Greece News

September 21, 2018

Turkey

Erdogan's comments at a meeting of his National Security Council emphasis the use of force of arms to achieve aims concerning Greece and Cyprus. Article at Tanea (in Greek).

World War II reparations

Shelved for years, Tsipras has resurrected efforts on the matter of Germany reparations. Article at Handelsblatt states that the Greek Court of Audit has estimated a reparations claim of €309.5 billion. The effort to claim compensation for a list of atrocities and destructions in Greece following the April 1941 German invasion (which followed the failed Italian invasion of October 28, 1940, an event which is the basis for Ochi Day, national commemoration when the Greek government replied with "no" to Mussolini's demand for Greece to surrender.)

The German-led occupation included troops from italy and Bulgaria.

An article from a week ago at Greek City Times has more info and background. An older Huffington Post article shows a time line of events in the saga of Greek reparations, and though the article writer is firmly against seeking a new reparations settlement, she (Sylvie Goulard, former Former French defense minister and member of the European Parliament) does include a multiple forms of reasoning for the position.

Pensions

Spokesman Tzanakopoulos says there is optimism on the question of will they/will they not cut pension levels according to the previously agreed upon reforms. Pinning hopes on the ability of a 3.5% primary surplus in 2019 to offset the need for the cuts - article at Naftemporiki (in Greek).

Sports

Full article at Greek Reporter: PAOK beat by Chelsea losing 1-0, and Olympiacos match against Real Betis ends with a draw with no goals for either team.

Spiders

The spiders (and their webs) at Aitoliko continue to get a lot of news coverage around the globe. For example this from Global News CA.

September 20, 2018

Christ Wamba

Yahoo story of how 18 year old Christ Wamba came to play for ARIS after a long journey from the Congo to Greece.

Spider Webs of Aitoliko

Many news stories around the web today on the spider-webbed rocks of Aitoliko - for example this BBC story (with photos) UK Independent (more photos).

Kopelouzos group wants to increase stake in Venizelos airport

Also looking for a 30-year extension of contract - the Court of Audit has to look over the proposed deal - Tovima has the story (English)

Paraskevopoulos Committee

Paraskevopoulos Committee investigation of the problem of university lawlessness has produced recommendations - Naftemporiki story (in Greek) mentions goals of eliminating "blowing up ATMs" at Universities (by removing them) and other similar solutions that dodge the central issue at hand of preventing violence, drug-dealing and robbery - an older eKathimerini story from June mentions the preliminary work being done on the study. This May, 2018 story at National Herald goes over the same ground and explains how Greek law prevents police from entering University grounds except in extreme situations.

Minimum Wage

Raising the minimum wage is the message from Tsipras as draft legislation is sent to parliament, but it is expected the IMF will protest reversing labor reforms. Reuters has more.

Tourism

Record setting arrivals in Greece has brought about what has long been expected: heightened interest from foreign Investors. More at Tornos

Football

PAOK will be facing Chelsea which completed five Premier League games and now faces off teams in Europe - More at DailyTimes.PK

Russia

Despite a long history of mutual friendship based mainly on their overlapping Christian Orthodoxies, Greece and Russia have been at loggerheads recently with a diplomatic tussle that ended with a mostly symbolic mutual expelling of diplomats (Kathimerini story from August here). On Sept 4th, Greece decided to extradite Alexander Vinnik back to Russia (Sputnik story here* ) though he was simultaneously wanted by the United States and facing charges from France, all connected to money laundering via bitcoin. Now comes the unveiling of an exhibit in Moscow celebrating the 190th anniversary of Greek/Russian relations. The exhibit is hosted by the Russian Foreign Ministry story at eKathimerini.

*the Russian Sputnik news agency officially opened an office in Greece on June 4th, the first Russian news agency setting up shop in Athens.

September 19, 2018

Finance

Cutting pensions was always going to be a difficult action, and now that it is getting closer to implementation, the harder the government is trying to find some other way to meet targets but not actually reducing pensions. The IMF is saying flatly this will not do - Tovima has the story (English).

Cyprus was upgraded by the S&P a few days ago and has already raised 1.5 billion euros. As this Kathimerini article (in English) mentions, Greece is unable to participate in the EU Central bank bond buying program, but Nicosia can.

Returns to Greece

A survey of 3,000 young Greeks who have left the country find that 45% wish to find a way to return - Protothema has the story (English).

FYOM

Legal efforts to derail the name change vote in FYOM were defeated - Naftemporiki (in Greek).

Former President Bush has come out in favor of the name change in FYOM, saying is is a "brave and just compromise" - more at Tanea (in Greek).

September 18, 2018

Pension cuts

Decisions on pension cutting has been pushed to at least Dec 2. See Kathimerini

Fyssas

Fyssas memorial became a demonstration that turned violent with Molotov cocktails and rocks hurled at police - Greek Reporter has the story with photos, so does Naftemporiki (in Greek). Also Tovima (in Greek).

Tsipras has comments on the anniversary of the Fyssas killing at Athens News Agency (in Greek).

Legal Gambling

An expansion of legal gambling in Greece is being worked on for legislative approval in 2019, with expected €5 Million Licensing Fees - OnlinePoker has the story.

Immigration

Reuters reports that overcrowding of immigrants on Lesvos Island has forced a decision to move at least 2,000 to the mainland. This decision comes after a mass of complaints by human rights groups recently about conditions on Lesvos.

Finance

Goldmining in Halkidiki was meant to be a profitable enterprise for both Vancouver, Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold and the Greek Government, but the deal went sour with the Canadians complaining of interference and permit issues. Now they're seeking 750 million euros in damages - Yahoo has the story.

Rouvikonas

Rouvikonas attacked the Iranian Embassy, throwing paint and smashing the guard box. The site Foreign Policy.com classifies the group as "middle class anarchists." Kathimerini mentions that the police chief at Psychico was also removed from duty following the assault.

China

The tariff war between the USA and China continues, with China announcing a series of tariffs amounting to$60 billion USD. Naftemporiki has the story [in Greek]. Also Capital GR (in Greek).

Cyprus

Liberal GR says Cyprus has raised € 1.5bn with interest rate of 2.4% - and the Financial Times says that investors have already made €5.5bn in orders.

Our change in format: the EU is changing how web sites are allowed to link to other sites, particularly news web sites. Sometimes called "the link tax," the new laws (which are not in effect yet) will deny the usage of "headline" text as part of a link to a news story unless payment is made.

Neda Waterfall in the Peloponnese