Greece and the economic crisis

NEWS ARCHIVE - Nov 20 - Nov 26

November 26, 2018

No drop in state employee count since 2015, despite deal

Report on the unchanged state employee numbers since Dec 2015 that eKathimerini responds by saying "which is strange" as there was a deal for only one new hire for every three departures. They also say that contract worker rolls have increased by 12,750, and temp worker numbers have doubled.

3 Migrant smugglers arrested in S. Peloponnese

Story at Lampoc Record

Greek tourism eyed for investment

Story at Naftemporiki [in Greek] on various investment firms moving into or maintaining their stake in Greek tourism.

Varoufakis for European Parliament

Former Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is running for the EU Parliament - story at Reuters and at Yahoo

Bank of Greece Quarterly Earnings

The numbers at Market Screener

€780 deal for Eurobank

Story at Greek Reporter about purchase of Grivalia Properties

Border indicators go missing between Greece and FYROM

Story at New York Times

Eurozone deal tables further austerity cuts

A view of the scrapping of pension cuts - story at the UK Times

Stray Cats in Athens

November 25, 2018

School book changes for history of FYROM and Greece

Removal of "offensive" material in education part of agreement - story at Greek Reporter

Third tank of Liquefied natural gas at Revithoussa

Story at Protothema

Landslides at Plomari force evacuations

On Lesvos - story at eKathimerini

November 24, 2018

ELSTAT figures confirm 55% contributions come from employers and employees, 39% from government

Story at Naftemporiki [in Greek]

ND 10 points ahead of SYRIZA

Story at Iefimerida [in Greek].

Mitsotakis wants to end university asylum

Story at Protothema and more on the parliamentary debate between Mitsotakis and Tsipras at Tovima [in Greek].

Drilling begins Monday in Antalya

Story at Phile News about the comments of Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez who also mentioned drilling to take place in the Black Sea with a second drill ship.

"Black Friday" in Greece

Story at Daily Hellas about the 'Black Friday' phenomenon growth in Greece since 2015.

Panathinaikos and Olympakos have wins in Euroleague over Barcelona and Bayern

Story at eKathimerini

Medusa 7 Military drills with Egypt and Cyprus

Exercises to take place aaround western Crete - story at Egypt Today

Katrougalos: Europe repeating same errors with refugee crisis that led to holocaust in pre-WWII period

Comments by Greece's Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Georgios Katrougalos - story at Russia Sputnik

Ionic Column Style - ancient piece on display at the Athens National Garden

November 23, 2018

New new liquefied natural gas tank near Athens

Story at Reuters

Street in Athens

November 22, 2018

Public sector wages go up, private wages go down 2014-2017

Story at eKathimerini

Network of human traffickers operating out of Samos

Story about the statement from Dimitris Vitsas, Minister of Migration Policy at Kathimerini [in Greek]

Arab states are cooperating against Turkey

Story at Capital GR [in Greek] about wide regional concern over "Ottoman" aspirations coming out of Ankara.

The €900 Super Surplus

Story on the EU approval on the elimination of new pension cuts and on new spending for certain social programs - story at Tovima [in Greek].

Sentencing in Bakari Henderson murder

Last years murder of 22 year old American Bakari Henderson in a beating outside of a bar on Zakynthos made world news, now sentencing has taken place on the nine accused, with all but one of Serbian origin. Story at Tanea [in Greek]. More at New York Times.

Pension increase coming, reduction in self-employed tax

Story at Naftemporiki [in Greek] on an average increase of 20 euros per month for some 500,000 pensioners, and reductions in tax on self-employed.

Athens ranked #100 out of 100 cities for finding work

Story at Protothema

Agreement reached on Brexit

Story at Liberal GR [in Greek]on the draft agreement, and more at Bloomberg.

November 21, 2018

First €600 million payment from the ANFA and SMP in jeopardy?

Delays in privatization effort to blame - story at Reuters.

Unemployment predicted to drop in 2019, 2020

Story at Tovima [in Greek] on the predictions from the OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Jean-Claude Oswald escapes from house arrest, avoids trial date

In trouble for alleged bribing of Greek officials, the French banker has vanished - story at Washington Post.

Estonia - Greece game and Nazi symbology

Story at USA Today on display made by some Greek fans at Athens game. Estonia won, 1 - 0.

Greek economy has contracted in eight of the last 10 years

An analysis of the problem at Tax Foundation.

Are sanctions coming on Italy because of budget rejection?

Brussels will not accept the Italian budget - story at Protothema and at Naftemporiki [in Greek].

Could Turkey invade Cyprus again?

Story at Liberal GR (related to an article at Skai.gr). [Both in Greek]

The crash of the stock market in Athens?

Story at Protothema.

November 20, 2018

Mario Centeno: Outlook good on Greece

Mr. Centeno is the Eurogroup President and repeats a familiar refrain: primary surplus is excellent, but agreed upon reforms must continue to be implemented - story at Reuters

The barriers in exporting from Greece

Naftemporiki story [in Greek] on the difficulties faced by Greek companies trying to export.

Greece's winter tourism

Irish Examiner says its time to go to Greece. They also interview Elena Kountoura, Greek Minister of Tourism (and include a nice large portrait shot of her and photos of Santorini and a few other islands).

Position of EU on Turkish claims on Greek waters?

Greek MEP (New Democracy) Eliza Vozemberg has put questions forward to the European Commission at the European Parliament. She wants the EU to respond with a position on the recent provocations from Turkey, in particular mentioned in this Protothema story is news of a Turkish map from their defense department which shows the exclusion of Crete, Rhodes and Karpathos from Greek territorial waters.