Tag Archives: austerity measures

The International Monetary Fund is alive and kicking. And insists to apply its famous wrong “remedies” to the Greek problem, no matter what. The IMF’s representative in charge of the Greek program has arrived in Athens together with the representatives of European commission, the European Stability Mechanism and the European …

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One man lost his life and two people suffered burn injuries when a fire broke out this morning in an apartment in Zografou, a middle-class suburb of central Athens. The fire brigades rushed to the apartment-building managed to rescue a man, 57, and a woman 43, but were unable to …

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You should consider yourself literally blessed that you do not understand Greek. That you can easily resist temptation to push  ON on remote control and zap through television channels or radio programs to watch or listen the current news and the accompanying comments or analyses. Or having to read the …

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Five years of loan agreements, memoranda of understanding, austerity measures and internal devaluation. And here is the bill for Greece’s employees: a decrease of 28.16% within five years. According to data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) salaries were cut by 28.16% in the period of the first memorandum of …

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The Eurozone’s masks have fallen. Hardly anyone has anymore the illusion that the 3. bailout aims to facilitate Greece to pay back its debts and that it therefore needs  more austerity or “reforms” as they are euphemistically been called. On one hand the 3. bailout brings additional cuts in health …

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The bill of the 3. bailout for Greece has been uploaded on the website of the Greek Parliament at 3:30 am on Wednesday: 7 files in PDF, a total of 387 pages. The uploading of the bill deprives lawmakers and ministers from ‘future’ claims, that they had no idea what …

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After a negotiations marathon that lasted 22 hours, the Greek government and its creditors reached an agreement on the 3. bailout for Greece. Information indicates that there have been compromises on both sides so that the deal could be sealed on technical teams level, some minor issues were still open. …

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It is a well-know neo-liberal policy: health issues lay in the responsibility of the patient. It is also a well-known fact that cuts in the health sector are top priority not only of the International Monetary Fund but of every government in every country  that imposes austerity measures – see …

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The major of Stylida city and a lawyer filed lawsuits against former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. The two blame the ex FinMin for “actions that led to economic measures” and “high treason”. A third complaint has been filed for the “hacking of taxpayers’ registration numbers (AFMs). A fourth lawsuit has been …

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I have been wondering whether the new Troika which is a Quartet should be called “The Creditors’ Quartet” or “The Troika Four” or just “Greece’s creditors”. The new combo of representatives from European Commission, International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism definitely news a new short description, …

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It is one of Greece’s most dramatic nights: Euro-Leaders continue talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras demanding from Greece the stars, the sky and the sea In fact everything, literally everything what the previous governments since 2010 have failed to implement. Everything, even the small letter of Memorandum of Understanding …

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Thursday night and before the deadline expired, Greece sent its proposals to the creditors, proposals that will form the basis for negotiations for a loan from the European Stability Mechanism. Roughly estimated, the Greek government offered measures (“prior actions”) worth €12-13billion for an ESM loan worth €53billion for the from …

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Eurogroup meetings, Institutions meetings, Euro Leaders meetings. Monday’s race between Greece and the creditors ended … early Tuesday without a deal. But with a perspective for a deal. And a bombastic package of austerity measures worth 8 billion euro for 2015 and 2016.       Three Shades of Grey – …

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The Greek additional proposal to the creditors has been leaked to the press. Athens offers earth and water – in creditors’ language “taxes and revenues” worth €7.899 billion for 2015-2016 that is in the next 18 months. Specifically, the Greek government aims to collect €2.697 billion until the end of …

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It was a shock late last night when some of creditors austerity demands were leaked to the press. They were included in a 5-page draft plan European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had handed out to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during their emergency meeting in Brussels in an effort to strike …

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Did the Euro Working Group give ultimatum No 2,456,979,579 to Greece to comply with creditors’ additional austerity demands? It is not clear. Some European Commission “unnamed sources” told Reuters “it did”, others say “it did not.” Greek media reported that “Greece had 6 working days to present convincing measures that …

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How much fat has one Souvlaki in pita bread? What’s the percentage of saturated fats in a portion of grilled lamb country style? And how much additional revenues can one triangle of walnuts-phyllo dough soaked in sirup bring to the state? These key questions will have to be answered in …

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The eurozone has ruled out debt forgiveness for Greece and warned Alexis Tsipras that his anti-austerity coalition government must honor all past agreements with international creditors. In a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday, a day after left-wing SYRIZA won the parliamentary elections, the euro bosses warned …

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Two days ago, I posted a question: why the EU-partners did not support Samaras coalition government. Today Reuters comes to confirm my suspicion. That the EU-partners together with the International Monetary Fund literally pulled the carpet under Samaras’ feet by asking more austerity measures: “IMF and EU officials insisted on …

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Austerity measures adopted in response to the economic crisis have adversely impacted human rights. The austerity measures traumatized the labor market and the healthcare system,  fuelled a sharp increase in unemployment,  triggered disastrous social effects, curtailed fundamental freedoms in Greece, denounce the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and its …

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