anthropological Laboratory in the UN-protected area of the now defunct Nicosia Airport, has announced it “identified the right person” in the case of missing Greek-Cypriot Georgios Foris. At the same time, the three members of the Committee announced that a Red Cross independent expert has already been requested to probe this specific case. As the Committee explained, Foris originated from the village of Assia and has been missing since the 1974 Turkish military invasion. His remains were exhumed from a well in Assia, along with the remains of another 38 unidentified individuals. His family has recently contested the identification process, although as described, some of the remains returned to his relatives did not belong to him. Therefore, the family has sought a DNA re-examination of his remains, undertaken by the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics. “In this case, as in the 567 other cases of missing persons identified by the CMP, we can certify that the right person was identified,” said Paul-Henri Arni, the Committee’s third member. The press conference was held by Arni, Greek-Cypriot member Nestoras Nestoros and Turkish-Cypriot member Gulden Plumer Kucuk. Referring to Foris case, Arni, after expressing his sympathy to Foris’ family, highlighted that “our archaeologists determined that most of the remains originally buried at the site had been removed, as has been the case in other locations. What was left was a large number of small, isolated commingled remains -that is mixed up remains- which our scientists have tried to associate to separate individuals in painstaking work over the past four years. In the case at hand, several larger bones, most notably a skull, were associated with a number of very small bones. Following well-established international practice in the identification of human remains, the CMP tested the larger skeletal elements, nine in total, for DNA. The smaller ones were associated based on anthropological analysis. Testing all bones for DNA would exceed the CMP’s financial means, and, more importantly, in the case of small bones, would require their destruction, leaving nothing or only small fragments that could be returned to families.” Furthermore, as he explained, “the family of the missing person identified by us challenged our identification based on teeth characteristics and opted to seek a retesting of the remains using DNA. While we have not received any of the results, it appears that the analysis undertaken on behalf of the family confirmed that all nine larger bones that the CMP had identified on the basis of DNA had been correctly identified.” The above, as Arni said, allows us to draw two very important conclusions: “Firstly, the CMP identified the right person. In this case, as in the 567 other cases of missing persons identified by the CMP, we can certify that the right person was identified. Secondly, the work of the DNA laboratory is not an issue in this case. If anything, the family’s retesting has confirmed that our laboratory, in this case the ICMP in Sarajevo, worked well. We therefore would like to stress that the discussion about bringing the CMP’s genetic work back to Cyprus has no place in the context of this case. Those who pretend otherwise are misleading the public.” On his behalf, Nestoros said that in the cases of mass graves, where bones have been relocated at a later stage, leaving only a fraction of the original remains to scientists to determine to whom they belong, CMP is considering to start giving back to the families only the remains that have been analyzed for DNA. The practice today is to let anthropologists associate smaller skeletal elements in order “to give more bones back to the families” as the CMP members said, noting however the risk at stake. Additionally, Kucuk noted that the CMP is aware of the families’ sensitivities with missing persons and added that the Committee is trying to provide them with all the answers, along with the remains of their beloved ones. As she further explained, there are a lot of cases of mass graves with “commingled bones” and noted the scientists’ difficulty to determine to whom they belong. Asked about the relocation of remains in Cyprus, Arni said he has “no idea” who did it but added that this “happened everywhere. It happened also in the south,” referring to the free areas of the Republic of Cyprus. Finally, according to Kucuk, overall, the CMP has exhumed almost 1,000 persons, with the remains of 400 awaiting identification. Another 1,000 are still to be found, she concluded.

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Prokopis Pavlopoulos: Who Is the New President of the Hellenic Republic?

The new President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, was elected today, February 18, by the Greek Parliament. Pavlopoulos was born in 1950 in Kalamata, Greece, where he finished his school studies. In 1968, he moved to the Greek capital to study at Athens University Law School. He is married with Vlassia Pavlopoulou-Peltsemi and the couple has three children: Vassilis, a lawyer, Maria, a French literature graduate, and Zoe, a kindergarten teacher. In 1974, he was appointed Secretary of the Greek President Michael Stassinopoulos, whom he met when the latter was being held under house arrest during the Military Junta in Greece. One year later, in 1975, he began his studies in University of Paris II (former Sorbonne) after receiving a French government scholarship. He received a postgraduate DEA and in 1977 he was declared a Doctor in Public Law. Pavlopoulos followed an academic career as a Curator (1981), Associate Professor (1982), Assistant Professor (1983), Associate Professor (1986) and Professor (1989) at the Athens University Law School. In 1986, he was elected Visiting Professor at University Paris II in France. During his academic career, he wrote numerous books and articles that have been widely recognized by the scientific community. Political Career In 1996, Pavlopoulos began his long-standing career in politics. He was first elected an MP with New Democracy in the 1996 election. Later, he was reelected with the same party in the first Athens district in the 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012 elections. He has served as Alternate Minister for the Presidency and government spokesman in the ecumenical government headed by Xenophon Zolotas (1989-1990), head of the legal office to Greek President Constantine Karamanlis from 1990 to 1995, New Democracy’s Press and Information Spokesman (1995-1997), Parliamentary Spokesman (2000-2004), Minister of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization (2004-2007) and finally, Minister of the Interior and Public Order (2007-2009). Pavlopoulos has always stood against the unified property tax (ENFIA), claiming it was unconstitutional. “The tax, as it is today, has the same defects that EETIDE (another unpopular tax) used to have. We are prisoners of this system,” he had stated in August 2014.

