Plan "Pythia 1": Kill the Greek Prime Minister (Second UPD 2023)

(17/6/2011)

According to the "Epikaira" magazine (Num. 87) siting a classified document of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) a group of twenty persons was acting in Athens according to a plan named "Pythia 1" with the objective of murdering the Greek Prime Minister K. Karamanlis back in 2008. As this magazine is far from any kind of conspiracy theories providing a rather good quality of well documented information this disclosure is a worth reading one. The whole incident according to this article had to do with the annihilation of Karamanlis policy intending to build strategic alliance with Russia on the energy sector of Greece. The four axis of the plan was the political destabilization using the "Batopaidi" scandal (a case of illegal shelling of church property in Chalkidiki), the destabilization in the business field materialized by downgrading the country's economy using any means including the kidnapping of prominent businessmen, the destabilization of the society including terroristic actions and finally putting obstacles in any improvement of Greece's place in the international arena including even the continuation of the need for visa to visit the US for the Greek citizens. It must be underlined that the whole report is coming from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and according to the Greek NIS's comment could be a case of misinformation. Nevertheless it fits well enough as the new Prime Minister Mr. Papandreou urgently denounced the Bourgas - Alexandoupoli gas line project in his pre - election declarations while Mr. Karamanlis disappeared abruptly from the political stage as soon as he lost the elections not even attempting to defend himself from the accusations that rendered him the sole responsible for the present economic tragedy.

A counter - surveillance team following Mr. Karamlis confronted for some seconds with the "Pythia's" members, two well fit Greek - speaking persons that managed to escape on a motorcycle leaving behind a blue Van  (Ford Transit type) which contained maps of the Prime Minister's usual routes, numbers of the plates of his secret escort, weapons, night - vision binoculars, telecommunication equipment and explosive material (C-4) that is not to be found in the domestic market and has never been used by any local terrorists. According to the FSB's report the plan was designed from the West Intelligence Services including Mossad. 

In spite that the Us Ambassador in Greece Mr. Speckhard on February 2008 said that there was not any problem with the Greece - Russia rapprochement according to Weakyleaks he was worried as he commented on the issue in a 2007 telegraph saying: "... our hope that EU institutions will rigorously require EU member states to consider and justify how their rhetorical (and sometimes more) support for South Stream meshes with the EU's overarching security need for Nabucco.". Furthermore in another telegraph (2007) printed in "TA NEA" newspaper he expressed his deep worries that the growing relations between Karamanlis and Putin could even lead Greece closer to Iran.


UPD 1 - Feb 16 2013

According to to the "Epikaira" magazine (Num. 174) the judicial authorities investigating the case after the crucial testimony of the chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Mr. John Corantis who certified that the Prime Minister was kept under surveillance by twenty foreign agents and Greek thugs. As for his safety Mr. Karamanlis was forced to quit his usual long walks and he was confined home. The investigation which initially was conducted by two prosecutors Mr. Drosoulias and Mr. Ornerakis as they existed two different cases: The destabilizing effort and attempted murder, now are merging to one. Those two cases were in advance combined with the case of interceptions and the Drosulias’ findings. All this is an indication that the prosecutor of the Supreme Court believes that behind those actions there is the same agent. It is noted that Drosulias in his report refers to the offense of aggravated espionage naming two Americans Mr. Paul Johnson and Barney Nathan who along with a Greek accomplish they had bought the phone cards. Additionally on February of 2009 NIS informed officially the administration that the Prime Minister was under surveillance on his daily route.

Former US Embassy employee William Basil was charged with the offence of attempted aggravated espionage with unknown perpetrators, on multiple occasions, from February 2004 to March 2005.

An arrest warrant was issued against him in 2015. The US intelligence official has never appeared before the Greek judicial authorities and has been a wanted man since 2015. The accused allegedly attempted to intentionally obtain classified information concerning the interests of the Hellenic Republic through telephone interception.

The prosecutor's investigation revealed that the wife of the person in question was the one who had purchased the mobile phone shadow cards from Akti Miaouli under the pseudonym "Petros Markou", which were used to monitor dozens of politicians, members of the then government and dozens of other persons.

The unsealing of one of the four telephone connections revealed that the telephone connection was also activated on another device, with "American Embassy" subscriber details. Following the disclosure of the interceptions, William Basil disappeared from Greece.

The whole case is pointing to an attempt by the United States to annul the contract between Greece and Russia on the South Stream gas pipeline. Mr. Papandreou on his pre-election speech was fast to declare that he was eager to renegotiate any agreement after his election. Interestingly at present US and Europe are pressing the Greek government to avoid shelling the gas and oil state companies to the Russian firms that offer almost the triple amount of money from the other candidates.

Lastly it is again through the Russian money laundering that the EU is pressuring on Cyprus forgetting about Luxemburg or Switzerland the heavens of laundering just in the heart of Europe.

UPD2: The issue of 'Pythia' plan was effectively ended when the director of the National Intelligence Service, Mr. Roubatis, revealed after months of investigations an older document that denied the surveillance and the existence of a plan to assassinate the Prime Minister. The strange thing, of course, contrary to what was presented, is not why this document did not appear earlier by the witnesses who were examined, but why Mr Roubatis did not submit it in time, leaving such a serious judicial case of high treason to drag on for months 'aimlessly', remaining a mere spectator.

Insight: Germany and Greece. A tale of estrangement

Πηγή: Reuters

By Noah Barkin and Gernot Heller

June 14 2012

In early October of last year, German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler landed in Athens on a plane packed full of corporate executives, carrying a message of hope.

Germany and its leading firms, the young minister told Greek leaders, stood ready to help Greece overcome the debt crisis that had plunged its economy into recession and pushed it to the brink of its second EU/IMF rescue in little more than a year.

The mood in the meetings that followed was described by German officials who participated as "euphoric". Roesler received assurances that commercial disputes with German firms would be resolved. As soon as they were, Roesler promised, German investments would flow, focused on Greece's solar sector.

Yet within weeks the relationship had sunk to a postwar low. From interviews with German and European officials, Reuters has traced how and why trust broke down, with grave implications for Greece and Europe's single currency project.

"The minister was held up as a messiah who would save Greece," said a senior German official who travelled with Roesler and sat in on the meetings. By the time Roesler boarded his plane back to Berlin, he and his Greek counterpart Mihalis Chrysohoidis were using the familiar "du" and "esy".

Just weeks after Roesler's visit, Greece's then Prime Minister George Papandreou shocked his European partners by announcing plans - swiftly reversed - for a referendum on Greece's new 130 billion euro bailout package.

That gambit, a half dozen senior German officials told Reuters, marked the start of a dizzying deterioration in ties between Berlin and Athens, characterized by misunderstandings, broken promises and highly unusual public attacks.

A little more than half a year later, with Greece poised for an election that could determine whether it stays in the euro or returns to the drachma, the level of frustration in Berlin with the country's entrenched political class is sky high and its confidence that Athens can get back on track abysmally low.

German officials, many speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue before Sunday's vote, speak of a broken Greek bureaucracy incapable of implementing decisions taken at the top. A drive to root out corruption and tax-dodging has largely failed, they say.

Looking back, however, some German officials also acknowledge that Greece's descent into disarray, and the resulting risks for the broader euro zone, cannot be blamed on the Greeks alone.

It is also a story of neglect by Greece's European partners, they say, including Germany, which reluctantly bailed out Greece over two years ago, but then proceeded to ignore it until late 2011, when its dire economy, unstable politics and abysmal finances forced it back onto the agenda.

Roesler's trip came nearly a year-and-a-half after Germany bankrolled an initial rescue for Greece. Yet that still made him the first member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet to visit the country since the rescue.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has not been to Greece in three years and European Council President Herman van Rompuy visited once in April 2011, a year after the rescue, their aides confirmed.

"For a year after the first bailout, neither Berlin nor Brussels made any symbolic political gestures towards Greece. No one travelled there to take stock of the situation for themselves," said Markus Kerber, chief executive of the BDI industry federation and a former finance ministry official.

"There was a fundamental misunderstanding that this would end up with big countries like Spain and Italy in the sights of the markets. They didn't realize that a single currency zone doesn't work on auto-pilot."

