Agora
Posts in Politics
Greece's biggest problem? Society's lack of openness
I started writing my book, “The Thirteenth Labour of Hercules”, a couple of months after the June 2012 elections. In that nailbiting showdown, a bruised and battered electorate narrowly opted for the pro-bailout camp, headed by New Democracy, over the fiery, austerity-bashing rhetoric of SYRIZA. As has been confirmed by numerous key players since then, the formation of a coalition government willing to stay within the confines the Greek programme was not enough for some in Europe, who kept on pushing for Greece to be pushed out of the eurozone for weeks after.
Contributor: Yannis Palaiologos
Categories: Politics (385), Society (140), Greece (496)
Growth, recovery, change and other words lost in the wind
Unable to devalue their currency during this crisis, eurozone policy makers have feverishly cheapened words instead. Over the last few years the value of words like solidarity, reform, competitiveness, adjustment and relief has plummeted.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (385), Economy (329), Greece (496)
Samaras seeks vote of confidence and moment of history
Pop quiz: When was the last time Greece held elections at the end of the government’s four-year term? It was in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, F.W. de Klerk started dismantling apartheid in South Africa, Soviet troops left Afghanistan, Chinese students demonstrated and were shot in Tiananmen Square and dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu was executed in Romania. It is right up there with the world’s historic events.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (385), Greece (496)
Run this way: The recurring pattern of Greek leaders
As the Greek general elections of May (and then June) 2012 approached, every poor unfortunate European politician attempted to grab a moment in the spotlight by pontificating on whether Greece should or should not be in the single currency. While the euro vultures picked at Greece's carcass, thousands of fear-stricken Greeks withdrew their money from local banks.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (385), Economy (329), Greece (496)
The television will not be revolutionised
When Prime Minister Antonis Samaras decided to close down public broadcaster ERT in June 2013, then government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou stood in front of TV cameras and called the service “a characteristic case of a unique lack of transparency... that ends today.”
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (385), Greece (496)