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Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award 2015

Each year, Libra Group, an international business group consisting of 30 subsidiaries operating across five continents, organizes the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award (HEA) where Greek entrepreneurs can submit their business ideas in hopes of winning a fund for their implementation. Just one month remains before the submission deadline for this year’s HEA. Entrepreneurs with new business ideas can submit their applications via the HEA website until March 4, 2015, in order to compete for startup funding of up to €700,000, as well as a wide range of business support services and mentorship. Since the 2015 award program was announced in November 2014, more than 180 business ideas have been submitted, which will be evaluated by the HEA panel of judges. The Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award was founded in 2012 based on the belief that entrepreneurship is key to Greece’s future prosperity, especially during the economic downturn. HEA, which is managed and funded by Libra Group on behalf of The Hellenic Initiative, is open to both experienced and budding entrepreneurs, whose business plans exhibit sustainability, innovation and financial rigour, whilst creating jobs predominantly in Greece. HEA declares between one and five winners each year, providing them with all the necessary resources to bring their business ideas to fruition. The HEA 2015 winners will share funding of up to €700,000, provided by Libra Group and HEA’s partners. In addition, each winner will receive mentorship from a highly experienced business professional, as well as business support services from – mostly Greek – companies. These span to providers of legal, accounting, marketing, IT, communication and HR services. During its first two years of operation, the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award has been won by eight innovative new companies which, with the support of HEA, are now successfully pursuing their business plans and contributing to the Greek economy through the creation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs. Entries are welcomed from individuals or groups with a new business idea, whether or not they have prior business experience, as well as established, privately-held companies, which can prove they have an all-new business concept that is not related to their core activities and cannot be funded through existing resources. The finalists’ names will be announced at the beginning of May 2015. The winners will be announced at the end of May 2015.

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Leaked documents reveal what Greece had say at the Eurogroup negotiations (GREK)

As the stalemate over a Greek debt deal continues in Europe, the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini published a group of documents leaked from the last week of Eurogroup meetings on Greece's bailout terms. They include several statements made at the meeting by Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, as well as several technical documents.   After reading parts of these documents (before the English version was leaked to Ekathimerini), finance writer Frances Coppola wrote on her blog, Coppola Comment: "So, to sum up, Athens' offer contains no commitment to completing the current programme, but does include commitments to complete certain structural reforms that form part of the current programme. Subtle, much?"  And after seeing the entirety, Coppola followed up with: "Looking at this, it is very hard to argue that the Athens government has not been specific about its plans, or that its plans are unreasonable." Here's the full group of documents: SEE ALSO: These are the 18 key players in Greece's crisis negotiations Join the conversation about this story »

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Flu Deaths in Greece Rise to 54

The number of people in Greece who have died due to the flu this season has risen to 54, among them a young 17-year-old boy and an infant, health officials said. The influenza virus is spreading rapidly in Greece this winter, with a daily increasing death toll. According to Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) experts, numerous people have been hospitalized with the flu and 29 are still under observation at Intensive Care Units this week. Health officials noted that the flu epidemic will continue to develop over the next three months and the number of severe cases is expected to rise. Furthermore, they underlined that a mutated virus strain was not covered by the flu vaccine, but advised everyone, especially the most vulnerable, to be very careful and follow precaution measures, including getting the anti-flu shot. In total, some 122 patients have been hospitalized at intensive care units since the seasonal flu outbreak in December. According to KEELPNO, the majority of people who have been affected by the flu this year were adult men. It should be noted that among the most vulnerable groups, the elderly population and young people suffering from cardiovascular or respiratory illnesses are most at risk. The dominant, slightly mutated strain A (H3N2) is very aggressive and often proves fatal when it affects elder people with serious health problems. Studies have shown that 50-80% of respiratory infections are transmitted through touch, pathogenic microorganisms that exist on door handles, telephone receivers, computer keyboards and generally on items of frequent use. It is therefore extremely important to maintain meticulous hand hygiene. Hand washing should take place before preparing and consuming food, before and after visiting the toilet, after contact with animals and of course after each financial transaction.

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Breaking News: Emergency liquadidity funds aproved for Greek banks

The Bank has agreed to extend liquidity to Greek banking sector for another two weeks raising the threshold to 68.3 billion euro

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Pavlopoulos easily elected new Greek president

Pavlopoulos, a long-time New Democracy politician, was nominated by the ruling leftist SYRIZA party

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Greek government candidate wins lawmakers' support to become president

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras secured enough parliamentary votes on Wednesday for his nominee to become the country's next president. The government candidate, former interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, won the necessary 180 votes from lawmakers to take the largely ceremonial post. Tsipras, leader of the radical left-wing Syriza party, had chosen the conservative Pavlopoulos as a unity ...

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Greek finance minister believes Eurogroup will back Athens proposal on Friday

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Wednesday he believed euro zone finance ministers would approve an Athens government proposal on extending the country's loan agreement later this week. Varoufakis told reporters that he believed the proposal would gain acceptance including from Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem in a conference call of the ministers on Friday. "The application ...

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Eurozone to weigh Greek bailout request

Eurozone officials cautioned the plan — which Athens will present on Thursday morning — could echo previous proposals made by the Greek ...

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Greek Villagers Claim Figure of Jesus Has 'Wept Since Syriza Win'

A religious icon of Jesus Christ in a small village in Greece has been “weeping” ever since the anti-austerity party Syriza won the Greek elections at ...

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Greece to Run Out of Cash By End-March Without New Aid: Source

Greece is burning through its cash reserves and will not be able to meet payment obligations beyond the end of March at the latest, unless it secures additional funds from its creditors, a person fami...

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The World Historic Depths of Greece's Economic Misery, Charted

After some failed talks on Monday, Greece may be headed back to the bargaining table with its European creditors, now that it's ready to ask for an ...

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Tspiras Challenge’s EU’s Russia Sanctions

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the European Union's sanctions on Russia over Ukraine are "hypocritical." The post Tspiras Challenge’s EU’s Russia Sanctions appeared first on The National Herald.

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