Golden Dawn Party Entitled to Parliament Presidency Representation, But Will They Get It?

The controversial ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party is entitled to representation in Parliament's presidency. According to Article VI of the Constitution the first, second and third Parliament vice-presidents, as well as two deans (deans of the House) and four secretaries, are derived from the party that comes in first in the preceding election (New Democracy).

The fourth vice-president, in that order, as well as one dean and one secretary hail from the second party (SYRIZA). The fifth vice-president and a secretary's position belong to the third party (PASOK), in terms of votes in the general election. Moreover, the sixth vice-president comes from the fourth party (Independent Greeks) and, lastly, the seventh vice-presidency is handed to the fifth party, which in this case would be Chryssi Avghi.

According to Parliament's procedural rules, voting for deputies wishing to serve on the Parliament presidium is held by secret ballot.(AMNA)

OECD : Greece Must Step Up Tougher Anti-Bribery Laws

Greece must step up enforcement of laws that prohibit the bribing of foreign officials, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery said. In one specific case of bribery of a foreign public official, Greek authorities “failed to open a domestic investigation” for almost two years after first discovering it, the OECD group said in a report published on Wednesday. The case raises “grave concerns because of apparent inaction,” it said.

The 69-page report is the latest from an international organization calling on Greece to improve administrative practices as the country’s politicians grapple with the demands of an European Union-led bailout. The so-called troika of representatives from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission is preparing a report on the nation’s recovery plan that may be published next month.

The Paris-based OECD said that tackling foreign bribery is a particular concern in Greece because of the size of its shipping industry. Greece controls about 16 percent of the global maritime freight tonnage, more than any other country, according to OECD estimates.

The shipping industry is “susceptible to bribe solicitations by foreign officials, especially in the form of facilitation payments,” according to the report. (Source - Bloomberg - Ekathimerini - Newspost)

Here is a link for the OECD's CONVENTION ON COMBATING BRIBERY OF FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS -http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/18/38028044.pdf

Turkish Press Charges Athens Of Training Terrorists In Lavrion!

Turkey is at it again. Greece was once again accused of operating terrorist training camps within its boarders. Newspapers all over Turkey on Wednesday showed pictures of a 25-year old man and a 25-year old woman who they said killed a police officer in Gkaziosmanpasa in Costantinopole and who they say were trained in terrorist camps in Greece.

More exactly, the stories in the Turkish press noted that the two criminals who are now in the hands of Turkish authorities belong to illegal leftist organizations and had received their training at a camp in Lavrion (near Athens)!

The news sounds startling but is there any truth to it?

Not a fat chance.

The "terrorist camps" that Turkey is referring to are several detention centers where Kurdish refugees are being detained.

We do not know why Turkey suddenly baptized them as "terrorist training camps", but certainly Ankara has its reasons (as always) when it wishes to fulfill its interests.

Here are some of the newspapers and the stories they featured about this case:

• The Turkish "Star" newspaper published a story this week that said that two "terrorists" (one woman and one man) about 25 years of age each, were responsible for the murder of a policeman by the name of Zekeria Giourtakoul. The crime was apparently recorded in the city of Costantinopole and according to the author the "terrorists", who he said belong to an alleged leftist organization and were trained at camp in Lavrion (near Athens), entered Turkey with fake identities. The article apparently included the photos of the two criminals.
• The popular Turkish Milliyet journal writes "Wanted Everywhere" and reportedly published the photographs with an article that said that these individuals received their training in Greece. The author of this article also said that the said individuals were trained in Lavrion, Greece and that they are part of an illegal leftist organization titled "DHKP-CH".
•  On the other, Turkiye dedicated its first few pages to the story with an article titled "Behold the killers of police". The caption under the photographs of the two criminals writes "it was announced that they have been trained in a terrorist camp in Greece."
•  Similar stories were also featured in the "Radikal", the "Haberturk" the "Yeni Safak" and the "Vatan", while the popular "Zaman" said that the identity of the cop killers was verified.

Sources in Greek
newsbomb
newsnow
inews

Greek Patients In Dramatic Position From Lack Of Medicines - Appeal To UN

In Greece you could grow old waiting for an ambulance, while the nation’s pharmacies have received on 50 percent of government income owed, and they have warned that if they do not receive the rest or a solution is found by next Monday then they will take further action. Meanwhile, the Medical Association of Athens appealed to the UN, emphasizing that ‘thousand of Greek patients are in a dramatic situation, and hospitals are currently unable to meet pharamaceutical care needs because of a default by one of the biggest insurers. Hopefully after the new Health Minister is sworn in a solution will be given to this problem which is literally crippling our society, especially the elderly population. The situation is even more dramatic for tens of thousands of citizens who are battling with serious diseases such as cancer.

Plan To Boost Competitiveness Of Greek Olive Oil

A series of measures aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the olive oil production sector will be finalized within the next two weeks based on a plan processed by EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos.According to the state news agency, the action plan includes measures aimed at promoting the quality of the product, the restructuring of the sector and the protection from third country competition. A discussion on the action plan took place in Luxembourg earlier this week in a meeting between the commissioner and the ministers of agriculture from Greece, Spain, Italy and the rest olive oil producing EU members. (AMNA)

Greek Citizens Brought To Their Knees - Line Up For Free Food (VIDEO REPORT)

A growing crowd of people stand around at Pedion Areos Park in Athens where a makeshift free distribution of agricultural products from Crete takes off. Afterwards the same people beg for the smallest change from passers-by. It is shameful, but Greece has become a society that has literally been brought to its knees, and it simply is untrue to suggest that anything like this amount of blame should be attached to the ordinary citizen.

