Greece’s main opposition party New Democracy has been playing dirty ahead of European and local elections and on the occasion of the confidence vote in the Parliament. On Wednesday during the debate in Parliament, ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis claimed that the deceased father of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and a …
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Bitter disappointment: Value Added Tax for Coffee won’t be reduced
Greeks cheered on Tuesday to hear the reduction of Value Added Tax form 24% to 13%. On Thursday, they were deeply disappointed to learn that their most favorite drink, the coffee, won’t be any cheaper. The Greek Finance Ministry clarified on Wednesday evening that the V.A.T. in Coffee, Tea, Chamomile …
Read More »V.A.T. reduction from 24% to 13%: Which sectors and items it affects
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced on Tuesday the reduction of Value Added Tax on food items and catering services. The reduction from 24% to 13% is expected to contract a relief for millions of Greek households who have been paying a high price to staple food items since 2015. Which …
Read More »Greek PM announces V.A.T reductions in food, electricity, gas and 13th pension
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a package of relief measures to relieve the life of debt-ridden Greek households. Among the measure for 2019 is the generous reduction of Value Added Tax in food items, catering industry, electricity and natural gas as well as the distribution of so-called 13th pension. Value …
Read More »Political turmoil over Tsipras’ vacations on luxury yacht in Ionian sea
Political turmoil has broken out in Greece after media affiliated with main opposition party revealed that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spent last summer vacations on a luxury yacht of a Greek shipowner. Tsipras’ vacation in August 2018 took place just weeks after the horrendous wildfire in Mati that took the …
Read More »Censure motion filed by ND, Tsipras turns it into confidence vote
Main opposition party New Democracy filed a censure motion against Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis. Reason for the motion was Polakis’ verbal attack against ND candidate for the European Elections Stelios Kymbouropoulos, a 34-year-old doctor with disabilities. Responding to ND challenge, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras turned the censure motion into …
Read More »“Shrinking of the middle class cannot be tackled with tax cuts only,” says FinMin Tsakalotos
The shrinking of the middle class is not only tackled by tax cuts but by a combination of policies that, along with tax cuts, place the social problem at the center of the strategy, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said on Saturday. “The middle class wants better jobs, a stable …
Read More »DIMAR leader Theocharopoulos appointed new Greece’s Tourism Minister
Leader of small left-wing party Democratic Left DIMAR Thanassis Theocharopoulos has been appointed new Greek Tourism Minister on Saturday. Successful Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura resigned last week after 4,5 years in the post as she runs for the European elections on May 26. 40-year-old Theocharopoulos left the center-left alliance KINAL/PASOK …
Read More »“Majority of Greeks are not xenophobic,” says Migration Minister
The majority of the Greek people are not xenophobic and see the issue of migration as a result of need, not a problem, Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas told Alpha 989 radio on Friday. In an interview on upcoming European Parliament elections, Vitsas responded to a comment that migration was …
Read More »PM Tsipras praised victory of Pedro Sanched and progressive forces in Spain
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras commented on the result of the elections in Spain praising the victory of the socialist party and the progressive forces. “The prevalence of progressive forces in Spain and the collapse of the right-wing People’s Party is a message of hope,” he said in a tweet. …
Read More »S& P affirms ‘B+/B’ rating, sees Greece’s economy growth at 2.8%
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has affirmed ‘B+/B’ sovereign credit ratings on Greece and projects an economy grow by 2.8% on average over 2019-2022. Furthermore, the agency said that “Greece has one of the most advantageous debt profiles of all our rated sovereigns in terms of maturity and average interest …
Read More »Anti-Greek or just German arrogance? Candidate for Commission presidency Weber in Athens
“Next time I’ll come to Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be Prime Minister.” The bold support came by Manfred Weber, the center-right European People’s Party candidate to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as the President of the European Commission. The Bavarian arch-conservative politician from the Christian Social Union choose the Greek capital Athens …
Read More »Tsipras: Brexit shows flaw of “nationalistic” policies and “chauvinistic rhetoric”
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the UK’s Brexit deadlock illustrates the flaws of a “nationalistic approach” and “chauvinist rhetoric” in addressing a country’s political, economic and social problems. “Brexit was a very bad development for Europe, and very bad for Britain as well,” Mr Tsipras said in an interview …
Read More »Athens Municipality bans Golden Dawn from holding election rallies in public spaces
With an overwhelming majority the Athens Municipality Council approved the recommendation by Mayor Giorgos Kaminis to ban far-right Golden Dawn from holding rallies for the European and Municipality elections in public spaces. “We will not give Golden Dawn any public spaces for pre-election campaigns because it operates like a criminal …
Read More »Greeks living abroad: Committee submits proposals for voting eligibility
Greeks living abroad are a step closer to vote in parliamentary elections after a committee of experts of the Interior and the Foreign ministries submitted their final proposals to Interior Minister Alexis Charitsis. Citing sources, state news agency amna reports that eligible to vote are all individuals with a Greek …
Read More »Unemployment benefits are counter-productive, says New Democracy
Unemployment benefits and Christmas bonus have become the target of conservative new Democracy, Greece’s main opposition party, aspiring to come to power after the next parliamentary elections. New Democracy sees the achievements of the working class struggle as counter-productive and claims that they create clientele relations between the state and …
Read More »21 April 1967 is a “black-letter day” for Greece’s democracy, says Pavlopoulos
The criminal coup d’etat that led to the seven-year ‘tragedy’ of Greece’s military junta on April 21, 1967, is a ‘black-letter day’ for democracy, and must remain indelibly marked in the country’s historical memory, Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos said in a statement 52 years after the colonel’s coup. In view …
Read More »Tourism growth over last 4 years helped Greece exit bailout agreements, says…
Tourism growth in the last four years has helped Greece exit the bailout agreements, said Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura. Tourism has attracted more than 400 investment projects, she added. Speaking to state news agency amna, Kountoura said “This great tourist development with growth over 35 percent in the last four …
Read More »PM Tsipras proposes Brexit extension until March 2020, sees option to reverse process
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras favors extension of Brexit process until March 2020 and he even hopes that Brexit could be reversed. European leaders have to decide on the issue of Brexit by taking into account their historical and political responsibility, Tsipras told European leaders at the Extraordinary Summit on …
Read More »FinMin Tsakalotos confirms early repayment to IMF; Greece to use ‘cash buffer’
Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos confirmed that Greece is planning to repay the loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier than their maturity. Speaking to Radio Thessaloniki 94.5 FM on Tuesday Tsakalotos noted that the IMF loans are “very expensive debt”. He pointed out that approximately 3.5-4.0 billion euros …
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