NEWS ARCHIVE - JULY 2013

July 31, 2013

Eleven Latin American countries refuse to back IMF on Greece - Reuters

"Eleven Latin American countries refused to back an IMF move this week to keep bankrolling Greece, citing risks of non-repayment, and the Fund itself said Athens might need faster debt relief from Europe.

The abstention by Latin American states from the IMF decision was revealed by their Brazilian representative in an unusual public statement on Wednesday, highlighting growing frustration in emerging nations with Fund policy to rescue debt-laden Europeans.

"Recent developments in Greece confirm some of our worst fears," said Paulo Nogueira Batista, Brazil's executive director at the IMF, who also represents 10 small nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

"Implementation (of Greece's reform programme) has been unsatisfactory in almost all areas; growth and debt sustainability assumptions continue to be over-optimistic," said Batista, criticising the IMF executive board's decision on Monday to release 1.7 billion euros of rescue loans to Greece.

This raised to 28.4 billion euros ($37.6 billion) the total amount of funds the IMF has so far committed to Greece - an amount that Athens might default on if it gets ditched by its euro zone partners, Batista warned."

Greece pleads for Europe to adopt growth policies - CBS News

"Greece's prime minister urged European leaders to shift economic policies toward generating growth, as the country's bailout monitors complained it was making "slow progress" on long-term reforms.

Antonis Samaras said Greece's recession was "worsening problems that we must solve and complicating reforms which we must complete." He said a Greek recovery would not be possible unless the 17-country eurozone bloc itself emerges from recession."

July 30, 2013

IMF approves $2.3 billion aid for Greece - Reuters

"The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved a further 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in funds for Greece's bailout program after completing the fourth review of the cash-strapped euro zone state.

Greece last week adopted the last piece of legislation its international lenders required to release the next batch of rescue loans, after two months of wrangling over unpopular measures to overhaul the economy. The total funds from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank comprise 5.8 billion euros."

"Greece will cash in 190 million euros ($251.82 million) from the sale of the lotteries to an OPAP-led consortium and a further 652 million by selling a 33 percent stake in OPAP, bringing the country closer to meeting its target to raise 1.6 billion euros from privatizations this year.

The consortium, which includes gaming systems provider Intralot and Scientific Games, will run the lotteries for 12 years."

July 29, 2013

Europe must keep up pressure on Greece: Schaeuble - Bloomberg

"German lawmakers today approved their country’s share of rescue aid to Greece after the government there agreed to fulfill all terms tied to the help.

“The pressure remains, so this has nothing to do with the election schedule,” Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk radio in an interview yesterday. “They’re far from being over the mountain,” he said.

As European leaders scramble to plug the hole in Greece’s budget, Germany’s political factions are maneuvering into position ahead of a vote eight weeks away as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks a third term in office. Her challenger, Social Democrat Peer Steinbrueck, yesterday declined to rule out a possible “grand” coalition with Merkel’s bloc."

July 26, 2013

"With the proviso that the national approval procedures are completed, which we expect to happen by Monday, the disbursement can take place," Commission spokesman Simon O'Connor told a briefing, referring to the approval by euro zone governments."

Roesler Says No Shortcuts to Easing Greece Debt Load - Bloomberg

"Germany’s Vice Chancellor Philipp Roesler ruled out another debt cut for Greece, saying that Europe’s largest economy can better aid Greeks by helping to modernize their country’s energy infrastructure.

Maintaining the pressure that comes from Greece’s “enormous” debt load is needed to ensure the country implements the economic policy changes required to render it competitive, Roesler, who is also German economy minister, said in an interview in Berlin yesterday."

Interview with former Greek MP Eva Kaili told RT.

"...I think it is too late for that to have already implemented a lot of austerity measures. I think, now we are reaching at the point of no return, We move on with the layoffs and I do believe that after that we try to figure out the growth plan.

...We were seeing that we did an improvement, we had huge problems with corruption, tax evasion and we were just trying to get some time to apply the reforms. I think we have made improvements, we are getting there, we have reduced the cost of Healthcare by one third. We are trying to make it more viable debt but as you can tell it’s like an amount we cannot afford."

