International

The Hellenic Union of Industrial Consumers of Energy (EVIKEN) has requested from the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Chance to take steps towards supporting the industrial recovery efforts, particularly with regards to the cost of energy. According to EVIKEN, the cost of energy is excessive for emergent, innovative and extroverted businesses, which in turn […]

The Greek statistics authority ELSTAT published its latest data set today, according to which the rate of recession in the final trimester of 2013 was 3.7%, significantly less than what the troika had previously estimated. The rate of recession in the first trimester of 2013 was 5.5%, which dropped to 3.7% in the second trimester […]

The president of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE) Vasilis Korkidis has slammed the government’s intention to deregulate commercial lease. Mr. Korkidis expressed his frustration at the three-year lease proposal since tax legislation provides that the payback period for an investment is five years. As such, Mr. Korkidis believes that leases should be designed […]

The Deputy Minister of Public Radio and Television Pantelis Kapsis announced his estimation that NERIT and 12 regional radio stations will begin broadcasts within the next two months, when he asked in Parliament by PASOK MP Dimitris Kremastinos about the repeated delays. Mr. Kapsis claimed that there the recruitment procedure is fully transparent and that […]

SYRIZA MP Giorgos Stathakis spoke at Thursday evening discussion on the challenges of the production sector’s recovery and stated that Greek “suffers from low taxes”, meaning the deficit regarding tax revenue as a GDP percentage, when compared to EU divs. Mr. Stathakis explained that tax revenue is just 38% of GDP, when the EU average […]

The Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras is scheduled to meet with financial prosecutors Athanasiou and Dragatsis and the head of the Financial and Economic Crime Unit (SDOE) Stasinopoulos. The meeting was scheduled in order to examine developments in the cases concerning the controversial “Lagarde List” and the more recent case involving overseas remittances. Mr. Stournaras […]

The farmer unions are going to hold general assemblies at the road blocks which they have set up across the national high ways, in order to decide upon their next actions. Representatives from the various farmer unions met with the Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras yesterday, but they were unable to come to any agreement, […]

The courts have decided to ban the broadcast of a television documentary by investigative journalist Stavros Theodorakis on Mega Channel. According to judge Antigone Stamoleka, the broadcast of the documentary will interfere with the ongoing judicial investigation and as such violates the privacy principle. The journalist spoke to To Vima and revealed that he interviewed […]

The Appellate prosecutor proposed an unprecedented 100 million euro bail to the judicial council for the release of businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, who is a central div in the Proton Bank case where 701 million euros were given in unsecured loans. Additionally, the bail must not derive from any of the defendant’s frozen accounts. Mr. Lavrentiadis […]

The Geodynamic Institute of Athens announced that a 4.7 magnitude earthquake at a depth of 5 kilometers occurred at about 5:39am in Kefalonia on Friday morning. According to the researchers at the Geodynamic Institute the post-seismic activity is expected to carry on for some time, while the intensity of the aftershocks will begin to wane. […]

It is a fact that the freedom of speech and the press were never particularly held in that high a regard by Greek judges. But at least there was the impression that preemptive censorship had been a thing of the past for many decades in our country. Now though, we have the outrageous decision of […]

For the first time in Greece, small businesses and new entrepreneurs will now be able to take out “micro loans” of up to 25,000 euros from the European Investment Centers. The announcement was made by TREK Consulting SA, who clarified that the loans will come with a far lower interest rate than the current lowest […]

The Ministry of Growth has revealed that amongst the amendments to the growth bill that it plans on submitting for consideration in Parliament is a provision for commercial leases to last for three years. The Ministry has explained that current leases will be protected. Other amendments to be included are designed to facilitate investors facing […]

Despite the bickering, the suffering Greek economy managed to overcome the huge financial crisis, at a huge cost truth be told, and is prepared to make its steps for the next few years. Most underestimate the achievement of the primary surplus; some will not even recognize it. However, achieving it indicates the degree of consolidation […]

The former treasurer of the Municipality of Thessaloniki Panagiotis Saxonis has made new allegations on the 10th day of the appeal trial of former mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos. According to Mr. Saxonis’ latest allegations, the former general secretary Michalis Lemousias decided the amount of funds that were going to be embezzled from municipal coffers on a […]

The Minister of Growth Kostis Hatzidakis announced from the stand in parliament today that he is determined to implement the OECD’s proposal regarding the retail sale of bread, according to which bread will be sold by weight, rather than estimated size. The announcement came in his response to a question posed by SYRIZA MP Panagiotis […]

The Greek Statistics Authority ELSTAT has released its latest data regarding employment and found that the rate of unemployment in November 2013 grew to 28% since November 2012 when it was estimated to be 26.3% and October 2013, when it was estimated to be 27.7%, ELSTAT’s published data also showed that in November 2013 there […]

The Deputy Minister of Finances Christos Staikouras has denied the allegation that funds intended for the operation of ESY hospitals have been diverted to fund NERIT, in response to a press release issued by the union of Athens and Piraeus hospital doctors EINAP. According to EINAP’s press release, there have been many budget cuts in […]

The education community is in uproar over the recent police visits to a number of schools, with teachers and parents alleging that in some cases, school students were called to provide explanations regarding school occupations. The Central Police HQ recently issued an order for police departments to visit local schools in order to document any […]

Further delays were announced for the railroad plans that have been discussed for about a century, due to the NSRF funds not being enough to cover all of the proposed projects. The projects that have been approved are updating the railway in the capital, Thessaly as well as the Thessaloniki-Idomeni, Thessaloniki-Promachonas and (possibly) the Alexandroupouli-Ormenio […]