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Friday, 29 March 2019

Opening of Four Seasons Astir Palace marks return of iconic Vouliagmeni resort on int’l tourism map

By L. Karageorgos [email protected] The renowned Four Seasons brand officially debuts in Greece this week with the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens at Vouliagmeni promontory in coastal southeast Athens,…

Northern Greece business world divided over Tsipras visit, trade mission to North Macedonia

V. Vegiri [email protected] The business community in northern Greece appeared divided this week over an upcoming visit to neighboring and recently renamed North Macedonia by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras,…

NBG group returns to profitability in 2018; reduced NPLs by 11.5 bln€ by 2021

National Bank group reported after-tax profits of 50 million euros in 2018, after posting 158 million euros in losses in 2017. Operational profits reached 71 million euros in Greece, from…

Thursday, 28 March 2019

Tax bureau: 2 out of 3 businesses in Greece in 2017 reported zero profits; losses total 47 bln€

Two out of three companies and other legal entities in Greece declared no profits to the tax bureau for 2017, statistics released recently by the Independent Public Assets Authority revealed.…

Light quake shakes Patras region in SW Greece

A light earthquake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale shook southwest Greece, and was particularly felt in the greater Patras region. The quake was recorded at 11.15 a.m. (09.15 GMT),…

Court rules in favor of PPC in legal battle over arrears owed by Halyvourgiki steel mill

An Athens first instance court on Wednesday rejected a motion by the Halyvourgiki company, which owns and operated Greece’s biggest and oldest steel mill, to overturn an injunction against it…

Titan cement results for 2018

The Titan cement group on Wednesday released 2018 results showing 119 million euros in new investments, including an increase in its share in the Turkish consortium Adocim, leaving the former…

Greek DM refers to ‘concern’ over ‘incident’ in Aegean

Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis on Wednesday referred to “concerns” over the prospect of an “incident” in the Aegean involving the militaries of Greece and Turkey. Speaking from New York…

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Anti-smoking loopholes shot down by high court; new ministerial decision re-issues exclusions

Greece’s Council of State (CoS), the country’s highest administrative court, this week shot down a ministerial decision, dating to 2011, which essentially watered down a strict anti-smoking law that even…

6.9% point-lead for ND over SYRIZA in latest poll

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party fields a 6.9-percentage point lead over ruling SYRIZA in the latest opinion poll released on Wednesday evening. The results were shown on the Athens-based…

OPAP’s board proposes 0.70-euro dividend on back of record GGR performance in Q4 2018

The ATHEX-listed Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics’ S.A. (OPAP) board on Wednesday proposed a dividend of 0.70-euros per share, with the proposal to be forwarded to a general assembly of…

Dragasakis: gov’t not opposed to reward for responsible borrowers; may not make it into current draft bill

A top government minister on Wednesday, during debate at a relevant Parliament committee, expressed qualified support towards legislating a law to benefit responsible borrowers, especially those paying off mortgages in…

Air Canada announces weekly flights between Athens-Toronto, Athens-Montreal over summer 2019

Air Canada will expand its presence in Athens this coming summer with the addition of two weekly flights linking the Greek capital to Toronto and two weekly flights to Montreal,…

Govt Dep. PM Dragasakis: Primary home protection law a ‘compromise’ with creditors; ‘strategic defaulters’ in Greece at 25%

Greek Deputy PM and Economy Minister Yannis Dragasakis referred to this week’s draft amendment unveiling a successor law for a recently expired legal framework to protect primary residences as the…

Reports: Hellenic Sugar Industry to file for bankruptcy protection by Fri.

Debt-plagued Hellenic Sugar Industry S.A. is expected to file for bankruptcy protection (Article 106B and 106d) by Friday, as part of a major restructuring plan proposed by its primary creditor,…

Piraeus Bank’s Handjinicolaou elected as new president of Hellenic Bank Association

Members of the Hellenic Bank Association’s (HBA) board of directors on Tuesday unanimously elected George Handjinicolaou, the president of Athens-based Piraeus Bank, as its new president. New vice-presidents for HBA,…

Athens hands Turkish envoy strict demarche over harassment of helicopter carrying Greek PM

Greece’s foreign ministry on Tuesday presented Turkey’s ambassador to the country with a demarche protesting the harassment of a helicopter carrying Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to an eastern Aegean…

Greek govt tables draft law for successor framework on primary residence protection from creditors

The Tsipras government on Tuesday evening finally tabled a draft bill containing the legal framework for protection of primary residences (from creditors) in the country, a post-bailout “prior action” whose…

ABB selected for power, propulsion systems for China’s first domestically built cruise ship

ABB will supply a comprehensive power and propulsion package for China’s first domestically built cruise ship, in a landmark deal with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS). The Azipod steerable propulsion systems,…

Lavrio-Cesme ferry boat route to begin on June 1

A daily ferry boat route connecting the small port of Lavrio, in the extreme southeast Athens area, with the western Turkish port of Cesme will begin on June 2. The…

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

FinMin, govt sources quickly dismiss prospect of ‘Easter bonus’ for Greek pensioners, civil servants

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos immediately extinguished speculation of yet another “holiday benefit” being doled out by the poll-trailing Tsipras government, speaking hours after a deputy minister referred to an…

Violence outside Corinth courthouse related to fatal shooting of alleged burglar

Violent rioting was reported outside a courthouse in the southern Greece city of Corinth on Tuesday morning, as numerous members of a local Roma (gypsy) settlement attempted to enter the…

Traffic police in Greece crackdown on drivers using cell phones while driving

Hundreds of traffic tickets to drivers in Greece were issued over just a one-week period (March 18-24) for a violation that has increasingly become a scourge on the country’s roadways,…

Annual tax ‘safari’ begins in Greece to meet bailout-mandated primary budget surplus

By G. Kouros [email protected] Greece’s independent public assets authority – itself a memorandum-mandated institution to succeed the previous and often politicized tax bureau – must ramp up collection of this…

No EWG decision on 975-mln€ tranche to Greece due to delays over primary residence law

Monday’s Euroworking Group concluded without a decision to disburse a 975-million-euro tranche to Athens, a more-or-less expected development after Athens failed to unveil a draft of a successor law for…

Monday, 25 March 2019

Banksy website: Exhibition of street artist’s works in Athens ‘fake’

A statement on the website of noted and still anonymous UK-based street artist Banksy said an exhibition of his works in Athens is “fake”, and is being organized without his…

Tsipras: Turk warplanes ‘harassed’ helicopter carrying him to isle; Turkish media report disputes allegation

The Greek prime minister himself on Monday disclosed that Turkish warplanes attempted to harass a helicopter carrying him to a small eastern Aegean border island hours earlier for events to…

Greek Independence Day commemorated with annual military parade through downtown Athens

Greek Independence Day was celebrated around the east Mediterranean country and by ethnic Greek communities around the world on Monday, the 198th anniversary of an uprising against dour Ottoman rule,…

Sunday, 24 March 2019

Erdogan now entertains prospect of reverting Hagia Sophia into mosque

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan veered directly towards the Islamist political sphere on Sunday by leaving open the possibility of the Turkish state restoring the Hagia Sophia as a mosque…

Latest mainstream opinion poll again show double-digit % point lead for ND over SYRIZA

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party fields a 9.2-percentage point lead over ruling SYRIZA in a poll measuring voters’ preferences for the upcoming May European Parliament election. The poll was…