Greece amends law to cut civil service and unlock €4bn bailout - Financial Times

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The Greek parliament approved a final piece of legislation on Thursday to reduce the bloated civil service payroll after international lenders threatened at the last minute to withhold the disbursement of a €4bn aid tranche.

Lawmakers held a special session to reverse an amendment passed last week exempting education ministry employees with doctorates and masters’ degrees from being transferred to a “mobility reserve” on reduced pay."

July 25, 2013

Greece Acts to Ensure Next Loan: 25,000 Civil Servants Placed in a Special Labor Reserve - WSJ

"Greek lawmakers Thursday passed the last reform measure needed to secure the country's latest loan tranche from international creditors after several days of unexpected delay.

By voice vote, parliament passed legislation enacting tax reforms, as well as an amendment to a previous law detailing the transfer of several thousand public servants into a special labor reserve—measures that had been demanded by the Greece's troika of creditors from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

With the approval in Parliament, euro zone finance ministry officials are now expected to give the green light to the disbursement of €4 billion ($5.28 billion) worth of aid from the Greece's latest €173 billion aid package Friday."

July 24, 2013

Euro Zone Holds Off on Payment to Greece - Wall Street Journal

"The euro zone has delayed its decision on whether to approve its next aid payment for Greece until Friday after Athens failed to fulfill all the conditions it had set out earlier this month.

The Greek Parliament needs to adopt the last of 22 promised measures by Thursday for the €4 billion ($5.3 billion) to be released, the Eurogroup President and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Wednesday.

...the delay is a further sign that Greece's €173 billion bailout package is once again facing problems. Officials say that no financial shortfalls should occur over the summer, but many expect difficult negotiations later this year on whether euro-zone countries should forgive Greece some of its debts.

...Meanwhile the country's debt burden, which stood at 161% of gross domestic product at the end of the first quarter, continues to rise. More than one in four workers is unemployed while the Greek economy continues to shrink. "

Risk analyst Ian Bremmer says Greece on right track, needs help - eKathimerini

The interview with Bremmer covers the Greek economy, the situations in Turkey and Egypt, and the Greek and European (and USA) response to them.

"...The selection of TAP [the Trans Adriatic Pipeline] is good news for Greece. TAP will bring Azeri gas into the Greek market, contributing to a kind of double diversification, with a new supply source and a new route that ease Greece’s dependence on Russia’s Gazprom. TAP will produce transit revenues, though not before the end of this decade. The pipeline will also be a major source of foreign direct investment, drawing money into the country and stimulating job creation. Finally, the pipeline is a geopolitical win for Greece because it bolsters stability and security in the Balkan region and Southeastern Europe, and boosts Greek relations with Albania and Turkey. TAP was far from an obvious choice, given that deep recessions in Greece and Italy have lowered demand for gas, and Albania has yet to build natural gas infrastructure."

Greece bankers guilty over Athens arson deaths - BBC

"Three bank officials in Greece have been given jail sentences of up to 10 years for failing to protect the lives of staff during a fatal arson attack by anti-austerity protesters in May 2010. Three Marfin Bank staff members died in the attack on a central Athens branch, including a pregnant woman. No-one has yet been convicted of causing the fire."

More about the Marfin Bank Arson Attack

July 23, 2013

Image crisis: An analysis of Greece’s portrayal by the international media - eKathimerini

"Tzogopoulos, a research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), is the author of “The Greek Crisis in the Media,” in which he examines the country’s portrayal by the international press during the financial crisis and contemplates the extent to which the country has received balanced coverage.

“What makes Greece unique compared to Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain, is that our statistics are far worse. They show signs of large-scale corruption, tax evasion and alarming unemployment,” he said.

“...When someone throws a Molotov cocktail in Greece he does not get arrested. Foreigners have realized that law enforcement does not exist in Greece,” Tzogopoulos said, acknowledging that demonstrations are prevalent in most of austerity-hit Europe.