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert vigorously denied Germany had ignored Greece, saying Berlin had closely followed the work of the so-called "troika" - the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - which was charged with monitoring the country's progress. He noted that Papandreou himself had praised Germany for its support and cooperation in meetings with Merkel in March 2010 and September 2011.

Greek crisis talks for debt deal pushed to Monday

IMF chief debt inspector Poul Thomsen member of the so-called troika of Greece's creditors _ the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund _ leaves the prime minister's official residence after meeting with Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos in Athens, Greece on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. The troika demanded tougher austerity measures, private sector pay cuts and firings of civil servants. At stake is a new euro130 billion ($171 billion) bailout deal without which Greece will default before the end of March.

Πηγή: AP
By DEMETRIS NELLAS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Feb 5 2012

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Crisis talks on a debt deal for Greece among the three leaders of parties supporting the coalition government were suspended and will continue Monday.

Greece is racing to finalize austerity reforms needed for a new euro130 billion ($171 billion) bailout without which it would face bankruptcy in late March. But in a country deep in recession, with unemployment at 19 percent, many politicians and unions oppose more austerity measures.

The three party leaders held a five-hour meeting late Sunday with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos to hammer out a deal with debt inspectors representing eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, but failed to reach an agreement.

An announcement from Papademos' office said the three had agreed on measures to cut spending in 2012 by 1.5 percent of gross domestic product - about euro3.3 billion ($4.3 billion) - improve competitiveness by cutting wages and non-wage costs, such as social security contributions, reduce auxiliary pensions and re-capitalize banks without nationalizing them.

But the three leaders - socialist George Papandreou, Antonis Samaras of conservative New Democracy and Giorgos Karatzaferis of the rightist Popular Orthodox Rally - differed as to what this would mean in detailed proposals.

Samaras said upon leaving the talks that Greece's creditors "are asking for more recession which the country cannot bear. I am fighting, with all my means, to prevent this."

Papandreou objects to cutting actual wages and wants the state to take over banks, at least temporarily. His socialist party executive is meeting at the moment to consider these proposals.

"Political party leaders are obliged to provide a first response to the proposals by" Monday morning, socialist party spokesman Panos Beglitis told reporters after the party leaders' meeting with Papademos.

Papademos is due to resume talks with representatives of the "troika" of Greece's creditors - the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - later Sunday and will be joined by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Labor Minister Giorgos Koutroumanis.

Unions and employers' associations have warned that private-sector wage cuts would deepen the nation's recession, now in its fourth year.

Papademos and Venizelos also met separately with representatives of banks in an effort to complete a bond swap deal that would reduce Greece's debt by euro100 billion ($131.6 billion). The talks involved Charles Dallara, managing director of Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF), and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of French bank BNP Paribas.

Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Germany's Deutsche Bank and the IIF's board chairman, is also in Athens.

FEATURE-Curtain falling on Greece's ruling dynasts

Πηγή: Reuters
By Karolina TagarisDec 9 2011

* Greek politics a "closed profession"
* Three families dominate
* Culture of nepotism, patronage hard to break

ATHENS, Dec 9 (Reuters) - They have dominated Greek politics for decades, attending the same prestigious schools, sharing college dorms and mixing socially, but always fighting tooth and nail for political advantage.

Disillusioned by their leaders, many Greeks hope the debt crisis that has brought the country to its knees may finally break the stranglehold the ruling dynasts have on politics in the country.

But they could just be exchanging one set of elites for another, or the younger generation of the same.

Nepotism and patronage are so deeply rooted, and family and clan loyalties so strong, that change will not come quickly.

"Political culture doesn't change overnight and Greek politics is in many ways personalistic and polarised, where the name of the family is far more important than any other credentials," said Othon Anastasakis, director of Southeast European studies at Britain's Oxford University.

"It works as a closed profession and it's very difficult to accept new people, new blood with new ideas," said Anastasakis, a former Greek Foreign Ministry adviser.

The Karamanlis, Papandreou and Mitsotakis families have taken turns at governing Greece for the greater part of half a century, most recently under Papandreou scion George. Their names have traditionally been enough to secure a seat in parliament, if not a ministry.

But opinion polls show support for the main parties - socialist PASOK, a Papandreou fiefdom, and conservative New Democracy, founded by a Karamanlis - has dropped to a record low during an austerity-driven recession.

"I don't care who is in there as long as his name is not Papandreou, Karamanlis or Mitsotakis," said Alexandros Karabelas, a 41-year-old engineer, as he gestured towards the parliament building in central Athens.

"I want someone who can contribute more than a name, who has had a real job outside politics, who has proven himself first."

Papandreou, son and grandson of Greek premiers, was compelled to resign in disgrace in November over his handling of the debt crisis which is shaking faith in the euro itself.

A three-party coalition led by former central banker Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has taken over, charged with pushing through a bailout needed to avert bankruptcy.

However, although it is true the established players are expected to be absent when the country goes to elections pencilled in for Feb. 19, they will likely be replaced by individuals who are still very much part of the same crowd.

NOT SO NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

The new crowd is a mixture of members of other political families, younger generations of the existing ones and various members of the social elite.

It includes Antonis Samaras, current New Democracy leader and part of the same social set as Papandreou.

His great-grandfather founded Athens College, a prestigious private school Samaras and many other politicians attended. A fiery orator known for his refusal to budge on major issues, Samaras was a college roommate of George Papandreou in Boston.

Papandreou's predecessor as prime minister, fellow dynast Costas Karamanlis, lost the 2009 election amid corruption scandals and has kept a low profile since, appearing only during parliamentary votes. But his political career is not over and some analysts say he is deliberately staying on the sidelines until the right time comes to step in.

Also waiting in the wings are Dora Bakoyannis and her brother Kyriakos Mitsotakis, both children of Constantine Mitsotakis who served as prime minister in 1990-93.

Bakoyannis, a former Athens mayor and the country's first female foreign minister, broke ranks with New Democracy after losing a leadership battle to Samaras, an old rival of her father's. Her brother stayed in New Democracy.

Bakoyannis has her own centre-right party, Democratic Alliance, but polls show it is unlikely to win enough votes to enter parliament in the next election.

Neither PASOK nor New Democracy is expected to win an outright majority in the elections, analysts said, raising the prospect of further multi-party - and possibly short-lived - coalitions.

"One-party rule is near-impossible and all options are open," said Costas Panagopoulos, head of ALCO pollsters, who like many analysts believes the time seems ripe for new parties.

The system works against new entrants, however.

Existing parties receive substantial financing from the state and from banks - on average, annual state funding worked out to 10 euros per vote in the last election. New parties receive nothing and depend on raising money from donors but this is often complicated and not widespread.

"THERE WILL BE MORE COMING"

The European Union, which Greece joined in 1981, has inadvertently encouraged patronage and cronyism with generous development funds that the powerful political families have used to bolster their support, analysts said.

Private sector workers have long complained that public offices are filled with idle civil servants put there in return for votes and protected by the constitution from sacking.

The Greeks call it "rousfeti" and it is generally used to refer to the handing out of political favours.

"This unity government is a test for parties to cooperate under extreme circumstances but I wouldn't be optimistic about a change in culture," Oxford University's Anastasakis said.

"What we are seeing is democratic politics in Greece being dictated by the international markets, by external pressure, and change is happening primarily because of that. There is a life or death situation in a way."

The dynastic system inhibits progress, politicians said.

"I felt blocked most of the time when attempting to introduce changes that would affect the system," former finance minister Stefanos Manos told Reuters, citing opposition to his proposal to introduced fixed terms for party leaders as an example.

"The end of the dynasties remains to be proven. We just went through an unfortunate period during which bearers of the dynastic names turned out to be less than competent leaders," he said. "But there will be more coming."

For the first time in almost 40 years, both parties are likely to be led by newcomers by the time of the election and surveys show PASOK voters prefer Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos to take the helm from George Papandreou.

But for the time being, the loyalty George's father Andreas continues to inspire some 15 years after his death is so strong that the PASOK party faithful are reluctant to oust the son.

"He is part of the Holy Trinity," said Yianis Varoufakis, an economics professor at Athens University who worked as George Papandreou's speech writer on economic policy before he took office in 2009.

"To this day, even those who agree this is an extremely critical time for the party, when it comes to the crunch, they say 'How can we do this to Andreas's son?'"

That is precisely the problem for many Greeks.

