Agora
Posts in Greece
You can call it reform if you like
The coalition is currently involved in a dispute with local authorities over checks on municipal employees’ contracts. Some mayors have resisted attempts by the Administrative Reform Ministry to review the agreements that led to thousands of fixed-term contracts becoming permanent a decade ago.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (387), Greece (498)
The politics of debt dynamics in Greece
As a procession of government and opposition representatives met Greek President Karolos Papoulias in the course of last week, one issue was brought to public attention that could be termed the taboo topic amid all the memorandum exit debates.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Economy (331), Greece (498)
Between the sword and the olive branch: Dilemmas of Greek diplomacy
"In one hand Greece holds an olive branch but in the other it holds the sword of justice," said Greece's new Defence Minister Nikos Dendias as he was sworn in on Monday. The danger is, though, that Greece is bringing a sword to a gunfight. Within hours of Dendias taking over the role, the Turkish Navy corvette Büyükada was sailing in Greek waters, not far from Athens. It was the latest unsubtle reminder from Greece’s neighbour that it will not relent from testing the limits of legality in Aegean.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (387), Greece (498)
The arduous road of privatisation in Greece
This week two developments at the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) made headline news. First, the Greek privatisation agency confirmed its medium-term revenue targets. The HRADF’s chief executive officer, Paschalis Bouchoris, in charge since August of this year, argued that TAIPED (as it is known by its Greek acronym) can reach the revenue target of 9.6 billion euros by the end of 2016.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Politics (387), Economy (331), Greece (498)
How Samaras backed himself and Greece into a corner over bailout exit
The line coming out of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s office at the end of May was that New Democracy did not lose the European Parliament elections despite receiving almost 4 percentage points less than SYRIZA. Together with PASOK, Samaras’s party had a bigger share of the vote than the opposition. The argument emanating from the government camp was that if the leftists couldn’t score a decisive victory at the tail end of the Greek depression, they would never achieve one.
Contributors: Nick Malkoutzis, Yiannis Mouzakis
Categories: Politics (387), Economy (331), Greece (498)