IMERISIA
 
For debts to the state: Foreclosed home auctions to have starting prices as low as 1/3 of the ‘objective value’
 

The programmes will be posted online to a site which will be created by the General Secretariat of Public Revenue
If the first auction proves fruitless, then the starting bid will be set at 1/3 of the objective value [the objective value of a property is a value calculated by the state for tax and other purposes – today it tends to be higher than the real market value]

Fundamental changes are provided for in the updated Memorandum regarding auctions of real-estate assets of those who have unpaid debts to the state. The Finance Ministry has protested the new demands of the troika.

AVGI
 
Smaller pensions, higher taxes
 
The Medium-term plan for 2015-17 is to be submitted today-tomorrow
 

New measures worth 8 billion euros are to be implemented in order to close the fiscal gap for the next three-year period. The discussion over the funding gap is to begin on the 5th of May, which entails additional funding and new measures.

Dramatic changes to the social security system with pension reductions and an increase in the retirement age immediately following the European elections, as well as further cutbacks to the healthcare system and a major increase in indirect taxation will provide the basis for the coverage of the ‘fiscal gap’ of about 8 billion euros for the three-year period 2015-17 as described by the misnamed ‘road-map to exit the Memorandum and the economic crisis’ (the medium term plan) which the government will submit to parliament.
 
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras announced yesterday that during the Eurogroup of the 5th of May the government will officially raise the issue of restructuring the debt, something which in government-speak means opening the discussion over the coverage of the ‘funding gap’ which only for the period of 2014-15 is calculated at 15 billion euros and, clearly, requires additional revenue (loans) and further measures. 

ETHNOS
 
Law to change over trade unions
 
Provides for increased participation of workers in decisions to strike

The Ministry of labour has completed a comprehensive bill for the modernisation of the framework for the labour union movement. Changes are being brought to the way that trade unions are funded and their fragmentation will be tackled.  The issue of strikes is also on the negotiating table with the General Confederation of Workers (GSEE) and the Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY). A golden mean is being sought in order for decisions to be taken by a wide majority of workers in businesses. 

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON
 
Bound to the neo-Nazis!

  • Further ties revealed between New Democracy and Golden Dawn
  • Golden Dawn MP Pappas points the finger at a former minister
  • The debate over the Baltakos-gate scandal is postponed
  • The anticommunist rhetoric returns
  •  

The government is being shown as vulnerable to extortion from the neo-Nazi party. As is being revealed there were further lines of communication open between government officials and Golden Dawn beyond those maintained by the Prime Minister’s former right-hand man, Takis Baltakos. The Prime Ministerial mansion of Megaro Maximou fears further revelations and is postponing the parliamentary discussion regarding the Baltakos scandal indefinitely, in spite of the request submitted from opposition party SYRIZA in the wake of the scandal.

HRIMATISTIRO

Six international ‘suitors’ for the port of Piraeus

Powerful players in investment groups show interest

Yesterday afternoon in London the deadline expired for the submission of interest for a majority share in the Piraeus Port Authority S.A. which has passed under the control of the Hellenic Asset Development Fund. In the end 6 investor groups declared their interest in obtaining 67% of the share capital of the PPA, thus opening the road for the second phase of the tender process for the privatization of the Port Authority. The investment groups are: APM Terminals, B.B Cartesian Capital Group, LLC, Cosco (Hong Kong) Group Limited, International Container Terminal Services Inc., Ports America Group Holdings and Utilico Emerging Markets Limited.

Evaluators will now assess the submitted applications and will make their recommendations to the board of the HRADF. “The interest of six international groups for the exploitation of the PPA justifies the strategic decision of the government to move forward with the process of privatization and contradicts various ‘Cassandras’ who foresaw the opposite,” Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said.