"Dynastic politics made people feel democracy is a game reserved for members of such families," Varoufakis said. "It was always part of a political cancer growth on Greece and the sooner they leave us the better."

Greece paying for lack of monitoring: former PM

Πηγή: thewest
By AFP
Dec 5 2011

European Union monitors and ratings agencies bear some of the blame for Greece's debt crisis that has plunged the continent into financial turmoil, former Greek prime minister George Papandreou says.

Papandreou said his predecessors "didn't really see it coming", as far as the debt crisis was concerned.

"Had there been a stronger monitoring of the European Union from the European Union and even from the ratings agencies on the member states, I would not have, as a prime minister, inherited a situation where the deficit was close to 16 per cent and the debt almost doubled in the previous government," he told CNN on Sunday.

"That's why I think monitoring is important. We're paying for this right now. And many of the Greeks are unjustly paying for this because they're paying for things that they weren't responsible for."

Papandreou, who is due to meet with visiting US Vice President Joe Biden in Athens on Monday for eurozone crisis talks, heads the socialist party know as the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or Pasok. He stepped down as prime minister in November to make way for a national unity government.

His ouster was triggered by a second EU-IMF debt rescue agreed in October with even tougher austerity measures for Greece that proved hugely unpopular.

The new coalition government headed by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is planning tough austerity measures to meet the terms of the new bailout.

Papandreou urged patience, saying "the magnitude of changes we are making in this country we have never done over the past 30, 40 years".

And he expressed optimism that the changes mean Greece now has a "more sure prospect" of improving its moribund economy.

European Union leaders are due to gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to thrash out a way to save the 17-country single currency bloc, likely with proposed treaty changes to create closer fiscal union and economic governance.Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have vowed to unveil proposed EU treaty changes to create what Merkel has dubbed a "European fiscal union with strict rules" and the French leader calls "true economic government".

Merkel and Sarkozy want Samaras to sign to secure Leopard and Rafale sales, agreed with Papandreou

Πηγή: Defencegreece
Nov 25 2011

When, in late October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed with the-then Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to grant Greece the €110 billion mega-loan, the latter agreed, in return for the loan, to purchase military supplies from Germany and France, worth €10.5bn.

The purchases made were to be in equal parts between Germany and France. The hardware to be purchased, according to Athens sources close to Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy party included frigate war ships, Leopard tanks from Germany and Rafale combat aircrafts from France.

At that time, George Papandreou was prime minister and (theoretically) had the right to make the commitment on Greece’s behalf, as the prospects were that his party would be staying in power for a further two years at least, and it was sufficient to legitimise the deal by signing the proper agreements.

It should be remembered that three days before the Papandreou government collapsed, following his out-of-the-blue decision to call a referendum to ratify the agreement reached in the 26-27 October EU Summit to rescue Greece, then defence minister Panos Beglitis, announced the immediate retirement of all heads of the Greek armed forces’ GHQ, with no explanation given.

Unofficial leaks at the time gave a vague picture of a possible coup d’état but no official explanation was ever given. The issue was later forgotten as Papandreou announced his referendum decision, was dismissed by the Eurogroup, Loukas Papadimos was appointed prime minister and the defence minister was also changed – the PASOK defence minister was replaced by New Democracy Vice President Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Having no signature from Papandreou or any official commitment from Greece in their hands following the dismissal of Papandreou and the €110bn loan, which constitutes the hard-core of Greece’s rescue plan, having been officially announced by Eurogroup, the purchase order of defence hardware €10.5bn, remains completely in the air.

Indeed, nobody expects that the new government that will result from the forthcoming February election, most probably led by Antonis Samaras, will even consider military-hardware purchases when mass layoffs of civil servants are likely to reach unprecedented levels, pensions will be reduced to below-subsistence levels and various social-security funds will stop paying for medicines.

The signature, which Germany and France are insistently demanding from Samaras as the sine qua noncondition for disbursement of the sixth tranche of the loan to Greece, is the insurance policy for Merkel and Sarkozy that Samaras will fulfil Papandreou’s promise over the military purchases, which was part of the secret deal.

Under the circumstances, it will be difficult to expect Samaras to sign any letter of guarantee the more that the IMF (read US) stays discreetly out of the dispute and does not request any signature from anybody.

The most logical development to expect, if Germany and France insist, will be for Samaras to withdraw his ministers from the Papademos cabinet and continue to provide support for the ‘service’ government, until the 19 February 2012 election.

Papandreou Seeks to Form New Unity Government in Greece

Greek PM Papandreou walks towards the Presidential Palace in Athens

Πηγή: IBT
By Palash R. Ghosh

Nov 5 2011

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who barely survived a confidence vote in the Athens parliament, now faces the formidable challenge of forming a new unity government, while concurrently seeking to pass a new Eurozone bailout program to save the country from bankruptcy.

The principal opposition party, New Democracy, has demanded that Papandreou call early elections and insisted it will not accept any coalition government with the current Prime Minister.

According to media reports, Papandreou visited with President Karolos Papoulias on Saturday to notify him of his "intention to contribute decisively to the creation of a government of the widest possible consensus".

Papandreou said he is determined that the next Greek government – whatever form is ultimately takes – must ratify the European Union (EU) rescue package for Greece.

"These are critical times. In the immediate future the necessary process will begin to form the widest possible consensus government," Papandreou said, according to reports.

The Prime Minister earlier expressed his concern that a lack of consensus among Greek lawmakers could doom its financial future.

"A lack of co-operation could trouble how our partners see our will and desire to remain in the central core of the European Union and the euro,” he said.

Antonis Samaras, head of New Democracy, has blasted Papandreou.

"The responsibility [Papandreou] bears is huge," Samaras told media. "The only solution is [snap] elections."

Matthew Price, a BBC correspondent in Athens, spells out the obstacles Papandreou faces.

“Papandreou said he would contribute decisively to the new government, but it is by no means clear whether he intends to lead it,” Price said.

“The main opposition says he must resign before it takes part. Greek politics is in chaos at a time when stability is urgently needed.”

Price added: “Greece's woes have spread uncertainty in the markets which has compounded Italy's debt problems. The cost of borrowing has shot up for Italy, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is under intense pressure too. The instability is spreading.”

Indeed, it remains unclear what role Papandreou will play in a new government. Although he has hinted he would be willing to step aside in the event the rescue deal is passed, he has played such games before for political gain. Moreover, he has refused to call a snap election until the bailout arrangement was completed.

One possible likely successor to Papandreou might be the current finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, a long-time rival who has openly aspired to the top job. Venizelos was among the most vocal critics of Papandreou’s proposal to put the bailout deal to a popular vote through a referendum.

Greece: ‘Referendum vs Pacman”

It was presented like a high level treason. A referendum – aka the imposition of the public will – versus Eurozone’s stability.

Greece was blackmailing Europe threatening to trigger the domino which could wash away the World’s economy despite that Greece represents about 2% of Europe’s GDP. This is a byproduct of globalization they say and it is really awkward that after reaching a compromise with a haircut of 50% suddenly the Greek PM asked for a referendum to legitimatize the process.

When he signed the first agreements with both the IMF and EU he didn’t feel that way, as he did it without a single vote from the Parliament. Only by the signature of the Minister of Economics Mr. Papakonstantinou… As Papandreou once said that “...there is money” during his pre-election campaign he also stated that with 153 members in the Parliament “I am going to step down”. But with every subsequent vote on the austerity measures he kept loosing some of his members as he scored out every opposite voice from his party. Lastly he has left with 152. Why then asking for a referendum when he has already refused the same authorization of the Parliament as prerequisite to sign such important agreements as well as refused to accept any different opinion is his own party?

Was him to blackmail Europe or the Greek Parliament?

Stating that the whole issue was triggered by the opposition’s unwillingness to accept the agreements, today he claimed that since the ND president Samaras accepted to vote in favor of the last agreement there is no need for referendum anymore.

I will leave aside the answer of the question that equalizes an organic element of democracy – though the referendums in the democratic EU are not favorable anyway – with an economic contract which involves a debt that some people must pay back without having any properor slight information on their near or far future.