“...Europeans were shocked and couldn’t believe that they had been lied to by the Greek government for so long,” he said, referring to allegations that the Greek government had been cooking the books for several years.

...It was in 2010 when stereotypes and cartoons depicting Greeks as overweight, lazy and corrupt first hit international front pages. According to Tzogopoulos, the worst stereotyping of Greeks has been perpetuated by German publications such as Bild and Focus."

July 22, 2013

Greece may be forced to leave EU after all - World Bulletin

"Ben May, European economist of London-based finance institution Capital Economics, said, "If Eurozone creditors behave unwilling in decreasing Greece's debt burden, it might lead the country's collapse and quit from Euro zone."

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), May stated that if Greece faced deflation, the nominal GDP could weaken more than Troika's prediction, and this could result in an increase in public debt to GDP ratio.

Regarding the suspicions about Greece's reaching the Troika's privatization target, he said "It is uncertain that the political instability would threaten Greece's rescue plan in the short run or not. However, realizing the recovery package is a low possibility in the long run."

"Greece is no stranger to shallow US-bashing. It was kind of understandable after the fall of the military dictatorship and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Washington’s backing of the generals and Henry Kissinger’s Turkey policy were enough to justify Greek anger. But after a point, anti-Americanism was no more than a fad; and an alibi.

It became fashionable because it was a good sell. Any scenario or headline hinting at some CIA involvement was enough to grab people’s attention. Meanwhile, it was an alibi for all those supposedly progressive gurus who posed as foreign policy experts while staying busy behind the scenes squandering the wealth of the nation.

Did all that US-bashing pay off? At best, it allowed us to vent some of our frustration. However, foreign policy must be guided by reason, not sentiment and all that anti-Americanism did nothing to promote Greek interests..."

July 21, 2013

Home porting still elusive in Greece - eKathimerini

"A couple of months ago top officials of leading cruise companies visited Athens on the occasion of a forum on maritime tourism. They came from Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Carnival Corporation, TUI Cruises, Costa Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Paul Gauguin Cruises and Louis Cruises. Sector representatives have also made numerous visits to the Merchant Marine Ministry, and even though the Development Ministry has heralded a public-private partnership for a new cruiser dock at Faliro, near Piraeus on the southern coast of Athens, there has been no activity in that direction.

Nevertheless, the optimism generated by the number of arrivals is justified: In the first five months of the year there has been an increase of 17.23 percent from the same period in 2012 in the number of transit passengers at the country’s main port, while in May there was an 8.1 percent increase in arrivals at the port of Corfu in the northern Ionian.

....These increases come after a relatively bad year, with 2012 showing a major decline in cruise passengers at Piraeus: They numbered about 2 million, down from 2.6 million arrivals in 2011, a record year due to the Arab Spring in northern Africa that prompted cruise companies to opt for Greece instead. A similar drop was seen in other Greek destinations last year, when political and economic uncertainty culminated right at the start of the summer season with twin elections."

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says Greece should stick with reforms - UK Guardian

"The US Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, has urged Greece to persevere with tough economic reforms. Lew was speaking on Sunday, during a one-day trip to Athens designed to demonstrate Washington's support for the crisis-plagued country.

Greek government officials said Lew's talks focused on Greece's fiscal progress, before prime minister Antonis Samaras meets President Barack Obama in Washington on 8 August."

July 20, 2013

Big Tourism increase over last years numbers - Reuters

"...Greece's tourist industry is taking heart from data showing a 38.5 percent annual rise in receipts in May and a 15.5 percent increase in the first five months this year and predicts a bumper season.

...Tourism accounts for about 17 percent of output and one in five jobs in a country where unemployment has risen to about 27 percent. Tourism officials see a 10 percent revenue rise in 2013, to 11 billion euros, on the back of an expected record 17 million visitors, one million more than in 2012.

A popular destination mainly for Germans and Britons for decades, Greece is now attracting increasing numbers of tourists from Eastern Europe, with these markets accounting for about a fifth of total arrivals, a trend which is expected to continue.

