President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, urged for radical reforms in the country’s Justice system that has been suffering from years especially with long delays in serving justice. “For one to be able to find solutions (to the issues of Justice) radical reforms are needed and not small changes …
Read More »
Justice Ministry submits draft bill with tougher penalties for serious crimes
Greece’ Justice Ministry submitted to Palriament a draft bill a series of amendments to the penal and criminal justice code. The bill submitted on Tuesday following a period of public consultation and dialogue. The provisions in the bill were first presented by Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras and Deputy Justice Minister …
Read More »
Greek PM announces reforms in supplementary pensions
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis outlined the supplementary social security system reform scheduled to be voted in the Parliament in August. He said that the new system based on “Swedish model” will operate according to a pay-as-you-earn system of supplementary social security. The reform will …
Read More »
Greece’s Central banker calls for further tax reforms
Reforming the tax system is imperative to avoid upsetting fiscal balance in the post-pandemic period, Bank of Greece’s governor Yannis Stournaras said on Wednesday, addressing the Academy of Taxation and Accounting of the European Organization of Civil Law. In his speech, the central banker said it is necessary to change …
Read More »
Merkel: “Greece has now a PM who is implementing really intense reforms
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis saying that is in implementing really intensive reforms. And she said that just when Greeks thought that according to his own statements, the PM is raising pensions and wages, cuts taxes to business and employees, grants 2,000 euros to newborns …
Read More »
German FM Maas:”Great respect” for Greece’s handling of migration
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed his “great respect” for Greece, both for the heavy burden placed upon it during the crisis and for the actions taken by the new government on migration and to speed up the pace of reforms. The German minister made the statement in a joint …
Read More »
ESM Regling: “Tax cuts to be coupled with bordering of tax base”
“Greece’s economy – fulfilling expectations after the elections”? Clearly, a new government brings the opportunity to present new priorities,” said the Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism, Klaus Regling during his speech at the Economist Conference on Tuesday. Although the government has just been elected and details remain to …
Read More »
“I asked a lot from Greeks but it was for their own interest,” says Schaeuble
Former finance Minister and now President of the German Parliament, Wolfgang Schaeuble, admitted that he “asked a lot” from Greeks but it was for their own good.of the Greeks when he was finance minister at the peaks of the country’s crisis, but had good reason to do so. “As minister …
Read More »
“Brussels Anonymous”: Greece at risk of not getting cash as reforms lag
Greece is at risk of not getting some 750 million euros next month that it won under a debt relief deal with the euro zone last year because it has not completed agreed reforms, euro zone officials told Reuters on Monday. The money is part of about 4.8 billion euros …
Read More »
Moody’s keeps Greece’s sovereign credit at B3, positive outlook
Ratings agency Moody’s keeps Greece’s sovereign credit rating unchanged at B3, with a positive outlook, in a credit opinion it issued on Wednesday. The international ratings agency noted that Greece’s prospects will remain positive as long as the government sticks to the reform program it has pledged, which illustrates that …
Read More »
IMF insists on pension cuts claiming “Greece must send message to investors”
The International Monetary Fund insists on further pension cuts in Greece citing not fiscal necessities but claiming the country must send a clear message to investors and the markets. During a briefing on Thursday, IMF spokesman Jerry Rice said the measure was voted and adopted in 2017 and it is …
Read More »
IMF: Greece has come a long way but still high unemployment, weak banks, needed reforms
As it prepares to exit the program era, Greece has come a long way in the path of economic recovery. It still faces many challenges: high unemployment, weak banks, and uncompleted reforms, the IMF tweeted on Friday presenting the concluding statement that describes the preliminary findings of IMF staff at …
Read More »
Merkel and Macron agree to create budget for Eurozone, EU reforms
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Emmanuel Macron agreed on Tuesday to create a budget for the euro zone. They met at Meseberg by Berlin and agreed also on some other EU reforms like reducing the number of EU Commissioners and take again steps on the migration crisis. The meeting, …
Read More »
New Austerity Bill strikes Greeks with €5.1billion until 2022
Greece submitted a draft bill to parliament late on Friday, a bill fully packed with austerity measures worth 5.1 billion euros and counter-measures worth 1.5 billion, in an effort to sweeten the bitter pill to thousands of pensioners and employees. The bill outlines reforms in the energy, pension and labor …
Read More »
Greece deserves Debt Relief, austerity reforms must continue, says OECD chief Gurria
Greece has made an “enormous” reform effort since its debt crisis broke out and its international lenders must now grant the country debt relief, OECD chief Angel Gurria said while on a visit to Athens on Monday. Gurria, who met Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, urged Greece to …
Read More »
Greece, creditors resume talks on “reforms” and “fourth review”
Greece and its foreign creditors resumed talks on Monday over a set of reforms the country needs to implement before its multi-billion bailout program expires in August. Privatizations, electronic property auctions, an elimination of tax breaks in certain islands, labor and energy sector reforms, and measures to make Greek public …
Read More »
The little Caesar of EWG, Thomas Wieser: Only SYRIZA really embraced bailout reforms
He couldn’t help and couldn’t hide his political schadenfreude over the left-wing government of Greece. The man who rejected any early attempt by SYRIZA for relaxed austerity measures, the outgoing chairman of the non-institutional Euro Working Group that has exercised his full non-authorized power to raise or drawn Greece, the …
Read More »
Davos: Lagarde, Moscovici congratulate Tsipras on reforms in Greece
Managing Director of International Monetary fund and European Union Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici congratulated Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the reforms in Greece. The Greek prime minister met the two officials in separate meetings on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. Greke media …
Read More »
Communist unionists storm Labor Ministry protesting the new strike law (videos)
Hundreds of Communist party KKE unionists from PAME stormed the Labor Ministry in Athens on Tuesday demanding cancellation of the new strike law introduced in the latest omnibus bill with prior actions dictated by the country’s lenders. Using crowbars, about 500 PAME protesters prised open metal shutters of the labor …
Read More »
Germans remind the ECB that it urgently needs to change
With this and that on the festive days we forgot European institutions that urgently need to reform. At least, the Germans did not forget the issue and for one more time the criticized the European Central Bank. Even though the former German finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble remains quiet awaiting the …
Read More »