In fact, what he did was to create an unnecessary crisis between Greece and Europe, pushing the opposition ND to cooperate by underlying that the Greek “wise” voters – that they have no idea about the factual structure of the ongoing agreements as they hadn't about the falsification of the state's logistic books in the past – could sink the country in to chaos. This was a good way to get rid of the Greek voter leaving the whole situation in the hands of a Parliament that was formed by the ignorance of the coming bankruptcy. Praising afterwords the (ND) Samaras for his decision on cooperation first he simply generated a such hostile situation between Greece and the EU, forcing the opposition to submit under the risk that it could become an international pariah from now on choosing to stay on the opposite side. For a possible meltdown of the euro it would be the Greek opposition to be blamed. The plausible ongoing is a collective vote on the last agreement within a formation of a transitional government that will decide unelected on the most crucial matters.

Even the debtor have rights. And the most important is to know everything about what he is signing. But most of the Greek people don’t. It is rather that the Pacman of the rather failed economic union ate his aspirin and once more will shallow up the little ghosts of the democratic conscience. If a referendum endangers the stability of a union, if a democratic procedure endangers the status of such a great entity as a European Union, the real problems are in the structure and will prbably surface again harsher in the future.

Greece to hold crisis talks as referendum spooks markets

Πηγή: M&C
Nov 1 2011

Athens - The Greek government was to hold crisis talks later Tuesday after Prime Minister George Papandreou's unexpected decision to call a referendum on the eurozone bailout package spooked world markets and sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) summit.

It was unclear whether Greece's respected finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, who was admitted to hospital for abdominal pains earlier in the day, would attend the meeting.

Papandreou's referendum call sent shock waves across markets, with the eurozone blue-chip eurostoxx 50-share index plunging 5 per cent. It also infuriated European Union leaders, some of whom said they had not been informed of the decision, and prompted several members of the prime minister's Socialist PASOK party to call for his resignation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed after an emergency telephone call that 'all the necessary measures' to ensure the eurozone deal would be quickly implemented.

They announced that they would meet Papandreou in the French city of Cannes ahead of Thursday's G20 summit. EU and International Monetary Fund officials were also expected to attend the meeting.

'France and Germany are determined to ensure, together with their European partners, the full implementation, as quickly as possible, of the decisions adopted by the (October 26 EU) summit, which are more necessary today than ever,' the French presidency said in a statement after the call.

Germany and France were 'convinced' that the deal would put Greece back on a sustainable growth path and planned to establish a roadmap for its implementation, the statement said.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the influential leader of the 17-member eurozone, complained that Papandreou had not warned fellow EU leaders of his idea to call a referendum and warned that its rejection by voters could lead to a Greek bankruptcy.

Greece's Socialist government has faced mounting opposition - on the streets, from the main opposition and even within the ruling party - to any further austerity measures in a country where unemployment is at more than 17.5 per cent in a fourth year of recession.

The referendum decision prompted party deputy Milena Apostolaki to defect, leaving the Socialists with only a two-seat majority in the 300-member legislature.

Meanwhile, another Socialist deputy, Vasso Papandreou, called for a government of national unity to be followed by snap elections.

Six leading members of the Socialist party called for the prime minister's resignation, saying the announcement of a referendum was 'irresponsible and driving the country into civil disorder.'

The main opposition conservative leader, Antonis Samaras, demanded early elections. 'General elections are a national necessity,' Samaras told reporters following a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias.

No date for the referendum has been announced, but the finance minister said it would be at the start of 2012.

Sarkozy, Merkel to meet Greeks on Wednesday

Πηγή: Reuters
By Emmanuel Jarry and John Irish
Nov 1 2011

Sarkozy, Merkel to push speedy euro zone plan implementation

* Meeting to include IMF, EU institutions ahead of G20 in Cannes
* French leader to hold ministerial meeting later on Tuesday
* Sarkozy ally says Greece being "totally irresponsible"

PARIS, Nov 1 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold an emergency meeting with Greece on Wednesday to push for a quick implementation of Athens' bailout deal, Sarkozy's office said on Tuesday.

Markets tumbled across Europe in response to the announcement by the Greek government to hold a referendum on the agreement which is expected to take place in a few weeks.

Last week's 130 billion-euro ($180 billion) bailout package had raised hopes a line could be drawn under banks' Greek losses and euro zone bonds could be sold to China and other investors.

"France and Germany are determined to ensure, with their European partners, the full implementation in the quickest time frame, the decisions adopted at the (Oct. 27) summit, which are today more important than ever," Sarkozy's office said in a statement following a telephone call between the two leaders on Tuesday to discuss Greek plans for a referendum on the package.

The meeting, which comes just before a Nov 3-4 gathering of G20 heads of states in Cannes, on the French Riviera, was hastily arranged for Wednesday afternoon after European leaders were taken by surprise by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's decision.

"France and Germany are convinced that this accord will enable Greece to restore lasting growth," the statement said. "In consultation with our European partners and the IMF, (we) would like a road map to be quickly agreed to ensure the implementation of this deal."

The statement made no mention of the Greek referendum.

Sarkozy is also due to meet his top ministers, including the prime minister,finance minister and foreign minister as well as the central bank governor, at 1700 local time (1600 GMT) to discuss the latest developments and Paris' plan of action.

No statement is due after the ministerial meeting.

FUEL TO THE FIRE

Share prices of French banks and other lenders exposed to Greece and other weak euro zone countries slumped on Tuesday.

Societe Generale tumbled 13 percent and BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole fell more than 10 percent. They are among the most exposed to Greece through sovereign debt holdings and loans.

"We have just added fuel to the fire and we don't understand at all the decision of the Greek PM," said Marc Touati, chief economist at Assya Compagnie Financiere in Paris.

"If there is a referendum the 'no' will win. Greece is playing a suicidal game that could lead to its exit of the euro zone so there is fear on French banks, but also on (euro zone) states."

The Greek government's decision brought a sharp rebuke from a former industry minister and close ally of Sarkozy within his UMP ruling party, Christian Estrosi, who called the move "totally irresponsible".

"When we are in a crisis situation and others want to help you it is insulting to try to save one's skin rather than to face one's responsibilities," said Estrosi.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is seen winning 10 percent of the vote in next year's presidential elections with calls for more protectionism and for France to leave the euro, said it was time for European leaders to come up with a "plan B" to prepare an exit from the euro before "catastrophe and panic" strikes.

"We tried to gain time at an exorbitant cost for the people knowing that the end was inevitable," Le Pen told i-Tele television.

"We now need to get round the table and prepare a concerted, intelligent plan to leave the euro with our European partners. This mad dash must end otherwise there will be revolt among European people."

Greece to vote on bailout as deal for Ireland is ruled out

Πηγή: Independent
By Charlie Weston

Nov 1 2011

GREECE is to call a referendum on its EU/IMF bailout, in a move that could potentially unravel the deal hammered out by European leaders in Brussels last week.

Last night Prime Minister George Papandreou said the referendum would be a straight 'yes' or 'no' to adopting the €130bn package.

Such a vote would be unlikely to pass, and could send the eurozone crisis back into the tailspin seen before last week's agreement.

"We trust citizens, we believe in their judgment, we believe in their decision," Mr Papandreou told ruling socialist party lawmakers.

The news comes as the outgoing president of the European Central Bank warned the partial writedown of Greek sovereign debt should not be repeated for any other eurozone country.

Jean-Claude Trichet told the BBC that Greece was a special case, and hinted that the same latitude would not be extended to other eurozone countries. There have been widespread calls for Ireland to get a similar deal on its crippling sovereign debts to the Greek one.

There is particular annoyance that a payment of €700m will be made to unsecured and unguaranteed bondholders of Anglo Irish Bank this week.

Mr Trichet, who is stepping down and will be replaced by Bank of Italy governor Mario Draghi today, said the Greek debt deal was a "one-off. It is the responsibility of individual countries to fully be consistent with what they said, namely that Greece was Greece, everybody recognises that is a special case. But for all other countries, the signature will be honoured. That is essential."

Eurozone leaders last week agreed the broad strokes of a deal in which Greece will see a nominal 50pc cut in the face value of its bonds held by private investors.

Mr Trichet denied that it was humbling for eurozone countries to seek investment in their sovereign debt from China.

"We are all on the global market, we are all intertwined," he said. "It's a normal way of dealing."

The BBC also cited him as saying Greece's economy should have been more closely scrutinised before being allowed to join the eurozone in 2001.

