March 21, 2013
Economy
Greece’s Council of Systemic Stability is holding an extraordinary meeting Thursday evening to deal with the Cyprus issue. Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras, Bank of Greece governor, George Provopoulos, the chairman of capital market, Costas Botopoulos, and representatives from the Greek Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) participate in the meeting. While some …
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March 19, 2013
Economy
With 39 votes against and 19 abstentions from Anastasiades’ ruling party, Cypriots said a historic NO to Eurogroup decision to charge with a levy bank deposits. Upon announcement of the rejecting decision protesters who had gathered outside the Parliament broke in to loud applaud. No one Cypriot MP voted in …
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March 16, 2013
Economy
The eurogroup decision to violently grab private bank deposits in Cyprus could not but trigger a panic also in Greece. And most probably to the citizens of every economically weak EU country. – My father, 85, came early in the morning shouting, we should withdraw our weak deposit from the …
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March 15, 2013
Economy
Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras shocked Greeks on Thursday night, unofficially announcing that the emergency property tax will be collected also in 2013. “I suggested, the emergency property tax collected through electricity bills will have a milder form,” Stournaras told reporters in Brussels, however he refrained to elaborate how this ‘milder …
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March 14, 2013
Economy
Grey smoke rose on Wednesday from the chimney of the headquarters of Greek government. The meeting between prime minister Antonis Samaras and the Troika representatives did not end in agreement. Main issues of dispute are reductions of the numbers of civil servants (lay-offs), extension of the emergency property tax in …
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March 5, 2013
animals, Economy
Are we just about to see austerity measures imposed to Athens strays? Do the Troikans gave up numbers and balance sheets and started to deal with the stray dogs of this city? There are reports in the Greek media, that the Troikans complained to finance minister about the incident on …
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March 5, 2013
Politics, Uncategorized
Greek Finance Minister Yiannis Stourrnaras picked up German tabloid BILD to recount the dull lifestyle he had to live after he was appointed to the most crucial ministerial post of the debt-ridden country. Bild reporter visited Stournaras in his office in Athens and started right away with a personal question: “He is …
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March 2, 2013
Economy
Greek finance ministry considers to make property insurance against earthquake and floods obligatory. According to daily Kathimerini, the compulsory insurance of property against big natural disasters like earthquake and flood is being considered by the finance ministry as an attempt to forestall the possibility of a widespread economic damage from an …
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February 26, 2013
Uncategorized
Hundreds of blind Greeks gathered outside the Finance Ministry on Tuesday morning and will be standing there until they get an appointment with Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras. They asked an appointment with him, even though the minister is absent. They refused to meet the director of Stournaras’ office saying “We …
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February 14, 2013
Economy
“We do not talk about lay-offs,” Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras told reporters after a meeting with prime minister Antonis Samaras on Thursday on the dwindling of four ministries. “Will there be lays-offs in the public sector?” a reporter asked. “No. We don’t talk about lay-offs,” Stournaras replied. While the Troika …
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February 4, 2013
Politics
An envelope containing a bullet and a threatening notice reached the Greek Finance Ministry. According to Greek media, the enveloped was addressed to the Finance Minister and the name “Yiannis Stournaras” written on the envelope. The enveloped reportedly arrived at the Ministry on Monday morning and was opened at the office of …
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February 1, 2013
Economy
While Greece’s economic team is working out the new tax scheme that will allegedly unify all taxes imposed on properties, Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras assured that no additional taxes will burden property owners. Stournaras made his statement on Thursday evening during the prime time news program of private Mega TV. “Property …
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January 28, 2013
Economy
Advisers to Greek finance ministry seem to never run out of creative ideas: the latest proposal on the table is to create tax prisons for those refusing to pay even a small amount of their debts to the state. As there is not space in the current prisons for additional prisoners, …
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January 28, 2013
Politics
Left-wing SYRIZA lawmaker Tasos Kourakis made a ‘revolutionary proposal’: that clerics’ wages should be funded not by the state but by those who declare themselves to be Christian orthodox and thus through a special tax similar in other European countries like Germany. The funding scheme was proposed by Kourakis in …
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January 15, 2013
Economy
Greek Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras admitted in an interview that also he was not exemption to the old Greek tradition: to buy services and goods without asking and/or receiving a receipt. A practice that helped vendors and other professionals to steal from the state the Value Added Tax and declare much lower income …
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January 7, 2013
Economy, Society
I didn’t know Greek Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras had such a bitting sense of arrogance. On Monday, January 7th 2013, he called on Greeks to be patient for another year.” At the same time he dismissed suggestions by coalition government and opposition parties that heating oil subsidy might be extended to …
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December 19, 2012
Economy, Society
This is the never ending confusion-story of the emergency property tax that skyrockets the electricity bills every month and forces Greeks to pay exorbitant amounts to avoid power outages. On Wednesday, Greece’s Supreme Court annulled the ban of a first instance Athens court that had ruled “the collection of emergency property …
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December 17, 2012
Society
No, it’s not a joke. However I thought to start the day with this story, because reading it makes you wanna live nowhere else but in Greece 🙂 Speaking at a health care conference in Athens, Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras told the audience that Ireland and Portugal seek the ways how …
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December 13, 2012
Economy
After pressure by the Troika and Greek taxpayers outrage, finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras modified for one more time the three taxation categories for employees and pensioners. According to Greek media, Stournaras is due to present to today’s Eurogroup the following scheme: 22% tax rate for annual income up to 25,000 …
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December 12, 2012
Economy
Greek tax evaders with assets abroad are wrapped up in lists. After, the Swiss Lagarde-list (2,59 names) and the British Jersey-list (97 names), two more lists have reached the Finance ministry, while a third is apparently on the way. Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras revealed that two lists containing the names of …
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