Tag Archives: cuts

Greece’s four main banks will have to reduce their employees by a total of 4,350 and shut down about 180 branches up to the end of 2017. These new reduction demands result from the derailing of the Greek economy generated by the prolonged uncertainty during 2015 which brought the country …

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The European Central Bank and Mario Draghi announced today a new cut in the deposit interest rates.  The rate cut will be 10 basis points and down by -0.30%.  The deposit rate has been cut from -0.2% to -0.3%. “At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that …

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All signs show in one direction: pensions cuts. But whether the cuts will affect only pensions above €1,000 or go deeper and affect pensions of €800 is not clear yet. Fact is that the Draft Budget 2016 has a “hole” of €741 million that has to be filled. And 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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How did German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble say it exactly? “The deal is a good thing and a chance for Greece.” While everybody can assume what Schaueble considered as “good” with Greece’s creditors in his mind, the same “everybody” can assume that if it is good for Greece the country, …

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Finally, good news! In the direction of correcting what we call “social injustice”. That is that while the poor and the needy and the vulnerable society groups are being disproportionally overtaxed, lawmakers and politicians pay less taxes and enjoy tax breaks with ‘whatever’ justification the legislator who introduced this system …

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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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Greece’s top administrative Court Council of State ruled out on Wednesday that the pension cuts of 2012 imposed by the Troika were against the Constitution. The court ruling followed a massive litigation by individual pensioners and pensioners’ associations from the country’s private sector. The Council of State ruled that the …

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Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced a 40% cut to the salaries of broad of directors of the Greek Financial Stability Fund (HFSF). The decision refers to the salaries of the HFSF President, CEO, deputy CEO etc. Varoufakis stressed that the cuts will “save 300,000 euro per year” for the …

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Awa! Awesome news! Seven German parliamentarians “inspected” the Evangelismos Hospital, one of the biggest public hospitals of the Greece, to see for themselves the situation in the Public Health System and how it works, the Athens News Agency reported on Monday. Without mentioning names and political parties the interested “Seven” …

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Greece’s new PM Alexis Tsipras presented his government’s key priorities in the first meeting of the new cabinet on Wednesday. The key priorities include measures to tackle the country’s humanitarian crisis, restarting the economy and clashing with vested interests. However it is interesting to see also what he advised his …

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A teacher in amok, students in shock. Ateacher in a high school class went out of control and started to cut his arms, from the wrist to the elbow, with a paper cutter in front of screaming children in the classroom. Amid students’ screams and cries, the teacher spread the …

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Ex minister for Health and Nea Dimokratia MP Adonis Georgiadis complained about the cuts in MP’s pay and perks. “Greek MPs have suffered the biggest cuts in their salary and allowances than any other branch in the government,” he claimed adding “the salary cuts reached 60% and the parliamentary pensions …

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After the exorbitant hikes of up to 70% in co-payments for prescription drugs, Greek Health Ministry took a further step in cutting subsidized medical services to insured patients. Minister Makis Voridis announced very strict criteria for diagnosis and screening tests that will affect mainly cancer prevention tests (test PAP, mammography, …

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Greece’s Council of State dropped a small bombshell right in the middle of Troika-imposed radical income decreases. The Council of State has reportedly ruled that cuts made to the wages of members of the armed forces, police, coast guards and firemen in August 2012 were unconstitutional and that the government …

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The Greek state prepared an ugly Christmas surprise to 60,000 people who had been receiving poverty allowance and are below 65 years old. Applying one more loan agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) conditions, the lavish welfare benefits (EKAS) of 400-600 euro per month will be cut. Thousands of retirees under age …

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That’s a bad Halloween trick for the half a million Greek retail workers. As the collective bargain expired and the Troika forbids a new collective bargain, they are threatened with wages cuts reaching from -35% up to -55%. Employers will be glad to force their employees to sign individual employment …

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They are some 35,000 unmarried daughters across the country. When we say ‘daughters’ here, do not necessarily think of impoverished teenager girls. They are mostly -meanwhile – middle aged women, daughters of civil servants and of members of the Greek Armed Forces. Women who have remained unmarried in order to …

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Greek government and the Troika plans to cut even low pensions of 486 euro per month as the hole in the country’s biggest insurance fund IKA has reached one billion euro. According to daily Eleftherotypia, the plan foresees cuts of 1) 15 euro per month in 486-euro pensions for private sector. The …

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With two legislative actions and fourteen ministerial decisions the Greek government caused serious damage to two state powers of a sovereign state:  the Legislative and the Executive. Bypassing the Parliament, the government drafted legislative actions that give the Finance Minister super powers. Inspectors at ministries, local governments and public utilities enterprises will monitor …

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