He said the ECB didn't make any mistakes in its handling of the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis, but rather that any errors were the fault of governments and investors.

Greece heads for standstill before austerity vote

A man shouts slogans during a rally of the "Indignant" group in front of the parliament in Athens October 15, 2011. 

Πηγή: msnbc
By Reuters
Oct 17 2011

ATHENS — Prime Minister George Papandreou appealed for unity on Monday as Greece braced for a 48-hour general strike timed to coincide with a vote on a deeply unpopular package of austerity measures demanded by international lenders.

"This is maybe the most crucial week for Greece and Europe," Papandreou said during a meeting with the head of state, President Karolos Papoulias.

"It is very important on our part, that the entire Greek political class shows a sense of unity and responsibility."

His comments came as Greece's two main unions, representing about half the four million-strong workforce, prepare for one of the biggest protests since the crisis began two years ago, likely to hit food and fuel supplies, disrupt transport and leave hospitals run by skeleton staff.

The 48 hour general strike is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday to coincide with the vote in parliament, expected to take place in two stages on both days.

Memories are still fresh of the battles between riot police and stone-throwing protesters at anti-austerity demonstrations in June and sporadic signs of trouble were reported on Monday with a petrol bomb hurled at a garbage truck in a northern suburb of Athens.

Papandreou, trailing badly in opinion polls, has defied a wave of protests, pledging to push through a deeply unpopular package that includes tax rises, pay and pension cuts, job layoffs and changes to collective pay deals.

His four-seat majority is expected to hold up with the support of smaller opposition parties, but at least two members of the ruling PASOK party may oppose part of the bill.

With European Union leaders racing to prepare a new bailout deal in time for a summit on October 23 and growing speculation that Greece may be forced to default on its massive public debt, Papandreou said Greece had to show its resolve.

"We must show we want the great changes, to go into this negotiation on October 23 with our head high, with a strong negotiating hand, to make sure we obtain the best for Greece," he said.

Trapped in deep recession and choked by a debt equivalent to some 162 percent of gross domestic product, Greece has been shut out of bond markets and would run out of money within weeks without international support.

Inspectors from the EU and the International Monetary Fund were in Athens last week and have recommended releasing an 8 billion euro aid tranche to enable the government to keep paying its bills past November.

That will only provide temporary relief and they have told Papandreou's struggling Socialist government to push ahead with further belt-tightening, on top of what are already the deepest cuts in Greece's postwar history.

"I WANT THEM OUT"

How far this will be possible remains unclear in the face of growing bitterness from Greeks who have increasingly turned against their political leadership.

"I want them out. They can't solve our problems because they are the ones who got us here," said Maria Papadopoulou, a 57-year old pensioner who helps to support both an unemployed daughter and a son at university.

"I don't usually take to the streets but this week we have to rise up and send a message to the government," she said, as mournful protest songs from the era of the 1970s military junta blasted out of loudspeakers set up by strikers occupying the nearby finance ministry.

"These measures are targeting the wrong people, the poor. I hope they won't be passed," she said.

With the official unemployment rate running at about 16 percent and many people already suffering wage cuts of more than 50 percent over the past two years, there has been growing doubt that repeated doses of austerity can solve the crisis.

The strike on Wednesday and Thursday will hit public sector institutions including tax offices, state schools and airports as well as banks and businesses ranging from taxis and clothes shops to suppliers of everyday staples like bakers.

As well as the finance ministry, the justice ministry has also been occupied and even judges will hold indefinite stoppages, only issuing rulings on major cases.

Customs officials who clear fuel refinery deliveries hold a 24-hour strike on Monday and will decide whether to extend their action, potentially hitting petrol supplies.

Garbage piled up on Athens streets for a week due to labor action and municipalities hired private firms to collect it before a "disease bomb" explodes, the health minister said.

A 48-hour strike by seamen, starting on Monday, has brought passenger ferries to a halt, disrupting traffic to the country's dozens of islands.

"Leave the seamen and their pensions alone, there's too few of us left anyway," George Nikolaidis of the seamen's union told a private radio station.

Public transport services in Athens are expected to be operating at least some services, allowing demonstrators to reach the main site of the protest in Syntagma Square, outside parliament.

Revised data on Monday showing Greece's 2010 budget deficit reached 10.6 percent of GDP, above the 10.5 percent previously reported, underlined the scale of the problem.

Greece seeks to avoid 'humiliation' with more cuts

IMF representative Bob Traa speaks during a conference in Athens, Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. Greece's finance minister promised Monday to stick with his plan for the country to post a primary surplus in 2012, hours before he was to hold an emergency teleconference with debt inspectors.

Πηγή: AP

By DEREK GATOPOULOS

Sep. 19 2011

VOULIAGMENI, Greece (AP) -- Greece will try to avoid international "blackmail and humiliation" by speeding up reforms and civil-service staff cuts, the finance minister said Monday, hours before holding an emergency teleconference with creditors.

Greece's international bailout creditors stepped up the pressure at the start of a crucial week in the nearly two-year debt crisis, urging the government to do more to heal its finances. Global markets were skeptical, however, and stocks fell sharply on fears Athens will default on its mountain of debt.

Out of patience with the Socialist government's delays on promised reforms, Greece's partners and creditors are threatening to cut the cash lifeline without which the country would go bankrupt in less than a month.

Athens is struggling with a deepening recession that is eating away at the impact of its austerity measures while also causing unemployment and public anger to grow.

International debt inspectors will talk to finance chief Evangelos Venizelos around 1600 GMT.

"We expect the Greek authorities to explain, in particular, how they intend to close the fiscal gaps in 2011 and 2012 and how they plan to proceed with the structural reforms and privatizations," said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a spokesman for the European Commission.

Initially, Athens said the teleconference would be followed by a ministerial meeting under Prime Minister George Papandreou, who canceled a scheduled trip to the U.S. on Saturday. But government spokesman Elias Mossialos later said in an interview with Real FM radio that the meeting could be moved to another day depending on the course of separate talks between Venizelos and his fellow ministers.

Ahead of the discussions, Venizelos said the government still seeks to generate euro3 billion ($4.1 billion) more revenues next year than it spends, before counting the cost of interest on existing debts.

Greece's economy is expected to contract by about 5.5 percent this year - more than the 3.5 percent earlier assumed - and a further 2.5 percent in 2012, according to new government and IMF estimates.

"The country cannot go forward without the true implementation of major structural reforms - we have delayed them," Venizelos said at a conference south of Athens, adding that achieving the 2012 target was vital.

The government still must live up to its commitment to lower the 2011 budget deficit goal to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product.

When it became obvious earlier this month that there was a more than euro2 billion ($2.75 billion) shortfall in the budget, Greece's creditors threatened to withhold the sixth installment of a euro110 billion rescue package agreed upon in May 2010.

Without the installment, worth euro8 billion, Greece faces defaulting on its debts by mid-October.

A review by officials from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, collectively known as the 'troika,' was suspended earlier this month amid talk of missed targets.

The government hurriedly announced an extra two-year property tax - payable through electricity bills to ensure its collection - to compensate for the shortfall.

But the news was greeted with an outcry from a public already reeling from salary cuts and the recession. State electricity company unionists also threatened to refuse to collect the taxes, and to prevent those who don't pay having their power supply cut off.

Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of Greece's largest trade union, GSEE, said further revenue-boosting levies would be "unfair and imbalanced."

"Our country has recently been undergoing a weekend nightmare: every weekend there is the threat of bankruptcy, whispers of a coming bankruptcy, we hear again and again that everything is about to collapse," he said. "What our creditors are asking of the country is unthinkable. ... A country is its people, and above all it is they that must be saved."

A Communist labor union has called a protest against the tax outside parliament Wednesday.

Venizelos said Sunday night that the backlash led to skepticism among Greece's creditors about whether the government would manage to raise the projected revenue.

While technical staff from the troika have been back in Athens for about a week, trying to figure out whether the recently announced measures will be enough to meet the targets, senior debt inspectors have stayed away until progress is made.

Altafaj Tardio said that, depending on what Venizelos says at the teleconference, the troika "will decide on the resumption of the review mission."

IMF representative Bob Traa urged the government to speed up structural reforms and avoid further emergency taxes, arguing that Athens should give up the "taboo" of firing public servants.

