IMF Report - Greece Has Made "Significant Progress"

Greece has made "significant progress" in correcting imbalances (existing) before the crisis, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Wednesday. The report, which was drawn up by the IMF's delegation to Greece underlined, among other things, that there were significant delays and deviations and at the same time pointed out that a reform effort is "way back from schedule".

The head of the IMF delegation to Greece, Poul Thomsen, stated that Greece, with the help unprecedented European and international support as well as a stable fiscal adjustment by Greek authorities, was now on the threshold of achieving primary balances - a remarkable achievement - while "external imbalances have also fallen significantly".

The IMF report also emphasized that Greece was now in the sixth year of recession, with GDP down by almost 25 pct, unemployment at around 27 pct and youth unemployment at 57 pct. At the same time it revealed that "the high cost of adjustment in a significant part reflected the delayed, hesitant and fractional implementation of structural reforms," which had clashed, via "repeated political crises," with "vested interests" that affected the investment climate in the country. Also, the report pointed out that reforms needed to move forward rapidly "to unlock growth and create new jobs".

The report also noted that recent macro-economic developments are generally in line with the program's estimates and that fiscal results so far are generally consistent with the programme's targets. It said that delays in setting property taxes, overshooting in health budget spending and weaknesses in Greek tax collecting mechanisms were possible risks to the program.

Finally the report from the IMF said that there has been some progress in tax administration, in strengthening the independence of tax revenue, although debt collection is lagging behing targets despite recent legislative changes.

(Combined Reports)

PASOK MP Flies Cookoos Nest - Does Not Back Gov't Coalition Legislation

Fears that government many Greek MPs are suffering from “fatigue” because they are being pressured into voting for new and unpopular measures was the subject of the day on Wednesday after PASOK’s Theodora Tzakri became the latest coalition lawmaker to refuse to support legislation.

According to press reports, Tzakri voted “present” for an amendment concerning the settling of state debt to the Athens Water and Sewage Company (EYDAP), a move that is seen  as a step toward privatizing the service. The amendment passed with just 51 votes in favor and 44 against in Parliament’s pared-down summer session. Nonetheless, after the ballot, Tzakri accused Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of wanting to "sell" Greece's silver, forgetting all the while that it was her own party -or the George Papandreou government- that signed on to these measures many months ago.

     “The stance I took is natural for progressive forces who want to stop Mr Samaras’s plans to sell off the country,” she noted. 

Tzakri's action and comments sparked a flurry of calls from PASOK’s leadership and surprise, surprise she later released a more moderate statement that more or less took a step back at everything she said earlier in the day.

     “I disagree with the terms under which EYDAP is being privatized and that is why I voted ‘present,’” she said.

Turks Arrested For Speedboat Carrying Illegal Arms & Explosives

Counterterrorism officers apparently arrested 12 Turkish nationals, some of which were of Kurdish origin, after they stopped a boat in the Aegean and discovered that it was illegally transporting weapons and other explosives to Turkey.

The discovery lead to further six arrests in Athens, Thessaloniki and Corinth.

According to reports, the Greek coast guard spotted the 7-meter speedboat near the islands of Oinousses and Chios, (close to the Turkish coast). Following a thorough investigation, authorities found two anti-tank shells, four hand grenades, two handguns, 195 bullets and two explosive devices on the vessel.

Two Greeks, aged 22 and 51, were arrested on the boat along with two Turkish citizens aged 33 and 55. Another two people, a 50-year-old Greek and a 54-year-old Turk, were arrested at the port on Chios after being linked to the vessel.

One report in Kathimerini said that the two Greeks on the boat were not known to authorities but that the two Turks have criminal records. The 22-year-old noted that he had been paid 500 Euros to sail the speedboat to Turkish shores.

Following the arrests, counterterrorism officials were dispatched to the homes and hangouts of Turks and Kurds in the three cities. One of those arrested in Thessaloniki is wanted in Turkey for alleged membership of the extreme left-wing Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).

It should be reiterated that the aforementioned party is reportedely linked to the bombing of the US Embassy in Ankara in February.

Following the arrests Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler apparently identified one of the men arrested as Hasan Biber, (member of DHKP-C) whom is suspected of carrying out a raid on the headquarters of the ruling AK Party in March. Biber, 55, has also been linked to a hand grenade attack at the Justice Ministry in the same month.

Anti-tank missiles similar to the ones used in the raid at the AKP’s offices were found on the speedboat.

(Combined Reports) 

BUSTED - Tsochatzopoulos' Cousin & Friend Pins Him To The Wall

The cousin and close confident of former PASOK defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, Mr. Nikos Zigras,  apparently left the audience speechless on Wednesday when he revealed in court that there were times when he would hand over 100,000, or 150,000 Euros in cash PER WEEK to his cousin. Leaving everyone dumfounded, Zigras delivered a damning witness statement in the appeals court, in which he accused his own cousin (or Akis Tsochatzopoulos) of accepting bribes for the purchase of a Russian missile system and German-made submarines.

Zigras pointed out that this money was being laundered via various offshore companies such as Torcaso, Bluebell and Nobilis that were created specifically for this purpose.

Tsochatzopoulos of course denies all these claims.

Later on, Zigras also said that former Cypriot Interior Minister Dinos Michailidis acted as a middleman in the arms sales. Because of this, Michailidis and his son are expected to be extradited from Cyprus to be questioned in Athens.

