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Es werden Posts vom Januar, 2015 angezeigt.

Greece Wants a Debt Break- What About Its Poorer Neighbors?

Alexis Tsipras’s first official act as Greece's new prime minister was to lay a small bouquet of roses at the site of a World War II memorial. It marks the execution by firing squad of 200 mostly communist activists by Nazi soldiers, Bloomberg reports. The move was highly symbolic, and not only because Tsipras heads a party named Syriza, an acronym for the Coalition of the Radical Left. The 40-year-old prime minister’s rise to power has put him on a collision course with Germany, as he struggles to deliver on his campaign promises to renegotiate his country’s debt and overturn the painful austerity demanded by Greece's creditors. But if Tsipras is to bring home the deal he feels Greece deserves, he will have to do more than face down the Germans. He’ll have to win over skeptical taxpayers in other euro zone countries, reassure European leaders worried about insurgent challenges of their own, and make the case—in a Europe still reeling from the 2008 global financial cris

New Greek Governmentt Arrives in Residence - Finds No Power, No Wifi password, No Soap

Things in Greece are bad. So bad, that the outgoing government of Antonis Samaras decided to not only leave the new inhabitants of the official residence of the Greek prime minister, the Maximos Mansion, without power, and without the WiFi password, but they decided to "borrow" all the soap in the toilet as well. "We sit in the dark. We have no internet, no email, no way to communicate with each other", said an employee of the Office, who has worked for various government for years. "That's never happened before." It shows that Samaras' team have "no manners and no decency." Because of blackouts in the Maximos Mansion the official website of the Greek Prime Minister still shows the image and the resume of Samaras - even though since Monday, the left SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is the head of government in Athens. It was the first time that a government handover has been so bitter, said the office staff to SPIEGEL ONLINE. &

TSIPRAS AND KAMENOS AGREED FOR RADICAL STANCE ON THE NAME

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We will support your economic policies, and you our views on the foreign policy of Greece. This is part of the agreement of the new coalition government in the Greek government, high left party SYRIZA and far-right party Independent Greeks.. "This mainly refers to 'freezing' in foreign policy: SYRIZA, for example, will not continue with a solution to the name issue of FYROM with a compound name by which Independent Greeks disagree. Nor will separate the church from the state, - Kathimerini "citing party sources. As MIA said yesterday, party sources from junior coalition partner in the new Greek government said that SYRIZA will respect the red lines of Anel on national issues, and said that between Tsipras and Kamenos there is " good chemistry and trust." The position of the Independent Greeks on the name of our country is not to accept a name that contains the word Macedonia. During the voting trust the government of Samaras in October last y

Senator Murphy: US's Lack of Interest in the Balkans Made Greece Comfortable Regarding the Name Issue

US Senator Chris Murphy, who recently served as chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on European Affairs, said the Balkan countries have the feeling the US is not withdrawing from the region, and that it was time Washington to dedicate greater attention to the Balkan issues. According to Murphy, one of the matters the American administration should dedicate more attention is the name dispute, which as he said, was understandable that Macedonia is losing its patience, while another issue would be Montenegro's support for its entrance to NATO. On the possible relation of the new Greek government to Macedonia, Murphy assessed that precisely the feeling that the US, NATO and the European Union have lost interest in the region is one of the key factor that Greece is less interested to solve the name row. "This will be an interesting time for Greece, which got a new government, and has the prospect of quantitative easement by the European Central Bank. This is the reaso

Vassilis Fouskas: We Cannot Expect Any Change in the Name Dispute

  At the moment we cannot expect any change in the name row between Macedonia and Greece, because SYRIZA will give priority to the country's debt negotiations, says Vassiliss Fouskas, Professor of International Politics and Economics at the Business School of the University of East London. He believes that Athens' positions will remain the same. "Unfortunately SYRIZA inherited a very bad policy related to this matter. But, if you look at the position of all major leaders of this party you will see that those are anti-nationalistic positions, which means that the priority will be given to the friendship between the Slavic Macedonians and Greek Macedonians, and not whether Alexander the Great was a Macedonian or a Greek and similar nonsense. Therefore, there is hope that the name issue could be solved based on some anti-nationalistic platform, but at the time being, this will remain the way they are," Professor Fouskas told Radio Free Europe.

