Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Wednesday that the so-called “solidarity levy,” an extra surcharge tax on incomes, will be abolished from January 2023 and that pensions frozen since 2010 will be allowed to increase again. “It is a double resounding signal that the country’s growth must benefit everyone without …
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Greece’s bailout programs ignored “social needs of population,” says ESM-report
“The bailout programs paid insufficient attention to the underlying needs of the Greek population,” independent Evaluator Joaquín Almunia saidn among others in a report presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Stability Mechanism Board of Governors on 11 June 2020. The Governors assessed the report’s findings and recommendations and …
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EU Commission hails one year Greece without bailout agreement
The European Commission has hailed the one year anniversary of Greece successfully concluding stability support programme. In a statement issue don Wednesday, the Commission said: Today marks one year since Greece successfully concluded its European Stability Mechanism (ESM) stability support programme. The 3-year stability support programme took a coordinated approach …
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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 …
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Austria complains of making just €100million profit from loan to Greece
Lending money to Greece was not profitable, finance experts in Austria complained on Wednesday. The aid loan in the name of European Solidarity and other nice pink bubbles earned Vienna 112 million euros. For this Vienna gave a loan of 1.6 billion euros to the debt-ridden country in the years …
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Tsipras on Ithaca marks Greece’s bailout exit with speech full of Odyssey symbolism
“Ithaca is just the beginning,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in his address to the nation on the occasion of the country exiting the bailout program. He practically confused the Greeks who always believed that Ithaca in the Ionian Sea is the symbol for the end of the 10-year …
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Germany ordered a robot comment on Greece’s Bailout Program Exit
All Greece’s creditors added their spice and herb to the August 20 celebration sauce. Except Germany. Berlin chose to keep low profile and refrained from joining the European fanfare. Instead, the master of the eurozone and the merciless judge and ruthless accountant came forward with a statement even the technocrat …
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Lost in hypocrisy: Greece’s lenders celebrate end of bailout programs
A historic day. The end of bailout program. The begin an new era. Lenders celebrate the “great news.”The Greek government cheers. Greece ‘s creditors and and the country’s government congratulate each other. Internationale media are in euphoria. A success story with happy end. You did it! Congratulations to Greece and its …
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Merkel: “A proof of trust Greece is given several decades to recover”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that long period of primary surpluses was necessary fro Greece in order to reduce debt. She denied she had any deal with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to postpone Value Added Tax hikes in exchange for asylum seekers’ returns from Germany. At her annual summer press …
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ESM approves “in principle” €15bn bailout tranche to Greece
The European Stability Mechanism said that it has approved “in principle” the disbursement of the €15 billion to Greece. Ignoring the approval by 18 eurozone member state, Germany blocked the last bailout tranche at the Eurogroup on Thursday, expressing reservations about a fiscal hole of 28 million euros that will …
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Germany blocks €15bn tranche to Greece due to VAT hikes postponement
Germany expressed reservations for the disbursement of the €15 billion tranche due to Greek government’s unilateral action to postpone Value Added Tax hikes on five islands hit by the refugee crisis. Also the planned discussion about freezing of the further pension cuts was blocked by Berlin at the Eurogroup on …
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“Liar! Crook! Sycophant!” Greece’s political leaders duel over homme fatal Moscovici
Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and main opposition leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis from conservative New Democracy, exchanged “French” for the sake of homme fatal, the EU Commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, during a Plenary debate about Greek economy on Thursday. Reason for the verbal duel between the prime minister and the main opposition …
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Greece has completed all 88 prior actions, EU compliance report says
Greece has completed all prior actions needed to conclude the fourth and final review of the Greek programme, according to a compliance report posted by the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs on Wednesday. This opens up the path for approving the disbursement of the final tranche of loans …
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All lights ‘set on green’ for end to Greek bailout, says finance minister of
All lights ‘set on green’ for end to Greek bailout, said Luxembourg finance minister, Pierre Gramegna, on Friday. Gramegna is one of 19 euro zone finance ministers who will meet next month to hammer out what Greece hopes will be a post-exit plan for substantial debt relief following eight years of …
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EU official: Greece closing in on end of bailout years
A senior EU official says Greece is within reach of ending its Herculean bailout program which saved it from the brink of bankruptcy. The official said Thursday that eurozone finance ministers meeting next week had “a great willingness to say that, basically, nearly everything had been done” to complete its …
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Varoufakis sues the ECB over decision to freeze liquidity for Greece
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and German left-wing parliamentarian Fabio De Masi (Die Linke) are suing the European Central Bank to gain access to a document underpinning the ECB’s decision to freeze vital funding to Greek banks in 2015 that resulted in forcing Athens to impose cpaital controls. That …
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Dijsselbloem admits “first bailout for Greece was aiming to rescue foreign investors”
The main aim especially of the first Greek bailout was to rescue investors outside Greece, outgoing Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem admitted in the European Parliament on Thursday. Odd. Less than a month ago, Dijsselbloem said that the bailout was used to save the banks. “There were mistakes in the first …
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ESM approves €800mln bailout tranche for Greece
Greece received an extra 800 million euros of bailout money on Thursday, following a positive evaluation of its financial reform process. “I am satisfied to note the Greek government’s continued commitment to clear arrears,” said European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Managing Director Klaus Regling in a statement. “The amount of arrears …
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Greece to launch platform for online foreclosures on Nov 29
The intention of Greek government to start online foreclosures on November 29 was reiterated at a meeting between government officials and the technical experts of the country’s creditors in the Greek capital. According to previous reports, the online foreclosures will be held for properties worth more than 300,000 euros. The …
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Dijsselbloem tells Greece to wrap up review quickly for a “clean” bailout exit
Greece must wrap up an upcoming bailout review quickly to pave the way for a “clean” bailout exit next summer without further conditions beyond standard monitoring, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said during a visit to Athens on Monday. “We are in full agreement for that – it should be a …
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