Posted by seumasach on June 1, 2012
31st May, 2012
Lagarde and the Greeks … a comedy, not a tragedy! Christine Lagerde, head of the IMF, recently told journalists that she had no sympathy for the difficulties encoutered by the Greek people and that they should pay their taxes rather than complaining.
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Posted by seumasach on May 26, 2012
26th May, 2012
European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Saturday an extension of the time frame for policy changes and budget cuts in Greece is «conceivable,» according to an interview with Tagesspiegel.
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Posted by seumasach on May 23, 2012
23rd May, 2012
Greece’s caretaker Prime Minister Panayiotis Pikrammenos has met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso ahead of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, during which they are expected to discuss growth, the fiscal pact and the euro crisis.
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Posted by seumasach on May 22, 2012
19th May, 2012
In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell.
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Posted by seumasach on May 18, 2012
Nicos Konstandaras
19th May, 2012
Our politicians play at politics. They abdicated the difficult role cast upon them by the May 6 ballot and, in going for new elections, they have left the economy and society adrift. The crisis has changed the relationship between our political parties but not their behavior. Politics involves management of today and creating strategy for tomorrow. But, for decades, politics in Greece has been in regression, between unfinished business and utopia.
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Posted by seumasach on May 16, 2012
Alexis Papachelas
16th May, 2012
I’ve always envied older colleagues for having had firsthand experience of historic events that later generations could only read about. I grew up thinking that we would not get to live through similar events because, as a child of my generation, I had the conviction that some fundamental issues had been resolved for good and that tomorrow would always be a better day. It turns out I was wrong.
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Posted by seumasach on May 13, 2012
Inconsistencies in the public comments made by SYRIZA officials over the past few days led to Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis issuing a statement on Saturday asking his the leftist coalition to clarify its position on a number of issues.
Chief among these was whether the party advocates a unilateral rejection by a government it will participate in of the terms of the EU-IMF loan agreement. Kouvelis also asked SYRIZA to explain what it would do following new elections that are unlikely to give any party a clear majority. He also called for SYRIZA to respond to written opinions from members of 10 parties that are part of its coalition, which advocate that Greece returns to the drachma.
As a coalition of disparate groups it is unlikely SYRIZA can arrive at a coherent policy position even if any of its components were able to do so. It is essentially a rejectionist front formed from those ideological currents which emerged from the World Social Forum and the Occupy Movement superimposed on older Trotskyist, Eurocommunist and workerist currents. It is unlikely that SYRIZA could cope with or survive political power falling into its lap and it is as well that the Greek electorate as made aware of this before giving them more votes. The Democratic Left is trying to force SYRIZA to clarify its positions but I would be very surprised if they get a satisfactory response.
13th May, 2012
President Karolos Papoulias is due to meet the heads of Greece’s three leading parties at noon on Sunday in a final attempt to secure a deal for the formation of a government, as Athens comes under increasing pressure about its future in the eurozone.
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Posted by seumasach on May 12, 2012
12th May, 2012
President Karolos Papoulias discerned optimistic elements in the account that PASOK President Evangelos Venizelos rendered to him upon returning the exploratory mandate for the formation of a coalition government on Saturday afternoon.
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Posted by seumasach on May 10, 2012
11th May, 2012
PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos will hold talks on Friday with his counterparts at New Democracy and the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) with the aim of agreeing on a framework for a unity government after Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis on Thursday backed the formation of an ecumenical administration.
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Posted by seumasach on May 9, 2012
Babis Papadimitriou
9th May, 2012
If the electorate wants a government but without the memorandum, then we’ll probably have to head back to the polls, and the parties might as well give the people a chance to explain what exactly they were looking for when they cast their ballots.
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Posted by seumasach on May 9, 2012
Protesilaos Stavrou
7th May, 2012
The national elections in Greece on May 6, 2012 brought seven parties in the parliament. The first feeling one gets is that of uncertainty about the future. Five out of the seven parties have a clear anti-austerity, anti-memorandum agenda, while ND, the party with the most seats claims that it wants to “renegotiate” the terms of the bailout programme. Given that no single party has secured a majority of seats in the parliament, a coalition of forces is necessary to form a government. However with the diversity of views now represented in the new parliament, such a coalition will be hard to find, while there can be no safe predictions about a possible government agenda for the time being.
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