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Friday, 24 March 2017

The United States’ Unwavering Commitment to our EU Partnership

Βy Geoffrey R. Pyatt United States Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic On this 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the European Union is as important as ever – not…

Thursday, 23 March 2017

IMF spox: Fund may seek ‘assurances’ from Greek opposition that new austerity measures are implemented

The IMF spokesman on Thursday said the Fund “will seek assurances” from Greece’s main opposition party New Democracy, assuming the former remains in the bailout. Speaking at a regular press…

Reuters: Tsipras govt considering objection to signing EU declaration in bid to deflect creditors’ demands

Reuters reported on Thursday that the leftist Tsipras government is sticking by its objection towards putting the Greece’s signature on a joint declaration by the EU27 to mark the Union’s…

Capital Ship Management Corp. achieves MRV assessment from LRQA

Capital Ship Management Corp. on Thursday announced that the company’s completed its first accredited assessment this month of a MRV monitoring plan for the vessel M/T Alkiviadis. In a press…

Trade group warns that up to 18.7K Greek SMEs face closure in first half of 2017

Reduced liquidity, weak investment and an asphyxiated credit system are the primary obstacles faced by Greece’s embattled small-to-medium enterprises, according to the regular six-month survey by Hellenic Confederation of Professionals,…

Thomsen, ECB’s Coeuré join ongoing negotiations between creditors, Greek side in Brussels

By N. Bellos Top IMF official Poul Thomsen and ECB executive board member Benoit Coeuré have reportedly joined ongoing negotiations in Brussels between creditors’ representatives and handful of top Greek…

Crete, Santorini and Rhodes on TripAdvisor’s list of top European destinations in 2017

Three Greek islands, all internationally known tourism destinations, are included in TripAdvisor’s top European choices for 2017, based on users’ preferences. The trio include world-class Santorini, which is usually found…

Aegean announces higher turnover, lower after-tax profits for 2016

Aegean Airlines on Thursday announced consolidated turnover exceeding one billion euros in 2016, a first for the Greece-based carrier, and a 4-percent increase from 2015. Nevertheless, after-tax profits dropped 53…

IRI: Greek super market sector turnover expected to continue slide in 2017

By D. Alexaki [email protected] Turnover in the important Greek super market sector is forecast to continue a downward trend in 2017, according to the Greek subsidiary of the IRI market…

ELA-ceiling for Greek banks increased by 0.4 bln€

The Bank of Greece (BoG) on Thursday announced that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) governing council did not object to an ELA ceiling for Greek banks of 46.6 billion euros,…

Piraeus jumps to 38th place internationally in 2016 in terms of container traffic, up five places

By A. Tsimplakis [email protected] Asian ports again dominated the top 10 spots worldwide in terms of container terminal traffic for 2016, occupying nine out of the first 10 places. Nevertheless,…

Study: Tax evasion in Greece between 11 to 16 bln€ annually

A reduction in currently punishing tax rates, cultivating a tax- paying consciousness and a better exploitation of state-of-the-art digital tools, especially an almost universal use of electronic transactions, are the…

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Fraport Greece unveils upgrades, development plan for 14 regional airports it will manage

The German-Greek consortium set to assume the management and operation of 14 regional airports around Greece, which include the best-known tourism destinations iin the country, this week unveiled its plan…

German FM Gabriel in Athens for talks on Wed.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday will receive German and Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel at his Maximos Mansion office in the early afternoon. The German minister will…

Papastratos Philip Morris Int’l announces 300-mln€ investment in Athens-area facility

By L. Karamara   http://[email protected] Papastratos Philip Morris International this week announced a 300-million-euro investment for new facilities in Greece, with the initial impact to include the creation of up…

Early – morning fire at historic Ottoman-era mosque in extreme NE Greece

A fire erupted in the early morning hours of Wednesday at a historic Ottoman-era mosque in the extreme northeastern border city of Didymoteicho, with the blaze later put out by…

Figures show each working person in Greece supporting three non-working people

By T. Tsiros [email protected]   The latest detailed figures issued by Greece’s independent statistical bureau (El.Stat) show that 9.2 million people in the country are over the age of 15,…

Greek main opposition party flatly rejects vote for any new austerity, fiscal measures

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party reacted angrily to the latest urgings, as uttered by both the French and German finance ministers, that the party back a looming agreement over…

Tuesday, 21 March 2017

Fifth annual ‘Navarino Challenge’ this Oct.

The fifth annual “Navarino Challenge” will again take place this October in the extreme southwestern prefecture of Messinia, with distance races, TaeKwonDo and boccia competitions, among others, scheduled. The Navarino…

Reports: Athens wants reference to ‘social model’ in EU joint statement; bid to deflect IMF

The embattled leftist government in Athens on Tuesday essentially confirmed same-day reports claiming that the Greek side is demanding a reference to “Europe’s Social Model” in a joint statement by…

Sapin: IMF wants Greek opposition to also commit to fiscal targets, measures after 2019

By N. Bellos The IMF wants Greece’s political opposition to also approve any new agreement for fiscal measures and targets after 2019, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin maintained on Tuesday,…

IMF emphasizes broader tax base in Greece to ease punishing tax rates

By G. Kouros [email protected] The IMF’s standing demand to slash the tax-free annual income threshold and abolish tax breaks in Greece — with the former currently at roughly 8,600 euros…

Bavarian state minister for finance sees ‘Grexit’

Bavarian state minister for finance and CSU cadre Markus Söder was quoted by Handelsblatt on Tuesday as predicting Greece’s eventual exit from the Euro zone, while calling on the EU…

Govt forecasts record year for tourism arrivals; sector officials predict lower figure

By. A. Tsimplakis [email protected] The leadership of the country’s largest tourism sector, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), cited three conditions for a record-breaking year this season in the all-important tourism…

All defendants acquitted in decade-long Vatopedi case

“Much ado about nothing” was the final result of a nearly decade-old political and judicial furor surrounding a controversial land swap between the Greek state and a Mount Athos monastery,…

3 Greeks in Forbes billionaire list for 2017

Three Greeks were included in this year’s Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, and specifically Philip Niarchos, Aristotelis Mystakidis and Spyros Latsis, with the first and third being the scions…

Monday, 20 March 2017

Higher taxes on tobacco products sink overall tax revenue from sector

Effects of a “tax tsumani” on tobacco products reportedly had the opposite result than the one desired, with the first figures of the year showing a dramatic decrease in related…

More suspicious parcels intercepted by Greek authorities

Another eight suspicious parcels, all with recipients in other European countries, were detected by authorities and removed from a mail sorting center north of Athens this week. Greek Police are…

Govt source: Negotiations to continue in Brussels with creditors

Negotiations with creditors will continue until Thursday evening, a government source told «N» on Monday, hours after yet another Eurogroup meeting – one linked with the latest “unofficial deadline” for…

ND builds 14.6 percentage point lead over ruling leftists in latest poll

Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party continues to field a double-digit percentage point lead over ruling SYRIZA party in the latest opinion poll in Greece. The opinion poll was conducted…