...A survey conducted earlier this month by the consumers' institute INKA showed that more than two thirds of Greeks have not planned a summer holiday this year."

July 19, 2013

Piraeus bank aims to cut around 1,500 jobs - ddd

"Greece's second-biggest bank, Piraeus (BOPr.AT), has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme aimed at cutting around 1,500 jobs in a drive to cut costs after taking over assets from smaller rivals, a source at the bank told Reuters on Friday.

"The continuing tough economic conditions ... call for the bank to adjust its operations to the situation," the bank said in a document seen by Reuters.

The document also said the voluntary redundancy scheme would be open until September 2.

Piraeus, which employs about 18,000 people, declined to comment."

Recent Statistics [June 2013]

Coloring is relative: If the category has improved since the last report, it is GREEN Worse numbers are BLACK . Data source is ELSTAT.

NOTE: In general, all the numbers are bad compared to a year ago, but the amount of decline (marked green) has slowed versus the last report, which is either a month ago or just last quarter.

Older stats

Unemployment stats

July 18, 2013

New Austerity Measures pass - NY Times

"Following two days of intense debate, Greece’s Parliament narrowly approved a barrage of new austerity measures early Thursday, including a contentious plan for thousands of layoffs and wage cuts for civil service workers. The approval paved the way for the release of additional crucial financing from the country’s foreign creditors but raised questions about the stability of the fragile coalition that is to enforce the cuts."

Germany Backs Greece’s Austerity Measures - NY Times

"On a quick visit here amid tight security just a few hours after Greek lawmakers narrowly approved a new barrage of austerity measures, Germany’s finance minister on Thursday backed Greece’s efforts to revive its battered economy, saying the German government could provide financing for Greek businesses but ruling out a restructuring of the country’s huge debt burden.

“The discussion about a debt haircut is not a good idea for Greece,” the finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, told a meeting of Greek and German business representatives, stressing that the topic could be addressed once Greece achieved a primary surplus — a measure of the economy without counting debt payments — but that for now there was no alternative to the tough economic reforms agreed upon with the country’s foreign creditors.

...The leftist opposition, which is neck-and-neck in opinion polls with Mr. Samaras’s conservative New Democracy party, has decried four years of austerity in Greece as “slavery imposed by the troika."

"...Rehn said that the three institutions worked well, "often in the most challenging of situations." Any reassessment of how it operates, he said, was for the future only.

"The troika was set up on the initiative of the euro area member states in 2010 as a key element of our response to the crisis facing Greece," he said.

"None of these situations are easy," he said, referring to the programs in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus that the troika is now overseeing. "But that makes it all the more important that we can draw on the combined and complementary expertise of three institutions."

Many Europeans believe the budget cuts mandated by the troika have exacerbated the euro zone's longest recession since the single currency's creation in 1999."

July 17, 2013

USA Treasury Secretary going to Greece - Reuters

"U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will visit Greece on Sunday to discuss the euro zone country's economic reforms and Europe's policies to support recovery, the Treasury said on Wednesday.

Lew will visit Athens after attending the Group of 20 gathering of finance ministers and central bankers in Moscow this weekend. Greece's debt crisis has roiled the euro zone and raised doubts about the currency bloc's future."

Angry austerity protests continue - BBC Video

Video news program at the link.

"Anti-austerity protests have been taking place in Greece ahead of a parliamentary vote on a further round of cuts.

Under the bill, which comes to a vote on Wednesday, more than 4,000 state employees face dismissal this year."

Schaeuble to visit Greece, offer €100 million economic growth fund - Reuters

"German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will offer Greece 100 million euros ($131 million) for a fund to promote economic growth in a visit to Athens on Thursday in a move unlikely to appease protesters who resent his firm stance on austerity measures.

"...My visit comes at the request of the Greek Prime Minister to show that we trust Greece, that we want to do everything we can bilaterally to support Greece on its difficult path," Schaeuble told German TV station ARD on the eve of his trip.

"I'm not the super-troika," he added."

