Agora
Posts in Politics
Who’s afraid of Angela Merkel?
Angela Merkel triumphed in the German elections. The 41.5 percent gained by the CDU/CSU put her in the same league as her conservative predecessors, Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl. While most of Europe hoped for a different outcome, Germans opted for Mutti (mummy) Angela. Her simple message was: “You know me.” This was the closest a campaign has come to Adenauer’s “No experiments” in the late 50s, and it succeeded.
Contributor: Christos Katsioulis
Categories: Europe (282), Politics (387)
Nightmare on Democracy Street
Fascists attacking communists: It could have been a story from war-ravaged Greece’s civil conflict in the late 40s. Instead, it is a tale from the streets of Athens, the capital of a long-standing member of the European Union, in 2013. Hopes had been building recently that Greece would soon wake from its economic nightmare but its political and social one may be just about to begin.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (387), Economy (331), Society (142), Greece (498)
Ring of Fire
“I want my life back, now!” was one of the chants heard at a teachers’ rally on Friday, when they protested against job transfers and sackings in the civil service. It’s been clear over the last three years that our daily comforts, as small as they may have been, are slipping away one by one and being replaced by uncertainty or, even worse, dead ends. To be alarmed by this is only human. We shouldn’t forget, though, that for some Greeks the wish of having their life back is not a slogan but the basis for their epitaph.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (387), Society (142), Greece (498)
Is VAT all you've got?
Grabbing a coffee for 20 cents less doesn’t really sound like the start of an economic recovery but who knows, maybe after this week’s decision to cut value added tax at restaurants and cafes, Greece will soon be measuring out its success with coffee spoons.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (387), Economy (331), Greece (498)
Coalition unwound
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras marked one year in the job on Friday by becoming the leader of what was effectively Greece’s fifth government in four years after Democratic Left’s decision to drop out of the coalition left his New Democracy party and PASOK as the two that remained from a previous partnership of three. The dire economic situation, the pressure of its lenders and the historical absence of consensus politics in Greece meant it was always going to be a challenging job. Samaras enters the second year of his premiership on an equally shaky footing.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (387), Greece (498)