"I have compared Greece to a Mercedes that can go 120 kilometers per hour but is only going 40 because it has so much sludge in the engine," Traa told the conference.

He said Greece needed to speed up its reforms in tax collection and reducing the size of the overmanned public sector.

In an interview, Traa said Greece needed to implement key commitments including plans to slash 150,000 public sector positions by 2015.

"If you can do it (staff cuts) up front, you get over it much more quickly. Whether society can support that is a different issue," Traa told the AP. "Our experience is that ... if you do things gradually that may induce the public getting very tired. Adjustment fatigue is something that happens in every country."

Euro Zone Presses Greece on Cutbacks

Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, right, and Greek central bank chief George Provopoulos at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Wroclaw, Poland, over the weekend.

Πηγή: WSJ
By COSTAS PARIS And ALKMAN GRANITSAS

SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

ATHENS—Greece's government was meeting over the weekend after receiving fresh warnings from its euro-zone partners that future aid will be withheld unless it can produce conclusive steps to bring its unruly budget deficit into line.

Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, right, and Greek central bank chief George Provopoulos at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Wroclaw, Poland, over the weekend.

Prime Minister George Papandreou aborted a planned trip to New York and Washington this week to preside over emergency meetings in Athens to identify new savings that will convince other euro-zone governments that targets can be met.

Senior Greek government officials say these new measures could include massive public-sector job cuts, steps that some government officials fear could trigger a new outburst of public protest and possibly new elections.

Pressure has been turned up on Greece after talks with visiting international inspectors were abruptly suspended earlier this month after it appeared the country would overshoot its budget deficit for this year. And without fresh aid, Greece will run out of money by mid-October.

At the weekend meeting of European finance ministers in Wroclaw, Poland that concluded Saturday, finance officials from other members of the 17-country euro zone warned that Greece may not receive the next €8 billion ($11.04 billion) tranche under its bailout agreement in October, according to senior Greek officials familiar with the matter.

With financial markets worrying of a possible Greek default, inspectors from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund have postponed a decision on whether to extend the next payment until next month.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble revealed a harder line when saying in a German newspaper interview published Sunday that the tranche will not be paid unless Greece sticks to planned deficit reductions.

"This is why the Greeks must produce the numbers that show things are according to plan," Schäuble told the mass-circulation Bild am Sonntag. "The Greeks have to know whether they can shoulder the burden."

Recently the Greek government set a new property tax to close the budget gap. But measuring the impact of the tax will take time. Greece may now have to resort to immediate layoffs in the public sector, new indirect taxes and the closure of dozens of state-linked organizations.

"The euro zone has serious doubts that the property tax will be implemented or yield the desired results. So they have asked for measures with immediate effect," said a senior Greek government official with direct knowledge of the talks.

The next aid tranche was originally expected to be paid out in September, but will now be delayed until October and pending further Greek government measures.

"There is a climate of serious mistrust against Greece," said a second senior Greek government official. "The [next] tranche is up in the air and the situation is very difficult. We are running out of money."

In May 2010, Greece narrowly avoided default with the help of a €110 billion bailout from its euro-zone partners and the IMF. Under the terms of that loan, Greece receives quarterly disbursements of aid to cover its financing needs every three months.

A second bailout agreement worth €109 billion is now being debated in the parliaments of euro zone countries. That package also could hinge on Greece passing muster in coming talks with the EU, ECB and IMF—the so-called "troika." Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is due to hold official talks with the troika of international inspectors via a teleconference call Monday. The troika will return "when Greece has completed the necessary work," said a spokesman for the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.

Greece might have to consider retroactively—and with immediate effect—rescinding all public-sector hiring that took place in 2010 and 2011, said Greek officials familiar with the discussions.

That could affect some 25,000 public-sector workers—and possibly more, said one official. Greece has also been asked to consider raising taxes on tobacco, alcohol and luxury goods, while there is also pressure for Athens to step up plans to close or merge dozens of public-sector bodies.

As yet, no decisions on new measures have been taken, say government officials, adding that Greece is trying to negotiate with its euro zone partners about specifics.

The Greek government argues that some of the hiring done last year and in 2011, was previously agreed to with the country's creditors and that only about 10,000 public-sector workers—those hired above the agreed to limits—should be let go.

"New measures have not been decided, but consultations are ongoing," a Greek official said. "Many scenarios are being examined beyond layoffs."

The growing pressure on Greek households and businesses from increasing austerity measures has lifted political tensions in Athens, with another round of cutbacks likely to shift support away from the government. Leading opposition parties are pushing for elections that could disrupt the reform process.

"The only solution to today's deadlock is elections," Antonis Samaras, head of the conservative opposition New Democracy party said in a widely-reported speech in Thessaloniki.

Merkel bids to quash Greece default talk

Πηγή: FT
By Quentin Peel, Richard Milne, Ralph Atkins
September 13, 2011

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, sought on Tuesday to quash speculation that a Greek default was imminent, insisting that no such event could happen before 2013 even as markets continued to gyrate wildly over eurozone fears.

Mixed messages from members of Germany’s ruling centre-right coalition have fed recent market turmoil. But the chancellor slapped down her political partners for speculating about Greek insolvency, or even an exit by Athens from the euro.

“Everyone should weigh their words very carefully. What we do not need is alarm in financial markets,” she said. “There is already enough uncertainty.”

Her intervention came in a radio interview, 24 hours after Philipp Rösler, her vice-chancellor and economy minister, called for the “orderly insolvency” of Greece to be put on the political agenda once “the necessary instruments are available”. Ms Merkel said such a situation would not arise before 2013, when the eurozone’s permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, is due to come into operation.

The German chancellor’s remarks came as US President Barack Obama warned eurozone leaders in an interview with Spanish journalists that they needed to show markets they were taking responsibility for the debt crisis.

Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, are holding a conference call on Wednesday with George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister.

The purpose would be to assure Mr Papandreou of their support for his “almost superhuman efforts” in reforming the Greek economy and curbing its borrowing, according to one senior official. At the same time they would urge him to deliver measurable progress on Greece’s promises in exchange for the next tranche of its rescue package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, the official added.

Ms Merkel insisted in a radio interview in Berlin that Germany and its eurozone partners were working “with all the means at our disposal” to avoid a Greek default, because such an event could cause contagion throughout the currency area.

Amid the continued uncertainty, markets experienced extreme volatility, with French banks the focus of attention. Société Générale fell 8 per cent in morning trading before rebounding to close up 15 per cent.

“It is very difficult for people to trade in these markets. The market sells off and rallies on spurious rumours,” said Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income at Evolution Securities.

Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler, the Italian and US carmakers, underlined the concerns of business leaders, saying at the Frankfurt motor show: “I think there is a possibility, if the wrong steps are taken, that the system goes off the rails. The problems must be confronted in a serious way.

“It is not pleasant right now. We are not totally calm about this instability and the way in which the European crisis is being managed.”

Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, also called for bolder action from EU governments. In a speech in Cologne, he warned that a decision “would have to be taken soon” on either a “big jump” towards political union or a return to a monetary union based strictly on countries taking responsibility for their own finances.

The middle way of pooling responsibility but retaining national fiscal policies “threatens to collapse under its own inconsistency,” he said.

Greece announces new property tax

Riot police stay next to a fire set by protesters during a demo in Thessaloniki on Saturday Sept. 10, 2011.

Πηγή: AP
By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS

Sep 11 2011

Thousands of angry Greeks, from unionists fed up with some 20 months of austerity to local soccer fans, have called a series of protests in the country's second-largest city, ahead of an annual speech on the economy by Prime Minister George Papandreou.

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) -- Greece's cash-strapped government said Sunday that it would impose a new property tax on top of existing austerity measures in order to combat a revenue shortfall.

The government also decided, in a symbolic move aimed at a public angry at politicians, to dock a month's pay from all elected central and local government officials.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the tax will be levied over the next two years and will cost citizens an average of euro4 ($5.53) per square meter (10.76 sq. feet).

Debt-crippled Greece urgently needs to keep a program of cutbacks on track to secure the continued flow of international rescue loans - worth euro219 billion ($302.6 billion) - protecting it from catastrophic bankruptcy.