July 16, 2013

General protest called - Global Post

"Thousands participated in a 24-hour strike in Greece Tuesday, protesting unpopular new austerity measures tied to $9 billion in rescue loans.

Over 30,000 protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building in Athens, voicing their displeasure with a new scheme that will see state workers either transferred away or fired from their jobs, in an overhaul of the Greek Civil Service."

July 15, 2013

New Austerity Protests - VOA

With sirens blaring, striking police blocked traffic in Athens Monday at the outset of three days of protests throughout the country. They are demonstrating against demands by the country's international lenders that Greece dismiss thousands of government workers in exchange for release of more bailout money to the debt-ridden country.

Parliament is set to vote later in the week on the austerity plan. It is the latest in a series of unpopular steps the country has been forced to take to secure more funding from the country's European neighbors, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"The municipal services are closed - already garbage in some municipalities has begun to accumulate in the streets - meanshile workers are putting padlocks on health services. Starting today and for the next few days of planned protest rallies, which will culminate on Tuesday with the concentration of GSEE and ADEDY messages issued on the same day durirng the 24-hour strike." [paraphrased from the Ta Nea website]

"Monday’s downgrade of the EFSF means the fund could have to pay higher interest rates to raise money. Fitch’s rivals Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have already downgraded it."

July 13, 2013

The Mayor of Athens: A Sober Voice in a World of Extremes - Time Magazine

"...Greece’s democracy is not like others. Its politics are starkly polarized between emboldened extremes on the right and the left. The more the country’s economic crisis has deepened, the more each camp has become insensible to—and intolerant of—the demands and values of the other.

Athens is a perfect microcosm of this. Never before involved in party politics, Kaminis was drafted in 2010 by a coalition of forces on the center-left and the socially liberal right to run against the unpopular incumbent. His victory was not the only surprise in that election: it was also the first time the neo-Nazi sympathizers of the Golden Dawn party had won seats on the municipal council, a crucial step in their subsequent rise to national prominence. Joining them there were members of three parties of Marxist provenance.

In a climate bereft of consensus-building politics, Kaminis has often found himself in the crossfire. He has drawn the ire of the left for his stance on demonstrations and for the police operations, late last year, against decades-old anarchist squatter encampments in the city center. But he has also been attacked with equal venom by the far right. On Good Thursday this year, he blocked Gοlden Dawn from holding a “Greeks-only” food distribution in Syntagma Square, in front of parliament. In response, one of Golden Dawn’s parliamentary deputies attempted to physically assault Kaminis at a municipal center for the poor near the group’s downtown office. “For me, the fact that both extremes scream at me is proof that I am doing something right,” the mayor says."

Up and down for Greece this week - Marketplace

"This coming week will probably mean more rollercoaster riding, especially with the news that mayors from across Greece plan to suspend municipal services -- government offices, garbage collection, those kinds of things -- for three days to protest another round of austerity induced layoffs."

UK warns on jellyfish - BBC

"The UK Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Greece, warning that jellyfish blooms have been reported and for people to heed local advice.

Officials have already issued warnings about jellyfish in Mediterranean coastal waters for France and Italy.

But local marine biologists said this year's increase was "no different" from other years and that the blooms consisted of non-stinging species.

They added that they were monitoring the situation very closely."

July 11, 2013

Official Greek programming station back on the air - NY Times

"The broadcasts, consisting of old movies and documentaries, were meant to serve as a transition to a new government TV network — even as ERT’s headquarters remained occupied by most of the 2,700 fired employees, who have been transmitting their own pirate broadcasts via satellite.

...The government pledged to set up an interim service after a top Greek court ruled last month that some public broadcasting service must remain on the air until a permanent replacement for ERT is operating. But even the transitional service will be in limbo until a compromise is reached with laid-off ERT workers."

"The IMF and its partners in the Greece bailout, the European Union and the European Central Bank, announced on Monday that Greece's progress under the rescue programme was "broadly on track", he noted.

The review mission of the so-called "troika" of international lenders found that the embattled Greek economy was likely to return to growth in 2014, but key uncertainties remained to the outlook.

