Keep Talking Greece

Athens: National Intelligence Personnel Protested Austerity Measures

October 30, 2012 Comments Off on Athens: National Intelligence Personnel Protested Austerity Measures

Some 200 employees of Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) demonstrated outside the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection on Tuesday evening. EYP personnel protested the austerity measures and handed to the general secretary of the ministry a list with their demands. According to Greek media, the national security of …

NYT Op-Ed: Greece Arrests the Messenger

October 30, 2012 3

Hey! Caught red-handed and exposed even on the other side of the big river! Renomated New York Times sharply criticized “Greece’s slow and cumbersome justice system” and “mainstream Greek politicians”: the first for showing a “stunning swiftness” to arrest investigative Kostas Vaxevanis, and the latter for “shamefully stripping the poorest and most vulnerable from …

Greece in Governance Black-Out: PASOK & DEMLEFT Disagree with Samaras “Negotiation with Troika Completed”

October 30, 2012 5

Coalition partner and leader of PASOK, Evangelos Venizelos was angered over PM’s Samaras statement that the negotiation with the Troika has been completed, considering the negotiation has to continue until short before the Eurogroup meeting. With PASOK’s reaction and Democratic Left insisting in not voting for the labour rights ‘reforms’, the …

Greek PM Samaras’ New Old Dilemma: Measures or Chaos

October 30, 2012 5

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras issued a statement on Thusrday noon saying the negotiation with the Troika has been completed. Samaras announced that Greece has completed the austerity measures of 13.5 billion euro and the budget for 2013, two preconditions for the debt-ridden country to receive the loan tranche of …

UPD Athens: Man Threating to Blow Himself Up Surrendered to Police

October 30, 2012 2

A middle-aged man claiming to carry explosives is threatening to blow himself up in downtown Athens. According to Greek news portals, the man is sitting on a bench of a park near the presidential manor and the prime ministers’ office. Greek police has cordoned the area, while mediators have moved to the spot …

Public Order Minister Presents Parliament with Suspected Golden Dawn Crimes

October 30, 2012 Comments Off on Public Order Minister Presents Parliament with Suspected Golden Dawn Crimes

Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias on Tuesday presented Parliament with a list of violent and criminal acts that have been attributed to deputies and officials of the ultra-nationalist party Golden Dawn in police reports from around the country. The lengthy document was submitted to the House following calls for an …

EUROPOL Dismantles International Network Smuggling Migrants to EU

October 30, 2012 Comments Off on EUROPOL Dismantles International Network Smuggling Migrants to EU

In a joint cooperation with Europol, Greek, Italian and German authorities dismantled an international criminal network smuggling Iraqi and Kurdish migrants to EU. The criminal organisation set up by Iraqis had transferred more than 1,500 people and earned around 12.5 million USD. The criminal used to move migrants from Turkey …

Berlin: Students Verbally Attack Ex PM Papandreou (video)

October 29, 2012 3

The prime minister who took Greece to IMF had an unpleasant surprise in Berlin. While he was enjoying dinner in a restaurant in Berlin, a group of Greek students stormed in and started to verbally attack him. “Shame on you!”, “You ridiculed the country!”, “You eat with people’s money!”, “Go, …

Mini Crash: Athens Stock Exchange Plunges -6,28%

October 29, 2012 Comments Off on Mini Crash: Athens Stock Exchange Plunges -6,28%

Athens Stock Exchange suffered a mini crach on Monday, plunged by -6.28%, the General Index fell below 820 units and the banking sector with losses of 15% as Greece’s lenders refused to make any concessions on labour rights ‘reforms’ and junior coalition government partner Democratic Left insists on not voting in favor of the …

Juncker: Eurogroup meeting on Nov 8, Decisions on Greece on Nov 12/2012

October 29, 2012 Comments Off on Juncker: Eurogroup meeting on Nov 8, Decisions on Greece on Nov 12/2012

Jean Claude Juncker has called an extra ordinary Eurogroup meeting for November 8th 2012 and claimed that final decisions on Greece will be met on November 12. He considers that no decisions on Greece will be met during the Eurogroup on upcoming Wednesday. At the same time, he called to …

State NET-TV Presenters Censored for Criticizing Public Order Minister Over Guardian Torture-Report

October 29, 2012 6

A case of censorship in Greek state broadcaster ERT/NET. Kostas Arvanitis and Marilena Katsimi, presenters of news-magazine “Morning Information” on NET TV were removed from the magazine due to comments on Minister of Citizen Protection Nikos Dendias over the Guardian-Dendias conflict. Nikos Dendias had threatened to sue British newspaper The Guardian …

BDO-Survey: Greece riskier for investors than war-torn Syria

October 29, 2012 2

An annual survey of finance directors from global business consultancy BDO finds that the crisis over too much government debt in Europe remains one of their key concerns — so much so that Greece is considered a riskier place to invest and set up business in than war-torn Syria. Only …