EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON

Memorandum also in 2014

The fiscal situation does not confirm Samaras’s predictions

Greece will remain tied to the Memorandum in 2014 despite optimism from the government. There are many significant indicators that the torment will not end this year. The cycle of fiscal and structural reforms and new loans to pay off the old ones has not yet run its course for the country.

The twin gaps – in government finances and bank lending – together with the unlikelihood of  a return to growth as well as the crucial question of the debt’s sustainability allow for anything but an exit from the Memorandum.

 

 

 

TA NEA

Searching for Solidarity

The new year comes with the promise of meaningful support from Germany and France.

What Greece wants:

Antonis Samaras is hoping that European solidarity will help avoid a tug of war with the troika and during Greece’s 6-month EU presidency, and lead to a restructuring of Greece’s enormous debts. This would be a development that would give the country the green light to return to the markets and growth.
 

What Europe promises:

A closer cooperation between European countries in order to resolve the problems confronting the euro is what was promised by Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande in their New Year’s greetings, opening the door for an easing of the pressure on the countries of the European south. 

ELEFTHEROTYPIA

The Sinking Cyclades

Six islands of the Cyclades have sunk by up to 40 centimeters in recent years. The reason: seismic tremors and sea-level rise. This is some of the data resulting from undersea research conducted by Niki Evelpidou, a deputy professor in the Geology Department of the University of Athens.

 

 

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS

Ilias Lalaounis, Greece’s most preeminent jeweler, dies at the age of 93

[Ilias Lalaounis was born in Athens in 1920. Having worked in the family business for many years in 1968 he founded his own company which is today called Greek Gold-Ilias Lalaounis S.A. The company first began opening branches on Greek islands but soon expanded to European capitals including Paris, Zurich, Geneva, London and cities around the world such as New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Marrying themes from Greek antiquity and other historical periods with more modern designs, Ilias Lalaounis created a jewelry brand with global recognition. He was granted a number of prestigious awards during his life, foremost among them being his 1986 induction into the French Academy of Fine Arts, the only jeweler in the world to receive the honour. ]

More here from the Kathimerini newspaper.

KONTRA NEWS

New twist in Christoforakos case will captivate the county:

The Swiss banker who controlled the accounts and laundered the dirty money of top politicians, businessmen and civil servants flees!

Once again it becomes apparent that branches of the civil service and certain (thankfully few) members of the judiciary are willing to become laundromats in order to keep powerful political names, as well as the names of high-ranking businessmen, clean, protecting them over their involvement in the huge defense procurement program bribery scandal.

There is no other way to explain the lax handling of the ‘new Christoforakos’ [Chritoforakos was the head of Siemens in Greece and a key player in the Siemens bribery scandal] who was allowed to flee untroubled because had he been arrested and begun to talk, there would have been a mass exodus from the country of politicians, businessmen, middlemen and other… luminaries who were involved in the massive bribery scandal and looting of public finances that went on for years.