The Greek authorities have fallen behind in implementing some of the programme's measures aimed at getting the economy on a sustainable path, such as on its tax code and public administration reforms, Rice noted."

"The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress Thursday of plans to sell the Greek military $250 million worth of spare parts for use in repairing and maintaining United Technologies F100-PW-229 engines.

The parts to be sold include inlet/fan modules, core engine modules, rear compressor drive turbines, fan drive turbine modules, augmentor duct and nozzle modules, and gearbox modules. The sale will include support equipment, publications, and technical documentation necessary to make use of them."

July 9, 2013

Greece gets €4.8bn in staggered bailout payments - UK Telegraph

10 Days to implement public sector layoffs

"Last night's meeting of eurozone finance ministers agreed to pay the scheduled third quarter bailout instalment of €4.8bn (£4.1bn) but broke it down into three "disbursements" linked to reforms.

The first payment of €2.5bn from the eurozone will be paid after July 19 on condition that of "full implementation of the prior actions", including legislation that is passing through the Greek parliament over the next week.

"Significant further work is needed over the next weeks to fully implement all prior actions required for the next disbursement," said a eurozone statement.

"Especially, the required reforms of the public administration will need to be carried out so as to increase the efficiency of the public sector while it is being steadily downsized, and further efforts are needed to improve tax revenue collection."

The second instalment will be €1.8bn from the IMF in August followed by another €500m from the eurozone in October, which will be linked to privatisation targets and administrative reform in Greece."

Greece secures a further 6.8bn euros of bailout funds - BBC

"The loans are conditional on Greece making progress with its reform programme.

Greece's creditors have warned that reforms are behind schedule, especially the privatisation of state assets. Last month, the sell-off of the public gas company collapsed.

But the reforms have caused much anger in Greece.

Around 25,000 civil servants will be put on reduced salaries, before either being dismissed or redeployed."

With Aid, Europe Keeps Pressure on Greece to Restructure Economy - NY Times

"At the same time, as many as 5,000 Greeks, including hundreds of angry police officers on motorbikes, joined demonstrations here against the austerity plans of a government still wobbly after skirting collapse last month. Protesters were particularly incensed by renewed calls by international creditors to cut 15,000 civil service jobs and to put thousands of public workers on reduced wages ahead of possible dismissal, in a country where unemployment already tops 27 percent.

The mayor of Athens was briefly hospitalized Sunday night after workers assaulted him as he left a meeting to discuss municipal layoffs, and the mayor of Greece’s second-largest city, Salonika, threatened to quit Monday rather than face deeper cuts.

The protests have flared after a period of relative calm in Greece and revived questions about the ability of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to carry out the cuts and changes being demanded — and indeed about the future of his government."

IMF cuts global economic forecsts - UK Guardian

"IMF changes outlook from a global growth of 3.3% to 3.1%, statement issued at the Conference of World Economic Outlook"

July 5, 2013

Group Advises Criminal Charges for Papaconstantinou - NY Times

"A Greek parliamentary committee on Thursday recommended that former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou be indicted on criminal charges over his handling of a list of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts — a potential source of tax revenue that was never used by the authorities, fueling public anger in the debt-racked nation. Mr. Papaconstantinou, above, has denied accusations that he removed the names of four of his relatives from the list... "

Troika talks continue in Greece - Guardian UK

"Over in Athens, top officials from the Troika will hold further talks today with administrative reform minister Kyriakos Mitsotak over Greece's bailout programme and planned civil service job cuts.

Mitsotak is under pressure to press on with moving 12,500 public servants into a labour mobility scheme, on lower wages and the risk of being fired if new jobs can't be found.

Greece is also meant to be cutting 4,000 civil service positions. And local media say the EBC-IMF-EC officials aren't willing to count the staff who are being laid off at state broadcaster ERT."

July 4, 2013

"Silver Lining in debt turmoil" : Westerwelle - eKathimerini

"German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on a visit to Greece Wednesday that he believed the country was beginning to see a "silver lining" in its debt turmoil and urged international creditors to recognize its achievements.

