Greece Archives - Page 5 of 20

20Oct

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Greece

Unfolding Catastrophe: Mental Health Crisis of Refugees on the Greek Islands of Samos and Lesvos

NOVANEWS By Chris Jones Samos Chronicles “The war and violence they fled from, and harsh conditions and violence during the journey stand out as traumatic experiences for most of our patients on the islands. Yet it is their current living conditions in Greece – the uncertainty about their futures, the threat of deportation, and the lack of access to appropriate healthcare that they emphasise during consultations as negatively affecting their mental well-being.” p.9 Protracted asylum procedures putting people at risk of violence, detention and deportation: For over a year, our psychologists on Samos and Lesvos have witnessed how a lack of clarity, repeated delays and perceived unfairness in the asylum procedure on the islands are a major source of distress for our patients. More r...

8Oct

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Greece

Eurozone and Greece Are Preparing for Bailout Exit

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini Commission Puts on Rose Coloured Glasses to the European Semester EU Matures to the Need to Deal with Non-Performing Loans at the European Level From Sintra to September - ECB Prepares for a Possible Change in Monetary Policy A very important piece of news has passed almost unnoticed last week among crucial for the EU issues, like the situation with the rule of law in Poland, the election in Germany and what ruling coalition will be formed at a time when the eurozone is ready to make a giant leap forward in its integration, the going nowhere Brexit negotiations and the accelerated legislative activity of the European Commission. But the most important news last week was that Greece has exited the excessive deficit procedure, thus getting another step closer to ...

18Sep

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Greece

Update on Greek Debt Crises – Why Syriza Continues to Lose

NOVANEWS By Jack Rasmus Jack Rasmus This past August marked the second anniversary of the Greek debt crisis and the third major piling on of debt on Greece in August 2015 by the Eurozone ‘Troika’ of European Commission, European Central Bank, and the IMF. That 2015 third debt deal added $86 billion to the previous $230 billion imposed on Greece—all to be paid by various austerity measures squeezing Greek workers, taxpayers, retirees, and small businesses demanded by the Troika and their northern Euro bankers sitting behind it. Studies by German academic institutions showed that more than 95% of the debt repayments by Greece to the Troika have ended up in Euro bankers’ hands. But the third debt deal of August 2015, which extends another year to August 2018, was not the end. ...

12Apr

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Greece

Could Greece Really Turn the Page?

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini European Semester Shows EU in the Eye of the Storm Margarida Marques: Respecting the Rules Will Save the EU The Crisis Is Over. Prepare the Ground for the Next One Will Greece manage to complete its bailout programme this time? This is the question that is hovering in the air after on April 7 the Eurogroup agreed in principle on the fiscal and reformist path of Greece after the programme expires next year. Since February, the Greek news from the meetings of finance ministers of the euro area have been creating expectations that this time there might be a breakthrough, after last autumn's stall of the implementation of the third rescue programme, agreed on in August 2015 to an amount of 86 billion euro. Details on what was agreed on last Friday are scarce as t...

11Mar

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Greece

Open Letter to the People of Greece: You Are Being Slaughtered before the World’s Eyes

NOVANEWS By Peter Koenig Dearest and Esteemed People of Greece, You are being slaughtered right in front of the world’s eyes and nobody says beep. Least the Greek elite. Your Government. A few, but a few too many, allow the slaughter because it doesn’t concern them. They are blinded by the false glamour of the euro and of belonging to the ‘elite class’ of the noble Europeans (sic!). They apparently live well enough, including the caviar socialists of Syriza. They let their country bleed to death literally, morally, socially and psychologically. Medical care is no longer available or privatized and unaffordable. Pensions were reduced five times. They were never more than a survival kit. By now they have been slashed in some cases by over 50%. Hordes of people live on food hand...

8Jan

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Greece

Power to the People: Ten Proposals to Avoid a Repetition of Greece’s Capitulation to The Financial Elites

NOVANEWS By Eric Toussaint I propose ten measures for the people’s seizure of power, ascertaining that the experience of the Greek capitulation of 2015 is not revisited. |1| The first proposal: a left-wing government must disobey the European Commission (EC) in a very transparent manner with prior announcements. The party, or the coalition of parties which claims to govern, and of course I take the example of Spain, should refuse to obey the austerity measures from the outset, and pledge to refuse the balanced budget. They should announce: “We will not yield to the European treaties’ diktat to accept a balanced budget” because we want to increase public expenditure for fighting anti-social and austerity measures and embarking on the ecological transition. Therefore, the...

16Oct

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Greece

The Destructive Course Of Greece and the Global Economic Crisis

NOVANEWS The Destructive Course Of Greece and the Global Economic Crisis. A New Form of Colonial Domination By Mars Lambropoulos Defend Democracy Press The position I will be defending in this short intervention is that the subjection of Greece to memoranda and its consequent social and economic destruction is not simply a product of the global economic crisis that was initiated in the United States in 2007-2008, with the explosion of subprime loans and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and then exported from America to Europe. In fact, hidden behind all this was a set of machinations undertaken, on the occasion of the crisis, by the European Directorate, which is mainly controlled by German interests. At that moment, that is in the late 2008 and early 2009, Greece was run by the c...

14Oct

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Greece

Long Greek Crisis Is Causing Severe Jet-lag to the Eurogroup

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini Populists vs. Lawmakers in the Debate on Spain and Portugal Is ECB Getting Political Too? Commission's Politicalness Is Already Causing Anxiety in the ECB In just a single month a great change happened in the assessment of European institutions of the implementation of the Greek programme. This change does have a price and it is a mismatch in perceptions. Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem (The Netherlands, Socialists an Democrats) admitted Monday evening that everyone is feeling jet-lagged after their return from the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, but got contradicted by Pierre Moscovici, commissioner for economic and financial affairs (France, Socialists and Democrats), who stated that the European Commission never ha...

16Aug

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Greece

Criminalizing Solidarity: Syriza’s War on the Movements

NOVANEWS By Theodoros Karyotis Solidarity with refugees in Greece is now criminalized, declared contrary to the interests of the state. (Photo: Julian Buijzen / Flickr) In the early morning of July 27, refugee families and supporters who were sleeping at Thessaloniki's three occupied refugee shelters -- Nikis, Orfanotrofeio and Hurriya -- were woken up by police in riot gear. In a well-orchestrated police operation, hundreds of people were detained. Most occupants with refugee status were released, while some were transported to military-run refugee reception centers. The rest of the occupants, 74 people of more than a dozen different nationalities, were taken into police custody. Immediately after Orfanotrofeio was evacuated, bulldozers marched in and demolished the building, an aba...

5Jul

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Greece

Greece: Revolt Betrayed

NOVANEWS By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos Defend Democracy Press “I call you to vote as sovereign and proud, just as the history of Greeks commands. I am engaging myself to respect the democratic choice of the people, whatever it will be.” —Alexis Tsipras on TV, announcing the referendum, 26.6.2015 A year ago more than 62% of the Greek people voted in the referendum held on the 5th of July of 2015 to reject the policies imposed on Greece since 2010 by an alliance of world finance and the German government, aided and abetted by other European elites and implemented through European governments, the EU and the IMF. Voting the way they did, Greeks gave their government an unambiguous mandate to resist, surprising friends and foes alike, especially through the large percentage of th...