Tag Archives: Katrougalos

Giorgos Katrougalos, SYRIZA MP, high-ranking part official and former Foreign Minister in Tsipras government, announced his withdrawal from the upcoming elections on May 21. 60-year-old Katrougalos who is also a jurist and professor for public law, announced his withdrawal on Thursday after stating that social contributions for  self-employed may go …

Read More »

The Council of State, Greece’s supreme administrative court, on Tuesday ruled in favor of the backdated payment of pensions that were wrongfully cut between June 2015 and May 2016. The court ruled in favor of pensioners who had appealed against the pension cuts, seeking the backdated return for the above …

Read More »

Two people on a motorbike threw a hand grenade at the police booth outside the Russian Consulate in Athens on Friday morning. “Last night, two strangers, riding by the consulate of the Russian Embassy on a bike, threw an explosive device at a police booth located near the consulate… Minor damage has been inflicted,” the …

Read More »

Greece’s Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos ruled out Turkey’s exclusion on energy-related issues in the Eastern Mediterranean area. He said that Turkey has kilometer-long shore at the Mediterranean Sea and therefore also rights in the area. The Greek Foreign Minister met with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Antalya on Thursday …

Read More »

Greek Foreign Minister, George Katrougalos has accused Manfred Weber, the European Peoples Party (EPP) candidate for European Commission president, of “reproducing fake news.” The Foreign Minister was responding to a tweet posted by Weber and in which he claimed that Athens was refusing “70,000 Greek nationals the right to vote …

Read More »

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama suggested that Greece and Albania are in talks over potential border change. Speaking during an interview with Albania’s Vizion Plus TV on Thursday, Rama appeared to suggest Athens and Tirana are in talks over potential border changes. The comment was made in the context of …

Read More »

Greece has called on Albanian authorities to give the body of the killed ethnic Greek to his family and respect the protection of the Greek minority. Alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos urged Albanian authorities to “immediately satisfy the request of the family and release the body” of 35-year-old Konstantinos Katsifas …

Read More »

Greek workers will need to live to be 1o1 years old in order to be able to amortize the social security contributions they paid during their working life. This is a very realistic estimation given the new Greek realities: increasing contributions and retirement age and part-time work and sharp pension …

Read More »

While creditors and Greece negotiate for further pension cuts after 2019, the provision  of the pension reform of 2016 goes into effect as of today. Especially affected are pensioners with disabilities, pensioners with 15 years of work and widows, who will see their pensions cut by 30%. Workers who went …

Read More »

Greece’s Deputy foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos invited Turkey to carry out referendum rallies to expand powers for president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The move comes amid a severe diplomatic row between Turkey and the Netherlands and when one after the other European countries prohibit Turkish politicians from campaigning. At the same …

Read More »

I don’t know if the World Mental Health Day on October 9th had an “inspiring” effect on some people who used to govern Greece. But today a current financial  official and a former politician with high profile, both PASOK, claimed that Greece is and has being ruled by people with …

Read More »

45% of Greece’s pensioners live below the poverty line. They receive monthly pensions below 665 euro gross. The data has been released by the Greek Pensioner’s Network and shows the dramatic situation in which 1.2million pensioners experience after the repetitive cuts and hikes for health contributions. Unions stress that 13.7% …

Read More »

For one more time, Greece took a leading role in setting new standards within the European Union and lowered the poverty line threshold from €6,000 annual income down to €4,608.  fixing the threshold at 60 % of national median income Labor Minister Giorgos Katrougalos told private Skai TV on Wednesday …

Read More »

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas – Vanity of vanities and all is vanity. In the sense of “earthly life and the worthless nature of all earthly goods and pursuits.” Although atheists in the majority, left-wing comrades of SYRIZA seem to be deeply religious though. One can see a religion-based philosophical …

Read More »

I thought it was a bad joke or some kind of anti-government propaganda when I read the news yesterday: that self-employed and free-lancers will face hikes of more than 200% in social security contributions. I was wrong. It is not a bad  joke but a bitter reality. According to government …

Read More »

The great pensions slaughtering. Ops! In creditors’ language we call it nicely “the great pensions reform”. Labor Minister Giorgos Katrougalos submitted the Greek government proposal in an e-mail file containing 170 pages. the creditors’ received it and are reportedly evaluating it. As Katrougalos’ proposal was leaked to the press, the …

Read More »

Nothing will be ever be the same after the thorough overhaul – call it “structural reform” – of the Greek social security system. Τhe working years aka social security contributions will rise but at the same time the monthly pension amount will dramatically decrease. I do not know how long …

Read More »