Over the past 20 months, the Socialist government has cut pensions and salaries while raising taxes and retirement ages. But its efforts to cut back while reviving a fast-contracting economy amid record unemployment have faltered, sparking new market distress.

Speaking after a three-hour cabinet meeting in Greece's second-largest city of Thessaloniki, Venizelos said the new property levy - in addition to public sector reforms announced last week - will make up for lagging revenues this year by providing more than euro2 billion ($2.76 billion), about 1 percent of annual gross domestic product.

Venizelos added that top Greek officials from the head of state to senior ministry executives will lose one month's pay.

"The levy and the reforms are enough for us to pull through, but that also depends on the response of Greek society," he said. "It will be sufficient for us to achieve our targets."

Venizelos added that, if the measures work, Greece can expect a 2012 budget deficit of euro17.1 billion, about 8 percent of GDP, higher than the previously predicted 7.6 percent.

He warned, however, that the economy was expected to shrink at an even faster pace than expected, contracting 5.3 percent in 2011.

On Saturday, Prime Minister George Papandreou, in a keynote speech on the economy in Thessaloniki, pledged to meet fiscal targets despite the economic slowdown.

As the prime minister spoke, riots raged on the streets outside during an anti-austerity protest by some 25,000 people. Police arrested nine suspected rioters, while nine officers and 10 demonstrators were injured.

Thessaloniki Under Siege

Πηγή: From a Greek Anlge
Sep. 10 2011

The 76th Thessaloniki International Fair (9 – 18 September 2011) will definitely “make history”.

The first demonstration took place already today when members of the Communist led PAME took over the Town Hall just before the Prime Minister’s arrival there. They left peacefully having shouted anti-government slogans during Mr. Papandreou’s arrival.

The Greek Workers’ Confederation has rented a train to take protesters from Athens to Thessaloniki.

Tomorrow’s official opening of the Fair will be marked by the following protests:

The General Confederations of Greek Workers of both the public and private sectors meet at the Venizelos statue at 6 pm.

The PAME, PASY and Popular Alliance meet in Aristotelous Square at 6pm

Several Unions, left wing movements not represented in Parliament and antiexousiastes meet at the Kamara at 5pm.

Fans of the Herakles football club meet at Katsanio at 6pm

The taxi owners meet at the Ivanofio at 6pm

The students meet at the Thessaloniki Polytechnic school at 6 pm

The “enraged movement” has three different meeting points at three pm while the motorcyclists meet at 5 pm.

The Greek government had to make several adjustments to deal with the situation. For the first time in years the Prime Minister will not attend the opening ceremony which will be carried out by Mr. Mihalis Chryssohoidis, Minister of Regional development, competitiveness and shipping at 9.30 am on Saturday morning.

On Sunday, the annual Prime Minister’s press conference will be given from a renovated storehouse in the Thessaloniki port instead of the customary venue of the Velidion Conference Center.

The Greek government has mobilized more than 7.000 special force men to “protect” the peace in the northern capital.

Greece, Israel sign Cooperation Memorandum in security sector

Πηγή: Defencegreece

September 4, 2011

Greek Defence Minister Panos Beglitis and his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak, with whom he met in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon starting his three-day official visit to Israel, signed a Cooperation Memorandum in the security sector between Greece and Israel.

Beglitis said “I come as my country’s Defence Minister to state our political will as a government, as well as the majority of the country’s political forces, for the two countries, the two governments, the two peoples, to work together so that we can further develop and deepen our bilateral relations in all sectors of mutual interest and concern”.

This is the first visit by a Greek Defence minister to Israel and part of a cooperation memorandum agreed last year between Prime Minister George Papandreou and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while it is also taking place at a moment when Israel’s relations with Turkey are worsening, shaping new balance factors in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Greek Defence minister clarified, however, that his visit exclusively concerns bilateral relations with the state of Israel and is not functioning competitively with other countries in the region.

He said he shares concerns on the security of the state of Israel and its legal right that emanates from International Law on self defence, condemning all those terrorist acts from organisations that operate from occupied Palestinian territory against citizens of the State of Israel.

Barak also spoke with positive words of the upgrading of the two countries’ military and defence cooperation, expressing his satisfaction over his Greek counterpart’s visit.

“We are seeing with satisfaction the deepening and widening of relations between us and the Greeks in all sectors, including the security sector, and we desire to see the deepening and widening of this cooperation between the governments, between the Defence Ministries and between our peoples,” Barak said.

Beglitis also met with the chief of general staff of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz., while on Monday he will be received by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while he will also have a private meeting with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. (AMNA)

The junta of experts tells us: ‘Vote how you like, but policies cannot change'

(European Commission)

Πηγή: EUobserver
By Leigh Phillips
17.06.11 @ 10:30

Europe seems to have slipped almost imperceptibly in the space of only a few months into an electoral interzone, a crack in the pavement of democracy.

The formal trappings of clean elections - in which political parties with competing manifestoes contest a ballot free of voter intimidation - are all still there, but someone else has decided in advance what the result will be.

It's not the voters that are intimidated any more: it's the parties that are.

The count of EU member states now tallies to four - Ireland, Portugal, Finland and Greece - where this post-political phenomenon has materialised, but committed democrats across the Union should wonder which country is next.

This has not happened by putsch or coup d'etat, at least not one involving any guns or tanks. There are no colonels or partisans who have captured the garrisons and seized the telephone exchange.

Yet a junta has installed itself nonetheless, a junta of ‘experts', technocrats, those educated in the knowledge of What Needs To Be Done.

These are the experts who, in the words in May of the president of the Eurogroup of states and Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, believe that fiscal policy (that is to say almost all government endeavours involved in spending money that touch most citizens apart from home affairs and foreign policy) is "too important" for voters to have a say over, that would be better be agreed, again, in his words, in "dark, secret debates."

They rule from a moveable, intangible palace: Sometimes the orders seem to come from Brussels, sometimes from Frankfurt or Berlin, sometimes from a Luxembourg castle or maybe just via a dinner-time teleconference over a dodgy line and lukewarm coffee.

But wherever these masters of the European universe happen to be hovering at any one moment, the refrain in effect is the same: ‘Of course, there is no question that you are still allowed to vote however you like. Nevertheless, the policies absolutely cannot change even if the government does.'

And in seeing how easy it is to intimidate democracy, they have have now gone so far, it appears, as to be on the verge of decapitating a government.

A brief history of the ascendency of the experts

The experts first acquired their taste for this way of ensuring policy stability when, confronted with the collapse of the Irish government late last year and opposition parties that then campaigned on platforms calling for a significant alteration to the EU-IMF memorandum that bailed the country, an agreement that imposed draconian austerity and structural adjustment to how the state was run.

After the presumed defeat of Fianna Fail transmogrified instead into an utter rout of the natural governing party of the country by one right-wing party and a slightly leftish one, but in which both had campaigned on a renegotiation of the memorandum that would be tougher on the international bondholders and easier on the regular people who had had nothing to do with the crisis, it was never going to be much of a surprise that the EU-IMF-ECB troika would do their utmost to press the new government to abandon its pledges and continue with the programme.

On the eve of the late-February election, the commission told the electorate that the EU-IMF bail-out could not be renegotiated as it was "between the EU and the Republic of Ireland, it's not an agreement between an institution and a particular government."

"The citizens of Ireland have an important date with democracy tomorrow," economy spokesman Amadeu Altafaj-Tardio told the island. "They'll have an important job to do because they will be applying the programme which was negotiated with the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank and their international partners."

"It's on the basis of a negotiated programme which was approved with the government of Ireland and which in its main outline has to be applied."

But even months ahead of the election, when the EU institutions sensed Dublin was heading toward a vote, economy commissioner Olli Rehn on a whistle-stop tour of Irish decision-makers and their opposite numbers in November made it clear that whatever happens, the squabbling between political parties had to come to an end.

Then after the election, in March, at a summit of the conservative European Peoples Party in Helsinki in March, German Chancellor Angela Merkel bluntly told her newly minted fellow right-wing Irish leader, from the same European party, Enda Kenny, at his first European outing at Taoiseach, that as far as any changes to the bail-out are concerned, No dice. But not only that, but further pain will be required.

"Relief isn't the issue. We have to find solutions that fit the bill," she said, reporters recounted. "Further commitments, further conditionality will be necessary."

