Greece and the economic crisis 2017

NEWS ARCHIVE - Aug 8 - Aug 14

August 14, 2017

"The central government surplus excludes the budgets of social security organizations and local administration. It is different from the figure monitored by Greece's EU-IMF lenders but indicates the state of the country's finances."

"ESM’s chief , Klaus Regling, said in an op-ed to a German ...He stressed that Greece can also become a success story, if the government sticks to the agreed reforms; the ESM’s extremely favourable lending conditions - with interest rates of 1% and loan maturities of more than 30 years – enable it to overcome a deep crisis without costs for taxpayers in other euro area countries."

"Peaches are one of the most cultivated fruits in Greece and have a notable presence on the European continent. "In our case, we export to different markets with different peculiarities," explains Lagios. In fact, this Greek company ships its peaches to Poland, its main market; India, where they are transported by plane; the area of the Balkans; Lithuania; Moldova and Italy. "There's a steady flow of 3 to 4 trucks a week until the end of the season." However, they also leave part of the production for Greece, as this fruit is distributed among various hotel chains in the country, as well as by stores."

"The fire was close to residential areas in Grammatiko and neighboring Kalamos and Varnavas, eastern Attica.

The constant changes of wind direction was taxing the efforts of firefighters, a spokesperson for the fire service, Stavroula Malliri, told Kathimerini."

"More than 160 firefighters supported by water-dropping helicopters and planes were sent to the region, about 45 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Athens, as strong winds helped the blaze to spread through pine forest to the nearby town of Varnavas."

August 13, 2017

"In simple terms, if PGI/PDO status is granted, that means that unless yogurt is made in Greece, with Greek milk, produced by Greek cows breathing Greek air and eating Greek feed— then it can’t be called Greek yogurt.

This is only limited to the European Union and won’t affect “imposters” (as many Greeks call them) producing what they call “Greek yogurt” in the United States, including companies like Chobani, Yoplait and dozens of others."

"Fire occurred just before 11:30 am in a forest area near Old Kavala. At the point of fire, vehicles from the Fire Brigade have been hurried from the very beginning while they are operating from air and two PZLs and two Canadair. "

Online Interview:

"When the train reaches the new port, which will have to acquire its commercial section, then Patras will have a port that will have the large comparative advantage compared to other ports not only of Greece but also of the Adriatic , To be connected by rail. This is a very positive development for the city and for the whole region, because the port of Patras will be able to get a big commercial move that does not have it today."

"ND chooses to attack in an inappropriate and defamatory manner a man whose history and course are light years away from the standards of the party cadres their government used to nominate. Stelios Pappas has a long history in the democratic and democratic movement and an important professional experience in the private sector, while at the same time being president of the Economic Chamber, with universal acceptance by all the parties," [prime minister΄s office said in a press release.]

August 12, 2017

UK navy calls off Aegean exercise - eKathimerini

"In what appears to be an effort to steer clear of Greek-Turkish tensions, the British Royal Navy has reportedly canceled a scheduled military exercise off the southeastern Aegean island of Karpathos, which had been announced in a navigational telex (navtex) issued by Ankara, to the outrage of Athens.

...Meanwhile, Turkish naval activities off Cyprus’s coast are set to continue after Ankara issued another navtex yesterday, reserving an area that borders the island’s EEZ for a military exercise on August 17."

"Harry Byatt, who worked in Zakynthos, an island in the south-west of Greece, failed to resurface after diving into the sea, his employer said.

The former Eastbourne College pupil's body was found on the seabed at a depth of around 98ft (30m) on 6 August."

"This project, which is in the final phase of implementation, includes crossing all banking transactions in Greek and foreign banks of tax evasion suspects, using special software for automating the collection of taxes and seizures, as well as data collection from external sources to identify assets.

...New case management system to reduce Justice Ministry appeals when not qualified. It should be noted that in order to avoid greater losses from state revenues, the competent authorities were instructed to make compulsory recovery measures against the debtors of the State, such as a seizing 100% of deposits... as well as bank safes in order to prevent debts from being classified as uncollectible. This is because if a debt is classified unachievable, then the tax administration abandons further attempts to collect and the name of the debtor is removed from the published list of the debtors of the State. "

August 11, 2017

"In an op-ed published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Regling compared the experience of Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus, where the financial adjustment programs were brought to a “successive conclusion as he said,” with the situation in Greece, which he described as a “special case.”

“In no other country were difficulties so big and the public administration so weak,” he said of Greece.

“This is why efforts to stabilize [the country] have yet to be completed after seven years of austerity,” he said."

