July 14, 2015
Economy
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble suggested that Greece should issue IOUs in order to meet some of its domestic payment obligations. According to information of German daily Handelsblatt, Schaueble suggested the IOUs option during discussions with other euro zone finance ministers at the Eurogroup meeting yesterday, Monday. Citing eurogroup participants, …
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April 28, 2015
Economy, Politics
“Breakthrough in bailout talks is close,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced Monday evening as Greece is struggling to strike a deal with the country’s creditors by May 9th and avoid default to International Monetary Fund. In a live-interview to a private television channel, Tsipras ruler out snap elections but he …
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March 28, 2015
Economy
Forget the Grexit, the Grexident and the Drachma scenarios. They are out! The 20-April-bankruptcy script writers have invented a new solution: something like a parallel currency. No, not the older scenario option of using Drachma nationally and the Euro internationally. Something new: the IOUS! A form of alternative mean of …
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April 11, 2014
Economy, Society
How much money does one need to cover monthly basic needs while living in Greece? Well, it depends…. In fact, it depends on who decides. The Troika, the government institutions, the banks, the employers or just the person concerned? The views seem to vary between the theoretical approach and the …
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January 20, 2014
Society
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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December 18, 2013
Society
The incomes of employees in Greece’s private sector are expected to undergo a further reduction at 1.5%. And this although wages fell at 21.7% during the last three years, after Greece surrendered to the Troika bailout mechanism. But of, course and in contrast employees at the Greek public sector and …
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October 31, 2013
Society
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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September 2, 2013
Economy
It’s time that we, the non-economists dealing with the Greek debt crisis, learn a new term. That’s “jobless growth” or “jobless recovery”. In short, this term means that there is growth in an economy of a country, but people still get no jobs. Something like the phenomenon in modern Greece of …
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July 18, 2013
Society, Uncategorized
Uninsured work in the Greek tourist sector tends to turn into a plague. Controls in Greek tourist resorts conducted by labor and insurance funds institutions showed that one in three workers in the tourist business work without social insurance. Control checks were conducted in the month of June in 1,345 …
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March 21, 2013
Economy, Society
Thousands of Greek employees and pensioners with accounts in Cypriot banks in Greece worry about their money. “Will the Cypriots banks explode in my hands?” a retired neighbor asked me last night. Several months ago, he opened a bank account at the branch of a Cypriot bank in Athens, because …
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February 6, 2013
Economy, Politics
Member of the Greek Parliament Argyris Dinopoulos protested to Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras about the monthly salaries apparently received by the management of DESFA, the Manager of National Natural Gas System. In his letter to Stournaras, the MP from Samaras’ party Nea Dimocratia, claims that the general manager of DESFA receives …
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December 5, 2012
Economy
Followed by declining wages in the country, according to research by the Labour Institute GSEE-ADEDY since, the basic wage countries at levels found in the second speed of the eurozone, including Portugal, Spain, Malta and Slovenia, while , seems to be sliding towards the levels of the countries of the …
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November 19, 2012
Economy
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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September 6, 2012
Editor, Society
It came as expected. Employees affected by the upcoming wages cuts included in the 11.5-billion-euro package took to the streets. Policemen, firefighters, coastal guards, judges, academics, teachers, doctors, tax officers. Greece’s public sector is boiling. Civil servants protest and strike and threaten with escalation of their mobilization. Sept 6/2012 – Athens: Riot …
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September 1, 2012
Economy, Society
Working without getting paid on time? Yes, that’s very possible, if you are in debt-ridden Greece. Thousands of businesses do not pay their employees on time, hundreds of thousands of households have to seek ways to come along without income. During last year, 120,000 business places did not pay their 400,000 employees …
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July 22, 2012
Economy, Politics
The managements of Greek state-run enterprises seem to be very forgetful. So forgetful, that they “forgot” to implement government decisions concerning wages cuts for thousands of employees at state-run enterprises (DEKO) and other state bodies and organizations. Even worst: the government forgot to control if laws and decisions are been …
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July 20, 2012
Economy
Archbishop of Athens and all Greece Ieronimos decided to give a thorough answer to all these reports and publications appearing in international press about the “Taxation of the Greek Orthodox Church”. The letter addressed to Greek PM and the EU leaders aims to “restore the truth”, as it is said: Letter about …
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July 16, 2012
Economy, Politics
A total of 20,203 euro is spent per month by the Greek parliament for each of its elected members: MP compensation, several open and hidden benefits, additional income through participation in committees as well as operational costs for their offices make it an expensive hobby for thousands of Greeks suffering …
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May 22, 2012
Economy
Greece’s political leaders need to stick to the commitments and abide the austerity programme, IMF head Christine Lagarde said and she warned that a Greek euro exit would be expensive and hard not only for Greece. She also stressed that the IMF would talk to any democratic-elected Greek government, implying the IMF …
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April 20, 2012
Economy
The first employees’ fortress fell on the altar of Memorandum of Understanding II. Once powerful banking sector union had to bow to the dictates of the times. Employees at the Bank of Greece ‘broke’ the collective bargain and agreed to 17% wages and allowances cuts and increase of the working hours. Bank employees …
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