The IMF (International Monetary Fund) said Friday 26 March that it is watching developments in Greece closely, after the euro zone countries agreed to provide Greece with loans, with help from the IMF. But IMF and European Union (EU) rules covering loans are not aligned and the situation may force the IMF to reconsider its position. The euro zone decision does not provide immediate relief to Greece, but can be activated “only once Greece is shut out of debt markets and not until eurozone stability is threatened,” the Telegraph reports, and few of the players seem happy with the EU decision, which creates uncertainty even while it appears on the surface to aid Greece.
Greek airspace and airports as well as ferries are closed Thursday 11 March, with Greek workers from the country’s two largest unions calling a third general strike in the past month, the second in just a week. The unions are fighting the country’s austerity measures, designed to cut the public debt, which is four times higher than that allowed by the European Union.
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Greece, which needs to borrow or refinance €53 billion in 2010, has turned to Germany in particular and the European Union in general to ask for a clear message that they back Athens’s austerity measures. Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas Thursday morning 4 March asked for the support in order to help Greek financial markets, to allow the country to borrow more cheaply. Wednesday, US and EU regulatory officials said they were examining trading in the euro, as a result of the Greek financial crisis impact on the euro currency market.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Reuters
A massive 24-hour strike has virtually immobilized Greece, according to scores of reports. The general strike, the second in two weeks, has closed all public transport and Greek airspace is closed. Tourist areas, including the country’s wealth of archeological sites, are closed. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks are striking over government belt-tightening measures but much of the anger is directed at the rest of the European Union for its reaction to Greece’s economic woes.
Links to other sites: BBC, Business Week
Greece has come to a halt Wednesday 10 February as leftist public sector unions brought their members out onto the streets to protest the austerity measures announced by the Socialist government of George Papandreou. The airports are silent as flights in and out of the country have been cancelled because flight controllers stayed at home. Museums and tourist attractions are locked up, boats and ferries are not running, and the bus terminals are quiet. Border crossings are closed as immigration officials and border guards joined the strike. Hospitals are only dealing with emergencies, and many people in private sector jobs walked to work.
European leaders meet Thursday 11 February to debate how to help the Greeks through their worst economic crisis in decades. The European Union’s Maastricht Treaty limits the help the EU may give individual member countries to exceptional cases, but several options are being considered, reports the Financial Times Deutschland. One may be an EU bond issue, guaranteed by its members, allowing Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal to tap those funds.
Markets are reflecting the belief that a solution to help Greece out of its crisis will be found, although a German government spokesman denied that a decision had been made.
Links to other sites: BBC, FInancial Times Deutschland, The Times, Wall Street Journal
Greece’s new Prime Minister George Papandreou has promised to reduce his government’s budget deficits to below three percent by 2013 in a speech to labour and business leaders. The government deficit has grown to an estimated 12.7 percent this year, and public debt stands at €300 billion, almost 120 percent of GDP. Papandreou announced cuts to the defense budget and to bonuses in the public sector, as well as reductions to social security and general government expenditure.
Market reactions to the speech were muted, with the spread on Greek 10-year government bonds over German bunds rising to 222 basis points, compared to 207 before the speech. Commentators said there was nothing new in the speech. Last week Fitch’s, a credit rating agency, downgraded Greek sovereeign debt to BBB+.
Links to other sites: Pittsburgh Post-Journal, Wall Street Journal
The Greek government Tuesday added new economic problems to the social ones it has faced since rioting over the 6-7 December weekend. Major financial ratings groups downgraded the country’s economy, with Fitch putting it at “negative”, raising concerns about possible insolvency. Over the weekend riot forces confronted large crowds who marched in commemoration of a 15-year-old student killed in December 2008 by police. Ireland faces nervous citizens and investors today with the publication of its new budget, expected to show massive cuts of €4 billion in social services and other sensitive areas.
Links to other sites: DigitalLook/Yahoo, Irish Times, RTE, Ireland, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Close of Olympic Games for doping
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne has stripped Rashid Ramzi from Bahrein of his gold medal. He won the men’s 1,500 metre race in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Italian Davide Rebellin, who placed second in the men’s road cycle event, will have to return his silver medal, the IOC announced. The world governing body for the Olympic Games sanctioned three other athletes who participated in the Beijing Olympics for using the banned hormone CERA, 18 November.
The IOC’s zero-tolerance policy in the use of endurance or performance-enhancing drugs means that it will store blood and urine samples taken during the Games for eight years so that the laboratories can do retroactive testing.
The governing centre-right New Democracy in Greece called a snap election but lost to the opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) of George Papandreou Sunday 4 October. With most of the ballots counted, Pasok had more than 43 percent to ND’s 35 percent. Pasok will have an absolute majority in parliament after five years in opposition. BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Time
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland moved to the top of its qualifying group for the 2010 Fifa World Cup with a 2-0 win over Greece in their match. The Swiss scored two goals in the final 10 minutes after playing much of the game with an extra man as Vyntra was sent off for receiving two yellow cards.
A car bomb outside the Athens stock exchange blew up causing some damage to the building and setting surrounding cars alight, and slightly hurt a woman passer-by early Wednesday 2 September. Another bomb went off near a government building in the northern town of Thessaloniki at around the same time. It caused no injuries. Police speculated that the bombs could be the work of a leftist extremist group, Revolutionary Struggle that carried out bomb attacks against US bank Citibank earlier this year. BBC, Reuters
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland played a solid defensive game to hold World Cup winners Italy to a goal-less draw. Goalkeeper Diego Benaglio was impressive as he pulled off a series of saves. Switzerland is second, behind Greece, in its group for the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010. Only the top team is guaranteed a place in the finals so the next match, against Greece at Basel on September 5th, is vital.
Details: swissinfo
Eight people, including six firefighters in Spain, have died as a result of forest fires in Greece, Italy, France and Spain, with Sardinia left with a desolate landscape and Corsica fighting new blazes. The fires began, for the most part, several days ago and in many cases arson is suspected. Temperatures will remain high, over 40C in many areas and authorities are warning that winds are picking up and could cause the fires to spread. BBC, Le Monde, Fre
Title: Exhibition: Greece, ligth and freedom
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: At the Voltaire Institute and Museum. A pictorial account of Greece in the Ottoman Empire.
Start Date: 01 Jul 2009
End Date: 26 Sep 2009
(GenevaLunch) – The Swiss team have kept their hopes of going to the 2010 World Cup alive with a 0-2 win over Moldovia. Their Group Two rivals, Israel and Greece had a 1-1 draw.
The US Embassy in Athens has confirmed, reports CNN, that a police officer shot an American security guard in the neck. The guard is in critical condition at a city hospital. Both were guarding the residence of US Ambassador Daniel Speckhard.
After four days of protests over the death of a boy shot by police, a general strike has further “crippled” Greece, with airlines “severely affected” and public transport virtually at a stop. The strike, planned before the boy’s death and the protests, was called for increased pay and to object to planned government spending cuts. International Herald Tribune
A “lull” in protests and demonstrations in Greece is about to end, reports Bloomberg, after two days of “disturbances” around the country after police shot and killed a 15-year-old boy.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss police working with Interpol and Greek police located a stolen Greek statue in Basel and Thursday sent it back home to Greece. The statue is a torso, possibly of Apollo, which disappeared from Greece in 1991. It was discovered in the hands of a private owner. The return comes just as Switzerland has put into place a series of measures to fight illegal trafficking in cultural objects. Bern recently signed bilateral agreements in this area with Greece, Italy and Peru.