Names Of New Gov't Cabinet (FINAL)

The new Greek government was sworn in at 7 p.m. (17.00GMT) on Thursday afternoon in the presence of President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, with the exception of the finance ministry's leadership. The first Cabinet meeting wasl held an hour later. This is the list of the new government council according to leaks in the press. 

Economy and Finance Ministry

• Minister: Vassilis Rapanos
• Alternate Minister: Christos Staikouras
• Deputy Minister: Georgios Mavraganis

Administrative Reform and e-Government Ministry

• Minister: Antonis Manitakis
• Deputy Minister: Manoussos Voloudakis

Interior Ministry

• Minister: Evripides Stylianidis
• Alternate Minister: Haralambos Athanassiou

Foreign Ministry

• Minister: Dimitri Avramopoulos
• Deputy Minister: Dimitris Kourkoulas

National Defence Ministry

• Minister:Panos Panagiotopoulos
• Deputy Minister: Panagiotis Karabelas
• Deputy Minister: Dimitris Elefsiniotis

Development and Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Ministry

• Minister: Kostis Hatzidakis
• Alternate Minister: Stavros Kalogiannis
• Deputy Minister: Thanassis Skordas
• Deputy Minister: Panagiotis (Notis) Mitarakis

Environment, Energy & Climate Change Ministry

• Minister: Evangelos Livieratos
• Alternate Minister: Stavros Kalafatis
• Deputy Minister: Assimakis Papageorgiou

Education, Religions, Culture & Sport Ministry

• Minister: Constantine Arvanitopoulos
• Alternate Minister: Costas Tzavaras
• Deputy Minister: Ioannis Ioannidis
• Deputy Minister: Theodoros Papatheodorou

Labor, Social Insurance & Welfare Ministry

• Ministry: Yiannis Vroutsis
• Deputy Minister: Nikos Nikolopoulos

Health Minister

• Minister: Andreas Lykourentzos
• Deputy Minister: Marios Salmas
• Deputy Minister: Fotini Skopouli

Agricultural Development & Foods Ministry

• Minister: Athanassios Tsaftaris
• Alternate Minister: Maximos Harakopoulos

Justice, Transparency & Human Rights Ministry

• Minister: Antonis Roupakiotis
• Deputy Minister: Constantine Karagounis

Public Order & Citizens Protection Ministry

• Minister: Nikos Dendias

Tourism Ministry

• Minister: Olga Kefaloyianni

Shipping & Aegean Ministry

• Minister: Costas Mousouroulis
• Deputy Minister: George Vernikos

Macedonia-Thrace Ministry

• Minister: Theodoros Karaoglou

Minister of State: 

• Dimitrios Stamatis

Cyprus To Accept 5 bln Euro loan from Moscow - But Turkey & West Not Pleased

Caviar and pelmeni line the supermarket shelves in the seaside Cypriot city of Limassol – so pervasively Russian these days, it’s been dubbed “Limassolgrad” by the locals. As a backlash against austerity spreads across Europe, Cypriot officials say they are determined to avoid the kind of severe budget cuts that sank the Greek economy, and guess what? Smiling Uncle Vlad in the Kremlin has been willing to lend big time to help them evade capture by the Terrible Troika of Tosh.

The Russian government last year gave Cyprus a three-year loan of 2.5 billion euros at a below-market rate of 4.5 percent to help it service its debt. Cyprus now needs another 1.8 billion euros by the end of this month to buttress its ailing banking sector. Brussels has said this will be forthcoming, but there is now a question-mark over whether the Cypriots want it. The key, unique element in this situation is that President Demetris Christofias is a communist, and a keen ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

As the only communist leader in the union, there should be some fun and games when Cyprus takes over stewardship of the EU bloc next month. The humor will be soured for the Eurocrats, however, by the reality that a new loan from Moscow should be agreed within the next few days. A report from the Slog says that it could be as high as 5 billion euros and Moscow is the favored option even for non-Communist Cypriots because it would come with fewer conditions than a European Union bailout – and help ensure that Cyprus’s 10% corporate tax rate carries on attracting the estimated 50,000 Russian-speakers in Cyprus.

Three individuals will be wrestling with the consequences of that: the head of the CIA, the head of Mossad, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. Once again, it’s mainly about energy….but for the Russians, it’s about power-politics as well.

The last thing the Americans want is a Cuba slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean theater and  the Israelis feel similarly: they have a pipeline project due to begin with both Greece and Cyprus. Also let us not forget that the Kremlin is very pro-Syria and happy to stir up as much instability in the Middle East as possible.

Interrupted supplies of oil and gas (and gas is rapidly becoming the main game in town) are exactly what Putin needs to keep his prices high, and his bargaining power with the West at full weight.

Erdogan has been rattling his somewhat rusty sabres at Cyprus for over a year now and would dearly love the opportunity created by euro meltdown to invent some spurious reason to annex Cyprus. He never had much chance of doing that at the best of times. With a growing Russian influence on the island, he has none whatsoever.

In short, while the EU’s circular standstill continues even far away in Mexico, the Mediterranean east and south from Cyprus is turning into a Major Powers’ playground. But some of these diplomatic ploys are playing with fire, on the electric railway lines, with a train coming, in the dark. Somebody needs to get a handle on this and soon – otherwise we’ll be dealing with a military mess that could make the demise of the eurozone look like a Sunday afternoon stroll. (Source - The Slog)