Spain could top Greece for 2017 migrant sea arrivals, as video emerges of beach being 'stormed' - UK Telegraph

"African migrants are also increasingly setting their sights on Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco which has seen a 230 percent rise in arrivals in recent weeks. On Wednesday, authorities there said they had closed the border to trade for a week in order to cope with with the surge, after a string of mass incursions through its security fence."

August 10, 2017

Elstat new statistics - Elstat

Elstat (Hellenic Statistical Authority) reports new numbers for Greece:

Inflation 1.0% July 2017/July2016

Gross Domestic Product 0.4% 1st Quarter 2017/2016

Unemployment Rate 21.7% May 2017

Exports 11.8% June 2017/June 2016 Retail Trade 0.3% May 2017/2016 Volume Index

Building Activity -22.4% May 16 - May 15 - 16 Volume in thousands m3

"The biggest such renovation project is currently under way in the Kastro district of Naxos town. “Besides the fact that the archaeological museum draws far more visitors than it was originally designed for, the collection has grown too,” Athanasoulis explains. The exciting plans foresee the creation of a museum village: Three medieval buildings are undergoing renovation and will house artifacts spanning the prehistoric to the Byzantine period. The current archaeological museum building will feature ancient and Classical era items. The Glezos Tower will showcase medieval and Byzantine artifacts and the Prompona mansion will be transformed into a museum of Cycladic culture.

The Ephorate’s chief also draws attention to the in situ character of the island museums. “In Athens, for example, we see figurines which have been taken out of the environment where they were discovered. On Naxos, though, the exhibits are part of an excavation trying to produce a more complete picture of the way people in the Aegean region lived during various parts of history.”

Old Stadium in Athens Greece

August 9, 2017

"Following a proposal by the Association of Greek Breeders, the Greek ministry of agriculture established a 14-member working group which will prepare the technical details of an application for registration of the name ‘Greek yoghurt’ under the EU food quality schemes to get a geographical indication.

Particularly, Athens is seeking to ensure a Protected Designation of Origin as well as a Protected Geographical Indication for its yoghurt."

"This means that around 250,000 Greeks who were first employed before January 1993 and now pay lower contributions, including hotel and municipal workers, will not see these amounts rise.

For wage earners insured after January 1993, the 4 percent is calculated based on the portion of their income that is subject to social security contributions. For the self-employed, the 4 percent applies to their entire income."

"The statistics service, in a report, said that the value of import-arrivals totaled 3.877 billion euros in June, from 3.640 billion in June 2016, for an increase of 6.5 pct (excluding oil products imports grew 3.9 pct while excluding oil products and ships imports grew 3.8 pct), AMNA reported.

The value of export-deliveries totaled 2.379 billion euros in June, from 2.128 billion in June last year, for an increase of 11.8 pct (excluding oil products exports grew 10.7 pct while excluding oil products and ships exports rose 11.5 pct)."

August 8, 2017

EU nations start process of returning migrants to Greece - ABC

"EU rules oblige migrants to apply for asylum in the country they first entered. But the requirement was put on hold as hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Syrian refugees, reached Greece on boats from Turkey in 2015.

The EU's executive arm recommended in December that member countries gradually resume sending unauthorized migrants who arrived after March 15 back to Greece, which often is the first point of entry to the 28-nation EU."

"Mr Kouloglou has twice written to the European Commission for them to play a part in Brexit talks – and hinting that if they are not they may be used to hold up a deal.

He said: “Brexit negotiators must take into account the need to protect European cultural heritage."

More on the "Elgin Marbles"

"Some 900 Turkish Cypriots were bused through the Limnitis checkpoint Tuesday to the Kokkina enclave to take part in celebrations. The 1964 bombings targeted residential areas and a hospital, killing more than 50 people, including 19 civilians."

"Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has been meeting his ministers ahead of the brief summer break, fuelling speculation that he may make changes to his cabinet in the coming weeks."

"High temperatures will be recorded mainly in the Ionian Sea and the mainland regions, reaching up to 39 degrees in Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly and Eastern Peloponnese.In Athens, the weather will be hot, with temperature reaching up to 38 degrees Celsius."

"The move means that flash data will not be issued on Aug. 14. Nationwide quarterly GDP data will be released on Sept. 1, taking into account more information than the early indicator of the flash estimate.

...Reuters notes that there have been considerable differences in the past two quarters between flash data, issued 45 days after the lapse of the reference period, and provisional data that follows and is released within a 60 day period."

"...If there is even a small chance for someone in the government to decide to impose a prohibitive publication of ELSTAT data in order not to disturb the success story in the economy, it will be an unprecedented intervention and a major political issue."

NEWS ARCHIVE - August 2017

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