News archive of August 2017

Greece failed to beat Estonia at home, conceding a goalless draw on Thursday in Piraeus for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, but the triumph of Cyprus over Bosnia in Nicosia (3-2) has stretched the advantage the Greeks have over the Bosnians to two points, with three games left to play in the group.

The European Parliament's Employment Committee has accepted a proposal from Greece's Alternate Labor Minister Rania Antonopoulou for the exemption of expenditure for combating unemployment from calculations of state deficits and debts according to the Stability Pact.

The decline of residential property prices continued in the second quarter of the year, according to figures released on Thursday by the Bank of Greece, at a time when many were hoping the market would bottom out and start to stabilize.

The main idea behind new rules for product trading and service supply published on Thursday in the Government Gazette that will apply as of September 20 appears to be providing consumers with more information, while fines for those who break the law are seen dropping by up to 60 percent.

Retail sales may be on the rise, contributing to an increase in gross domestic product, as Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) second-quarter figures are expected to confirm on Friday, but analysts warn that Greeks are eating into their savings for this spending - which is not a good omen at all for the return of growth on a solid basis.

Most Greek stocks gave up ground on Thursday, but the benchmark edged higher again on gains by power-packing blue chips including ADMIE, Mytilineos and Alpha Bank.

Greece remains at the top of the list of the countries with the highest unemployment rate in the EU28, which has an average of 9.1%, the lowest since February 2009. According to data for July 2017 released by Eurostat, unemployment fell both at an individual and collective level.

Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his counterpart in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikola Dimitrov, told reporters Thursday at a joint press conference that they are laying the groundwork of the process that will allow negotiations to resolve the decades-old dispute over the tiny Balkan country's name.

“In the situation that Greece is today, it is my conscious choice to tell the truth. The citizens have been deceived many times and can not stand any other lies”, President of New Democracy (ND) Kyriakos Mitsotakis underlind during his meeting, Thursday with postgraduate students from Stanford University who visited the party’s headquarters. Mr. Mistotakis said

The controversy surrounding the government's refusal to attend a conference last week in the Baltic state of Estonia about the crimes committed by communist regimes spilled over into Parliament Thursday with acrimonious exchanges between lawmakers which, at times, got personal.