Griechenlands Wahlsieger Syriza startet Regierungsbildung

Die Linkspartei Syriza will nach ihrem Sieg bei der Parlamentswahl in Griechenland die Regierungsbildung so rasch wie möglich abschließen. Bereits um 9.30 Uhr trifft Parteichef Alexis Tsipras den Vorsitzenden der Partei der Unabhängigen Griechen, Panos Kammenos, zu Koalitionsgesprächen. Es wird in Athen erwartet, dass Staatschef Karolos Papoulias noch am Montag Tsipras offiziell ein Sondierungsmandat für die Bildung einer Regierung erteilt. Das Linksbündnis hätte dann drei Tage lang Zeit. Sollte Tsipras scheitern, geht das Mandat an die zweitstärkste politische Kraft, die Konservativen der Nea Dimokratia (ND), über. Weil Syriza nach Auszählung von 99,5 Prozent der Stimmen eine absolute Mehrheit von 151 der 300 Sitze nur um zwei Mandate verfehlte, sucht die Partei zuerst nach einem Koalitionspartner. Außer den Unabhängigen Griechen signalisierte auch die Partei der politischen Mitte, To Potami (Der Fluss), Bereitschaft. Analysten schließen auch die Bildung einer Minderheitsregier

Wahl in Griechenland: Syriza verfehlt absolute Mehrheit nur knapp

Der erwartete Wahlausgang in Griechenland ist eingetroffen, das Linksbündnis von Alexis Tsipras ist mit 36,4 Prozent stärkste Kraft im Land und wird die neue Regierung stellen. Allerdings verfehlt Syriza mit 149 Sitzen die absolute Mehrheit von 151 Sitzen knapp und muss sich einen Koalitionspartner suchen. Damit blickt der Rest Europas jetzt gespannt auf die Griechen und was die neue Regierung nun hinsichtlich der bisherigen Sparpolitik beschließen wird. Tsipras hatte ja schon im Vorfeld angekündigt, bei einem Wahlsieg die bisherige Sparpolitik sofort beenden zu wollen. Was auf der anderen Seite in zahlreichen Kommentaren dazu führte, in diesem Fall einen Austritt Griechenlands aus der Eurozone zu fordern. Besonders gespannt dürften jetzt auch die restlichen Euro-Krisenstaaten wie Portugal, Irland oder Spanien nach Griechenland blicken. Denn gelingt es den Griechen tatsächlich, die Sparpolitik zu beenden ohne aus der Eurozone zu fliegen, dann dürfte das Vorgehen der Griechen v

Greek Representatives Heat Up Debate over Macedonia in European Parliament

European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) held heated debate on Macedonia after Slovenian MEP Ivo Vajgl presented his draft resolution which again, for the ninth time in a row, calls on the European Council to finally open accession negotiations with Macedonia. Cypriot Greek and Bulgarian nationalist representatives gave their usual angry complaints against the proposal, which was supported by most of the speakers who pointed out the absurdity of the long running Greek blockade of Macedonia's integration, MIA correspondent from Brussels reports. Vajgl's fellow Slovenian Alojz Peterle said that the opening of accession negotiations for Macedonia will also push forward the process to solve the name issue, which Greece has raised to block Macedonia from joining NATO and the European Union. Peterle, who also chairs the Joint Parliament Committee between Macedonia and the European Union, and said that he regrets that the Macedonian Parliament isn't wo

ECHR Condemns Greece for Inhumane Migrant Treatment

Once again, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Greece for the inhumane treatment of 14 illegal migrants originating from Iran, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, Nigeria and China, Greek Reporter informs. During today’s judging of the Mahammad and others versus Greece appeal, the Court of Human Rights condemned Greece for violating the Convention’s Article 3 that prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners, as well as for the right to prompt review of the detention legality violation. Fourteen illegal migrants who entered Greece in the region of Evros without travel documents, applied for asylum in Greece. However, their application was rejected and on February 22, 2012, they submitted formal complaints regarding their treatment and continued detention, pending deportation. A few days later, on March 2, 2012, the Administrative Court of Alexandroupolis president, dismissed the allegations as baseless. As a result, the illegal migrants made an appeal to the Euro

Fitch Lowered Greece’s Credit Outlook to Negative

Fitch rating firm lowered Greece’s credit outlook to negative from stable on Friday, citing increasing political uncertainty but kept the country’s credit rating unchanged at "B", showing highly speculative, the Business Insider reports. "The current period of political uncertainty has increased the risks to Greece's creditworthiness as official financing, and any potential reopening of market access, could be delayed for some months. Early elections to be held on 25 January have made the direction of Greek policymaking more uncertain," a statement issued by Fitch reads.

