ETHNOS

An SOS from Kefalonia

  • 600 houses condemned and 1,100 with serious damages
  • Huge problems at ports, with the water supply and at schools
  • The army sets up a camp, the church provides meals


In addition to the repeated earthquakes and difficult weather conditions, the troubled residents of Kefalonia are left facing a storm of unfounded rumours. Thousands of people spent a tenth night in tents, stadiums and cars, fearful of another quake.

 

 

ELEFTHEROTYPIA

Vicious Circle: Wrong policies keep opening holes

20 billion in loans to pay…for the loans!

  • The ECB refuses to postpone maturity date of Greek bonds

  • The German plan to cover for Memorandum failures

  • Strict conditions in the ‘Memorandum without a name”

At least 20 billions in new loans to Greece are being planned by Berlin in order to cover for failures of the Memorandum, the ineffectiveness of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund [the fund responsible for privatizing Greek state-owned assets] and the credit needs of the country. A precondition is the strict implementation of terms already agreed and the signing of a new Memorandum with strict conditions.

The final bill that Greece will have to pay is growing by the day as new ‘holes’ in the budget are constantly being discovered. The latest hit is the outright refusal by Mario Draghi for the ECB to postpone the maturation of Greek bonds held by the bank, something that had been promised as was revealed by his answer to a question by SYRIZA MEP Nikos Chountis. The Greek Finance Ministry is preparing an alternative plan for the avoidance of an ‘accident’.

TA NEA
 

A provocative charter from the new Golden Dawn

A provocative charter for a Golden Dawn substitute has been submitted to the court of Areios Pagos. It effectively amounts to a copy of Golden Dawn’s original charter, however certain ideological positions have been removed which had the potential to create legal problems for the new organisation. The charter for ‘National Dawn’, which will attempt to take part in elections in the event that Golden Dawn is prevented from doing so, lists as the organisation’s founding members a number of well-known Golden Dawn officials, members and their relatives. 

KATHIMERINI
 

Switzerland rejects retroactive taxation

After 4 years of negotiations Switzerland, via Finance Minister Eveline Schlumpf, rejected the request from Athens for the retroactive taxation of Greek deposits in Swiss banks. Ms Schlumpf met with Greek Finance Minister Giannis Stournaras yesterday who stated that Athens will continue to press for an agreement. 

DIMOKRATIA
 

The confession (for the special tribunal) of George Papandreou:

I did whatever Merkel told me to do!

I lied, I couldn’t talk… she was blackmailing me!

Finally! Now will there ever be a inquiry into the Memorandum?