Keep Talking Greece Greek News in English, Blog, Wit & Drama

A copy of latest proposal for the EU budget had been obtained by Open Europe Blog. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy proposes that the headline spending figure remains broadly unchanged in the new proposal, standing at €1,014bn (a €4bn increase), but more cash is spent on farm subsidies and structural funds, in …

Read More »

Household incomes dropped by 15 percent in the second quarter of 2012, compared to the same period a year earlier, figures by Greek statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday. Welfare benefits went down by 9.5 percent over the same period, data showed while indicating a 7.3 percent reduction in consumption. …

Read More »

Chanting “Thieves”, “Liars”, “Thugs”, “Give us our money back” and hurling eggs dozens of Greek bond holders got out of control when the appointment with Nea Dimocratia secretary, Manilis Kefaloyiannis, was cancelled. The meeting was scheduled for 11 in the morning at the headquarters of the party of prime minister Antonis Samaras. …

Read More »

Greece and its lenders appear to be edging toward a formula that would make the crisis-stricken country’s debt sustainable, with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras suggesting on Thursday that only 10 billion euros stood in the way of a deal. Technical experts on the Euro Working Group continued to crunch the …

Read More »

After the trade-visa-for-property proposal to non-EU citizens, Greece is considering to expand its attractive offers and lure EU citizens to invest in Greece. This time, Athens targets citizens of European Union member-countries and thus aged over 60 or 65 years old. According to in.gr, the Finance Ministry considers to offer …

Read More »

Greece recorded a dramatic increase of suicides during the last three years of economic crisis, austerity, recession and loan agreements. According to Greek Ministry of Public Order and Citizen protection, 3,124 people across the country committed suicide in the time between 1.1.2009 and 28.8.2012. The date refer to suicides with …

Read More »

Four men in black carry a wooden coffin. The band of Athens Municipality plays funeral music. Three men carry funeral wreaths with the names of the leaders of the three-party coalition government. The procession walks slowly through the streets of downtown Athens, passes through the Ministry of Administrative Reform and reaches outside the Greek …

Read More »

An angel must have been watching over this desperate man in Patras who committed suicide on Thursday morning.  The 33-year-old had used a wire to hang himself from an olive tree. It was a rescue of literally ‘last second’ that passerby found him still alive. They took him down from the …

Read More »

A new round of troubles begin next week for Greek patients as pharmacists will stop giving prescription medicine on credit for those insured at EOPYY, the National Health Care Organization of Greece. Pharmacists will start their actions with a 48-hour strike on Monday and Tuesday,  26-27 November 2012. They protest the delay in payments …

Read More »

A thriller is taking place in Thessaloniki, with an elderly man to have taken hostage the director of Loan and Consignment Fund. Greek media report that the man entered the Fund at 9:30 in the morning, carrying a can with gasoline and most probably a gun. According to reports, the well-dressed man, 72, …

Read More »

Men and women without job, without income. Men and women without home… A super market cart to carry what is left from once a descent home: some clothes stuffed in bags. Some blankets. A sleeping bag. A camping gas, a pot and a spoon. And a roof of plastic to give shelter from November rain …

Read More »

Greek Police will distribute one and a half million leaflets translated into 13 languages and dialects to foreigners from third countries and inform them about the program ‘return home’. The leaflet has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Albanian, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Bengali, Kurdish, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtun and Dari and the cost of …

Read More »