Greece: Election Bickering Over Name Dispute

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The main opposition party SYRIZA, which is the frontrunner in the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Greece, does not stop blaming New Democracy over the name dispute with Macedonia, reads Telegraf.mk. SYRIZA Candidate for MP, Panayiotis Hadzhisavas accused the New Democracy MP, Lazarus Cavdaridis that has a memory of a goldfish and "unfortunately shows unacceptable political oblivion even in serious matters." “The latest inaccuracy has been the quite accidental inclusion of the name dispute in the elections, by which efforts are being made to shift the responsibility, where else if not to SYRIZA. Instead of blaming SYRIZA, the MP should direct the fire to the political leader Samaras, whose political adventurism led to the current impasse in which related to the name issue of Skopje, i.e., the world to address FYROM like Macedonia and Greece is still requesting a composite name that Samaras as foreign minister rejected”, says Hadzhisavas. Michalis Tremopu

RAINBOW WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS IN GREECE

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Reasons for non-participation of the party of Macedonians in Greece in the upcoming early parliamentary elections are undemocratic environment in this country and the problem of finance. Participation of one party in local or parliamentary elections requires much money, that Rainbow now does not have. Moreover, the democratic capacity of Greece does not allow equal representation before the Greek public of all parties that would participate in any election. Representatives of Rainbow recall on the last elections when the party had serious problems for equal representation of TV programs provided for free presentation of the political parties. However, Rainbow will not participate in the parliamentary elections in Greece. According to a member of the party leadership Pavle Voskopoulos, major political parties in Greece have no democratic capacity to address the rights of minorities in this country.

Macedonians and Turks in Greece: We Will Not Vote For Parties That Do Not Even Mention Minorities

It is time to say that we, the Macedonian community should not vote, as no Greek party even mentions minorities in its program. This has been an appeal of the organizations representing the Macedonian and Turkish minority in Greece to their fellow citizens, calling them not to vote in the upcoming early parliamentary elections, which will be held on January 25th, reads daily Dnevnik. According to the representative of the United Macedonian Diaspora for Greece, Evgenia Naculidu, none of the parties to be on the ballot has committed that, if it takes power or is included in the government coalition, it will continue with activities in favor of minorities. Not a single program has mentioned ratification of the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities, which Greece has signed back in 1997, neither signing nor ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has been mentioned. Still, these two are the basis of th

Zoltan Gyevai: Tsipras Might Break Greek Status Quo on the Macedonian Name Issue

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Zoltan Gyevai, analyst for the Bruxinfo site that follows European Union developments, believes that the likely election victory by far left politician Alexis Tsipras in the early elections in Greece might help break the deadlock over the name issue. Gyevai told MIA correspondent in Brussels that while European Union leaders are deeply worried about the rise of Tsipras and his SYRIZA coalition, it might be a bit of good news for Greek ­ Macedonian relations, given that Tsipras is one of the few Greek politicians who has never taken part in the creation or the worsening of the name issue. "Tsipras seems like a man who wants to break out of status quo situations. At a European level, on the issue whether Greece should remain in the Eurozone, there is much fear of Tsipras, because many believe he will be against maintaining the status quo in this area", Gyevai told MIA.

Greek Nationals Smuggle Migrants into Macedonia

When smuggling immigrants, Greek residents avoid the mediators more and more, i.e. and transport the migrants into the country themselves, daily Dnevnik has learnt. Greece has been facing difficulties with the influx of illegal immigrants from Syria and Afghanistan. Some of the residents of this country, heavily hit by the economic crisis, are making good money with this illegal business, by providing logistical support, transport and shelter for the migrants, services they pay up to several thousands of Euros. So far, large number of the illegal immigrants discovered in Macedonia, have claimed that they had managed to obtain false papers in Greece. The usual practice included Greek criminal groups carrying illegal migrants to the border with Macedonia, where they would continue on their own or hire local criminals to take them to the border with Serbia. "According to the registered cases of migrants smuggling, Macedonia mainly remains a transit point, i.e. the migr

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