ELEFTHEROTYPIA

FAST TRACK and an avalanche of legislation in the name of the troika

Cement everywhere without regulation

  • The Strategic Plans for Athens and Thessaloniki are being eliminated.
  • Whatever is standing in the way of the invasion of the Hellenikon site, the coast and the mountains is being removed.
  • After land use the ‘little PPC’ is next.

After shutting down parliament claiming that there was no… draft legislation, the government has begun now submitting a torrent of bills so that “European funds are not lost and we get the next loan installment!” As such it is fast track legislating, despite the intense disapproval of the opposition for “Investment plans” and the elimination of all of the measures and town planning regulations which would impede the takeover of the site of the former airport at Hellinikon, the seafront and the mountains. A ‘critically urgent’ change to the land use legislation in the entire country so that the “country’s obligations are met on time.” SYRIZA’s parliamentary spokesperson, P. Lafazanis spoke of it being a ‘disgrace’ saying in summary, “Greece is not a colony.”

 

 

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON

Legislation express

New Democracy and PASOK pushing for hurried passage of critical bills

Land use planning – Measures are to be passed by Thursday which will allow commercial buildings to be built anywhere.
Public sector – The new way of selecting managers and department heads will reintroduce party politics into the civil service.
‘Little PPC’ (Public Power Corporation) – The draft law is being debated. Protests from the opposition party and workers who have announced plans for strike action.

The government is submitting draft legislation with the rate of a machine gun in order to meet its deadlines prior to the arrival of the troika. Two draft laws, one crucially urgent and the other urgent, will be voted on by Friday by the First Summer Session, from a totally controlled majority of ND and PASOK MPs as the potential defectors will be replaced immediately by Samaras or Venizelos. [SYRIZA MP] P. Lafazanis: “Parliament is not a subsidiary of the creditors and Merkel.”

KATHIMERINI

Record tourist arrivals and revenue

Foreign visitor arrivals increase by 21.1% over four month period and revenue in the sector by 27.8%.

Data for tourist arrivals indicate that tourism’s contribution to the return of growth to the Greek economy will be even bigger this year. And this because not only will more tourists visit Greece, but that they will also spend more compared to last year. It is indicative that over the past 4 months tourist arrivals increased 21.1% compared to the same period last year. During the same timeframe, tourism revenues – i.e. those that contribute to GDP rose by 27.8%. According to the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), the average per trip spending of tourists in our country will surpass 700 euros, from approximately 660 euros last year.  In total in 2014 the number of foreign tourists is expected to reach 19 million and together with cruise passengers 21.2 million, while revenue will surpass 13.5 billion euros, up from 12.2 billion last year. Cruise-ship passenger numbers are stable this year following the general trend in Europe and the Mediterranean. However company planning for 2015 heralds growth. Last year Greece was in third place in pan-european rankings, behind Italy and Spain, with Greek ports receiving a total of 4.6 million cruise ship passengers. 

NAFTEMPORIKI

Industry numbers reflect continued recession

Research by in.gr shows net losses for 2,720 businesses

Total losses of 1.1 billion euros, sales reduced by 4%

The 2,720 businesses in the manufacturing and industrial sector that published their finances for last year showed net losses of 1.1 billion euros for 2013 – comparable to 2012.
According to www.in.gr which collected and analyzed the financial data, there are also reduced sales, and worse operational results. For yet another year, in 2013 the return of the average industrial companies in profits before tax, interest and depreciation, was reduced. The 2,720 companies with assets of 50.7 billion euros and sales of 45.4 billion euros registered total losses before tax of 754.3 million euros compared to losses before taxes of 738 million euros in 2012 (- 16.3 mln euros or -2%) and net losses after taxes of 1.08 billion euros (-6%).

DIMOKRATIA

Bombshell decision by the Court of Audit

Judges and prosecutors must be reimbursed the reductions in their pensions!

And retroactively from the 1st of August 2012. The ruling creates a new black hole of 150,000,000 euros in the budget, a serious headache for the leadership of the Finance Ministry.