Westerwelle, holding talks with Greece's reshuffled government ahead of an EU-IMF progress report which will determine whether it receives its next cash lifeline, dismissed talk that Athens would need a further debt writedown.

"My impression is that we for the first time are seeing a faint silver lining on the horizon," he told reporters after talks with Evangelos Venizelos, who brokered a debt writedown last year and became foreign minister and deputy prime minister last month in a government shakeup.

"In politics, psychological momentum counts too and when the sky starts brightening and people start in again with doomsday scenarios and looking backward, then you miss out on that psychological momentum."

July 3, 2013

Greece Has Just 72 Hours To Save Itself As Fresh Financial Disaster Looms - IB Times

"Greece and the euro zone might be just days away from another huge financial disaster. The International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, collectively known as the Troika, on Tuesday gave the nation just 72 hours to prove it can deliver on the conditions attached to its bailout, otherwise it will not receive its next aid payment.

Unless Greece can revise its public sector spending to the satisfaction of the Troika, the nation may be forced to withdraw from the $312 billion bailout it has received, for fear of violating its own rule that the borrower must be financed up to a year ahead."

EU increasing pressure for public sector reforms - Deutsche Welle

"European bailout negotiators have said Greece has the rest of the week to prove to lenders it can deliver on the conditions for the next tranche of aid. Officials have signaled their doubt about the progress made.

Athens and international creditors resumed talks on whether the crisis-hit eurozone member qualified for billions of euros more in bailout funds.

Negotiators told Reuters news agency that there was a general dissatisfaction with progress in Greece when it came to reforming the country's public sector with a special emphasis on tax and custom collection as well as an improvement in health care services."

Greece will miss public sector reform target - Reuters

"The EU and IMF are unhappy with the progress Greece has made in reforming its bloated public sector. If they are not persuaded that Greece is on track to meet its reform goals, the lenders may freeze emergency aid for three months, a senior euro zone official said.

"No conclusion on the review, no disbursement," said the official, who declined to be named, adding this remained "highly unlikely. Is it a disaster - no. Is it uncomfortable? - Yep."

Athens needs to conclude talks with its lenders by the middle of the month to ensure it receives the latest aid tranche, which it needs to redeem about 2.2 billion euros of bonds in August.

Public sector layoffs are an incendiary issue in Greece, which is struggling through a sixth year of recession, record high unemployment and sinking living standards."

Portugal, Greece risk reawakening euro zone beast - Reuters

"From Greece to Cyprus, Slovenia to Spain and Italy, and now most pressingly Portugal, where the finance and foreign ministers resigned in the space of two days, a host of problems is stirring after 10 months of relative calm imposed by the European Central Bank."

Heroclio Crete

July 1, 2013

Greece set to pay another holdout bond, worth 540 million euros, on Friday - eKathimerini

"Greece is to pay in full a privately-held bond worth 540 million euros that matures on Friday, making it the second such payout in 10 days.

Naftemporiki newspaper reported on Monday that the bond was issued under foreign law in Swiss Francs and has a coupon rate of 2.125 percent."

Stakes raised as Greece, lenders resume talks on bailout loan - Reuters

"The biggest issue in the negotiations will be the delays in public sector reforms," a senior finance ministry official told Reuters.

Athens missed a June deadline to place 12,500 state workers into a "mobility scheme", under which they are transferred or dismissed within a year.

The country is battling through its sixth year of recession, and the latest installment is one of the last big cash injections it stands to get before the 240-billion-euro bailout expires at the end of 2014.

The stakes are high. If the talks fail, the International Monetary Fund might have to withdraw from Greece's rescue to avoid violating its own rules. Athens also needs to redeem about 2.2 billion euros of bonds in August."

Greece to investigate reports that NSA spied on its embassy and UN mission - eKathimerini

"The Guardian newspaper reported that the documents released by whistleblower Edward Snoweden lists 38 embassies and missions that the National Security Agency was spying on, including the European Union’s representation in Washington and New York."

Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles

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