Zigras also claimed that the only reason Tsochatzopoulos paid for his cancer treatment at a German hospital was so that he  would not die before he had time to tell him all the bank accounts that he had opened for him.

     “I apologize to you and the Greek people,” Zigras said as he concluded his statement.

Greek Shipping Tycoon Faces New Charges

Remanded in custody last week on charges of embezzlement and money laundering, well known shipping tycoon Victor Restis is expected to face a magistrate in Athens on Thursday in order to respond to questions about a second loan from First Business Bank, said to be worth some 6 million Euros, that allegedly ended up in accounts belonging to the entrepreneur’s companies.

Last week, Restis denied he was the recipient of a 5.8-million Euro loan granted last year by FBB, where he was chairman.

The 45-year-old businessman said that the money ended up in the account of an associate, who, according to reports, is also being sought by authorities for questioning.

Greek Police Forces Crackdown on Roma Settlements Across The Peloponnese

Police officials in the prefectures of Argolida and Arcadia (both located in the Peloponnese) are presently conducting a large-scale operation in Roma settlements as part of a crackdown on crime. Similar operations were launched earlier in the week in the prefecture of Messinia and according to what was reported some 84 people were arrested. Also, 71 people were remanded by police for questioning following operations carried out in Roma camps in Corinth and Argos at the beginning of the week.

According to the same reports, officers checked 943 people and 619 vehicles, while those arrested faced charges for being in possession of cannabis trees, narcotics and illegal weapons. Also many suspects were found stealing electricity and conducting sanitary violations.

FYROManians Shocked With Lithuanian Ambassador Statements

     “The list of your problems is long. You have no progress in many spheres. It is not a mistake that we fail to mention you, you are not part of our priorities. ”

This clear message of the Lithuanian ambassador to FYROM, Renatas Juska hit like a hurricane in the tedious reality in FYROM.

Almost a week ago, the Slovenian President Borut Pahor, who indirectly said that two are needed for a fight  and FYROM must present a proposal that will unarm the EU.

This is the second official with instruction from the European Union who spoke in a language that everyone understands and who did not leave room at all to claim that the problem lies on another side.

In Utrinski Vesnik analysts wondered whether this was an  incidental and independent outburst of the Lithuanian ambassador or does a new tactics from Brussels in relation to the politics of FYROM’s establishment hide behind it.

Ambassador Nano Ruzin said  that there is no dilemma that the representative from Lithuania said this intentionally and in consultation with other EU ambassadors in FYROM.

“It is shameful for us that a country that twenty years ago did not know what democracy is, now to lecture us about it,” Ruzin said, adding that the great deficit in meeting the Copenhagen criteria in their country is becoming obvious.

“This is not an announcement of a new tactic but evolution of the one practiced so far,” he said, adding that this could be expected because the EU requirements are not met.

According to him, if you have brutal politics inside the country, it will come back to you with brutal politics abroad, especially when the public opinion continues to be defocused with theses that only Greece is responsible for the dead-end that their European integration got stuck in. He described the manner of  FYROM’s officials lately as a silent but pathetic revolt, to call Greece – “our southern neighbor” or “our partner in the south”.

Source: Utrinski Vesnik via history-of-macedonia

‘If it were possible for Turkey to sink Cyprus, it would do so’ - MUST READ

(hellenicantidote) - Above is an interview that Andreas Mavroyiannis gave to the BBC’s HARDtalk programme last November. Mavroyiannis was at the time the diplomat in charge of Cyprus’ presidency of the EU and much of the interview concerns these duties and the looming economic crisis that fully unfolded on the island a few months later.

More recently, Mavroyiannis has been appointed by President Nikos Anastasiades as the Greek Cypriots’ chief negotiator for the Cyprus problem and he will now be the person who meets and talks with the UN’s Alexander Downer and the Turkish Cypriot side. The idea of the president of Cyprus not directly representing the Greek Cypriot community in negotiations with the Turkish side goes back to Makarios and, theoretically, is supposed to reflect the fact that the president is not leader of the Greek Cypriot community but head of the Republic of Cyprus. But this isn’t why Anastasiades has made the appointment. Rather, the idea of installing a chief negotiator, agreed by the National Council (on which the leaders of all the political parties represented in parliament sit), was a concession by Anastasiades to DIKO to acquire its support for the presidential elections that Anastasiades won in February. DIKO, which had previously supported Dimitris Christofias, was outraged that in negotiations with the Turks, Christofias was deciding policy and making concessions on the hoof, without proper consultation or agreement.

Concerned that this egotistical and high-handed approach to policy would be repeated by Anastasiades who, it should be remembered, had supported the Annan plan, DIKO managed to get him to agree that the president would take a back seat in settlement talks by appointing a negotiator who would be answerable to the National Council.

Anyway, none of this is particularly important and what I wanted to point out is a couple of truths regarding Turkey’s Cyprus policy that Mavroyiannis mentions in the interview. These are:

1. Turkey’s objective in UN negotiations is to arrive at a settlement that allows it to keep control of Cyprus.

2. Mavroyiannis also says that in its disputation of Cyprus’s continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone, Turkey is revealing that it would like to erase Cyprus from the face of the world:

    ‘For Turkey, if it were possible to sink Cyprus, it would have done so, because, [firstly], we provide an alternative access to the Middle East and they cannot monopolise access. Second, because we can provide an alternative corridor to Europe for oil and gas – Israel, Cyprus, Greece. And [third] because they would like Cyprus not to exist in order to divide the Mediterranean between Turkey and Egypt.’