Both wings of the government shortly thereafter capitulated on almost every aspect of their manifestoes, barring the totemic corporation tax, although one can hardly argue that Kenny put up much of a fight or even that Fine Gael went into the election expecting they would be able to keep their promises.

Apart from a handful of Irish democrats, on a European level, the democratic implications of this orchestration went largely unnoticed. It was only when Portugal became the focus of the European engineers that ears pricked up.

'Let's not have public dialogue every day'

After months of the country's prime minister, Jose Socrates, refusing to acquiesce to pressure to accept a bail-out for the sake of the wider eurozone, the European Central Bank simply pulled the plug on his economy.

One week in April, Portuguese banks announced they would stop buying government bonds if Lisbon did not seek a rescue. Later that week, the head of the country's banking association, Antonio de Sousa, admitted that he had been given "clear instructions" from the ECB and the Bank of Portugal to cut off the tap.

Without the support of domestic banks, Socrates had no choice but to request an external lifeline. Days before, the opposition Social Democrats withdrew their support for the government over an austerity programme they would later sign up to, forcing the minority government into a snap election.

The very day that Portugal finally capitulated, EU and ECB experts demanded that even though the parties were in the middle of an electoral campaign, all main parties sign an accord endorsing the bail-out memorandum, no matter the result of the vote.

"In the context of a difficult political situation and forthcoming elections, it is essential in Portugal to reach a cross-party agreement among the main parties ensuring that such a programme can be adopted in May," said Rehn.

Cross-party agreement on this day became the watchword. However you vote, the result cannot affect any prior decision arrived upon by the experts.

European stability trumps democracy, as Rehn pointed out: "I trust all political parties of government and opposition realise their major responsibility in overcoming their current difficulties both for the sake of their own citizens and financial stability in Europe."

The "main political parties" now had to negotiate amongst themselves and come to an accord on the austerity package.

Letting the people decide what was best for them was out of the question. "Let's not have a public dialogue every day," Rehn declared.

His ECB colleague, Jean-Claude Trichet, echoed his concerns, saying simply that bail-out negotiations were "certainly not for public" discussion.

All parties must act 'responsibly'

Peripheral states under EU-IMF tutelage are not the only countries that have been subject to the unquestionable requirement that the imperatives of the wider project require a pre-emption of whatever outcome an election may deliver.

When Finnish elections produced an outcome with a new, anti-bail-out party the biggest winner of the night that threatened the Portuguese arrangement, EU economy chief warned all parties that if they did not act "responsibly", then they would cause a European "Lehman Brothers".

"I trust that Finland can support the programme for Portugal for sake of stability in Europe as a whole, including that of Finland. I hope Finland continues to play the constructive role as regards Europe that it has over the past decades and that has served Finland well," he told reporters in the European Parliament.

The great and the good of Finnish society attempted to arm-twist the leader of the eurosceptic True Finns to act in the national and European interest, to no avail. The prime-minister-elect was thus forced to cobble together a parliamentary coalition for one single vote in favour of the bail-out while a more durable coalition of parties to this day has had to wait.

Parliamentary historians have searched in vain to locate a precedent whereby a majority has been formed in a chamber for just one vote, rather than to build a government.

But ultimately, the experts achieved their aim. And, given such a hat-trick of Irish, Portuguese and Finnish success, it was clear that the same ought to be possible in Greece.

Toppling a prime minister

And with the Hellenic Republic, the experts have gone furthest in their efforts to do an end-run around democracy, not merely requiring that Athens achieve a 'cross-party consensus', but that the country give up all remaining vestiges of its sovereignty, and, if necessary to win such national unity, even the office of the prime minister is negotiable.

Greece does not in theory need any cross-party consensus. Unlike in the previous three minority-party-run states, the centre-left Pasok administration has governed with a one-party majority, albeit with a slim five-seat lead.

But such a wafer-thin advantage was too fragile. Too many MPs have rebelled against austerity, and in recent weeks, ministers as well. The left parties that Pasok potentially could govern with are implacably opposed in principle, while the right-wing opposition also rejects the programme. Not because they oppose austerity, but because they think, not indistinct from the Portuguese right, that deeper austerity and tax cuts are the answer.

A robust supermajority in the chamber however would relegate such squabbles to the sidelines and, the experts hope, calm markets, who are not convinced that the government is capable of pushing through its adjustment plans.

So in May, the commission and the eurozone hawks began to demand yet another 'cross-party consensus'.

Altafaj-Tardio again explained why national unity was necessary.

"It is very important for us that the political groups in Greece set their disagreements aside and clearly, unambiguously in public support the objectives and main economic policies for Greece," he told reporters. "I'm not talking about detailed agreement on every figure, but on the political nature of programme."

He said that it has been achieved elsewhere in Europe, so why not here as well?

"That was possible in Ireland and Portugal so [Rehn] does not see why it is not possible in Greece," he told reporters. "We have to ensure there is a stable approach to the whole programme."

Stability, above all things.

And now the experts have a gun to the prime minister's head: Greece will not be given its latest tranche of EU-IMF funding if it does not achieve the European nirvana of cross-party consensus.

But addicted to the ease of being able to force through what they want without heed of democratic norms, they wondered why they need to stop here.

The proposals on the table under which Greece would be offered a second bail-out, pressed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg operating as proxies for Germany, now entail a sell-off of tens of billions - or perhaps, as some have tallied, up to €300 billion - worth of public assets, but crucially under the expert supervision of a privatisation agency independent of the government, staffed by eurozone overseers - or bailiffs as any indebted family would recognise them as.

Why, because, as diplomats have explained, Athens cannot be trusted to do it themselves. Tax collection may even be taken 'off the hands' of the Greek government for the same reasons of trust.

What sovereign government can describe itself as such if this most central of powers is taken away?

The European Commission at least, has said this goes too far. It compromises national sovereignty too much.

But that has not stopped some of the other experts from encouraging the government to fire some of its ministers and replace them with, well, as they describe them, as ‘non-partisan experts' free of any link to political parties. Technocrats of a particular economic persuasion that the opposition can accept.

The government has entertained this idea, and negotiations have proceeded as to how this can be achieved.

But now, to achieve this, holy cross-party consensus, the opposition has demanded still more blood: The prime minister himself must go.

And he, for the sake of Greece, for the sake of the eurozone, at one point offered to fall on his sword for the sake of the national unity demanded by the experts.

Papandreou has reshuffled his cabinet, although without the handful of non-partisan experts replacing some ministers as had been expected.

But the new government may only last a few weeks - long enough to push through a fresh, five-year round of austerity and a €50 billion public-asset firesale, before fresh elections.

For all intents and purposes, the experts are in the process of overthrowing a government.

Experts and colonels

And here's the kicker.

According to a poll conducted by Greece's Kappa Institute two weeks ago, 30 percent of Greek respondents actually want the country to be led by "a group of experts and technocrats."

A plurality of Greeks have now become so disillusioned with sovereignty and democracy that they think at least the experts could deliver something better than the seemingly insurmountable unemployment, corruption and economic collapse they see around them.

The same survey said that less than a quarter believed that a democratically-elected government will be able to overcome the ordeal they are going through.

But if the experts, the technocrats who are sidelining democracy in their subtle way, feel heartened by such polls, they should pause when they read the rest of this census.

A full 22.7 percent want "a strongman" to resolve the ongoing crisis.

"The state and the rule of law are being ridiculed on a daily basis," laments the country's conservative paper of record, Kathimerini, which also has taken to puffing up the "common sense" of the country's main far-right party, the Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos). On 3 April, an opinion piece appeared that argued were events to spin out of control, the choice will be between a humiliating retreat for authorities and "a police state to enforce law and order."

"It seems that if things were to get worse ... then we should brace for tough law enforcement, and the people will be the first to ask for it," the paper wrote.

None of this is abstract. This is not some polling company hypothetical. Those who answered the Kappa pollsters knew exactly what they were wishing for and Kathimerini cannot have forgotten its history either. Strong men did take power in Greece once, until the people overthrew them - as those of us outside the country sometimes forget was actually not so long ago - in 1974.

But Greeks remember it, or perhaps their parents tell them of those times, and too many now imagine it was or must be better than this.

When the experts who give lip service to how much they believe in European democracy treat it so cheaply, they should not be surprised when the real junta, the real colonels, take command.