Keep Talking Greece

Latest Public Survey: SYRIZA 23%, ND 20%, GD11.5%,….

November 2, 2012 Comments Off on Latest Public Survey: SYRIZA 23%, ND 20%, GD11.5%,….

Main opposition party, left-wing SYRIZA leads in the latest public opinion survey, followed by Samaras’ Nea Dimocratia and extreme-right Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi). At the same time, the majority of respondents chose “Nobody” as “the most suitable” for Prime Minister, something we did not see for quite some time. The …

HOT DOC Journalist Kostas Vaxevanis Acquitted by Athens Court

November 2, 2012 5

Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis has been acquitted by an Athens court on Thursday night in a trial that lasted almost ten hours. The prosecutor had raised charges against Vaxevanis for breaching privacy after he published the names of 2,000 suspected tax evaders in his magazine HOT DOC. Vaxevanis was arrested last Sunday. …

Judges Ruled Upcoming Pension Cuts as “Violating Greek Constitution”

November 1, 2012 10

Greece’s Court of Auditors (Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο) ruled as “unconsitutional” the upcoming cuts in pensons, the scraping of Christmas, Eastern and Vacation bonuses, the decreases to jobless allowances for seasonal workers, the raising of age criteria for the social benefit of EKAS and thus for all those with low income. The 30 …

Athens-Thessaloniki: Angry Bond-Holders Threw Eggs at BoG Due to PSI

November 1, 2012 Comments Off on Athens-Thessaloniki: Angry Bond-Holders Threw Eggs at BoG Due to PSI

Chanting “Shame” and “Thieves” angry holders of Greek bonds threw eggs at the Bank of Greece and General Accounting Office in Athens and Thessaloniki. Several dozens of middle-aged protesters raised their voice and express their anger about the Greek bond swap (PSI) that swallowed the savingss of a whole life. At least …

Bank of Greece: List of Monthly Salaries for Governor & Co

November 1, 2012 5

At first sight the net salaries of governor George Provopoulos and other board members of the Bank of Greece are not particularly striking. For example, Provopoulos earns 7.615,92 euro per month, two deputy governors 8.148,12 and 7.373,64, three others 4.596,91, 5.944,26 and 6.765,87 euro respectively. Some of them do not pay …

Athens: Metro and Urban Train on 24h Strike, Nov 2/2012

November 1, 2012 8

Workers at Athens Metro and Urban Train (ISAP/HSAP) will launch a 24-hour strike on Friday, November 2nd 2012. The workers protest the privatization bill that passed on Wednesday through the Parliament and the austerity package of 13.5 billion euro.

Tough Times for PASOK and Venizelos as MPs Rebel Against Austerity Measures

November 1, 2012 2

Coalition government party PASOK suffered serious injuries on Wednesday during the voting for the privatizations bill. Party leader Evangelos Venizelos saw some 15 MPs revolting against the party line. In fact he saw the rebellion happening from a distance, as he himself did not bother to attend a voting that …

Veteran Journalist Spyros Karatzaferis Arrested by Greek Police

October 31, 2012 1

Veteran journalist Spyros Katatzaferis was arrested in the ealy morning hours of Wednesday on his way home after a live-broadcast on a private television channel. First reports claimed that “he was arrested due to outstanding constributions to insurance funds and for an older court decision that had charged him with libel.” …

Greece To Chase “Corrupt” SIEMENS Executives?

October 31, 2012 7

There is an interesting development in the Greece- SIEMENS bribes scandal coming from Germany. According to a report by Sueddeutsche Zeitung/The Local.de, Greek judiciary is to pursue elven executives of SIEMENS on charges of bribing Greek politicians and public officials. Moreover Greece plans even to issue an international arrest warrant …

UPD: Greek media on strike over health/pension funds, Oct 31/2012

October 31, 2012 5

Greek media went on 24-hour strike on Wednesday at 6 a.m. after Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras decided in a surprise move to integrate journalists’ insurance funds into the broke national health organization EOPPY. This decision caused strong reactions in the Greek parliament when the amendment was announced as part of the …

Ex French FinMin Baroin Examined Impact of Greek Euro Exit in 2011

October 30, 2012 Comments Off on Ex French FinMin Baroin Examined Impact of Greek Euro Exit in 2011

Francois Baroin, the former French finance minister, examined the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro zone with his advisors, according to advance extracts published Tuesday on the website of French magazine L’ Express from his forthcoming book on his experiences during the debt crisis. “It was a discussion …

George Soros: “Helping Greek Migrants would show European Solidariy”

October 30, 2012 9

Billionaire George Soros plans to establish charitable “solidarity houses” to help what he calls “Greek migrants”. These solidarity houses would serve as community centres for the local population and also provide food and shelter to migrants. In his open letter published on The Guardian, George Soros underlines the necessity to show European solidarity …