Latest News from Greece
45,000 Bulgarians Successfully Submit Applications For Voting Abroad
The precise number of applications submitted by Bulgarians for voting abroad in the 26 March snap parliamentary elections is 45,071, announced from BNR.
More than 19,000 of them have been submitted in Turkey.
OECD records 'reform fatigue' over the last couple of years
Structural reforms have slowed down in Greece since 2015, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This finding is accompanied by a broad range of recommendations, from the liberalization of networks to the application of policies to assist the poorest people.
EU migration chief threatens consequences for not hosting refugees
The European Union's top migration official on Tuesday warned member states against failing to host refugees and help alleviate the pressure on countries like Greece and Italy, which have borne the brunt of arrivals across the Mediterranean.
Schaeuble says opposition support needed for measures
As Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos struggled on with tough bailout negotiations in Brussels on Tuesday, comments by his European counterparts about the possible need for the opposition in Greece to back economic measures after 2019, when the next Greek general elections are scheduled to take place, spurred political upheaval in Athens.
ND declares itself vindicated by Vatopedi ruling
An Athens criminal court on Tuesday acquitted all 14 defendants charged in connection with a contentious property swap between the Vatopedi Monastery in the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece and the Greek state.
Greek-Israeli defense cooperation pact renewed
Greece and Israel have renewed their military cooperation pact for 2017, which will include an expansion of joint exercises and actions.
Greece ranks 87th out of 155 countries in UN Happiness report
Greece has been ranked 87th out of 155 countries listed in the United Nations annual World Happiness Report.
According to the report, which factors in income, life expectancy, social support, and levels of generosity, freedom and trust, Greece, the Central African Republic and Venezuela experienced the biggest happiness drops in the period stretching from 2014 to 2016.
Police seize illegal fireworks in Attica raid
Police said on Tuesday they had confiscated more than 74,000 firecrackers and other fireworks following a raid on a large textiles manufacturer in Attica.
Officers, who carried out the raid following a tip-off from police in Patra, arrested the suspected owner of the business.
School cleaners to strike over low pay
School cleaners in Greece are to walk off the job on Friday, March 31, to protest the low salaries they receive and lack of job security, the Federation of Private Sector Employees (OIYE) announced on Tuesday.
According to OIYE, school teachers receive no more than 300 euros per month irrespective of the hours they work.
Bavarian finance minister sees Grexit likely
Greece will not last in the eurozone in the long run and officials working on a review of its bailout package should prepare for such a possibility, a senior member of the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said.
Greece has lost a quarter of its national output since it first sought financial aid in 2010.
Greece threatens to spoil EU's Rome celebration over reform review
Greece is withholding its support for the Rome declaration, in which 27 European Union nations on Saturday are to chart the EU's course after Britain leaves, in protest at reforms its lenders are seeking from it in exchange for new loans, officials said.
Athens's lenders are the other eurozone governments, who are also trying to get the International Monetary Fund on board.
Schauble threatens Greece: No cash without IMF
Athens is feeling the pressure rising after the EuroGroup meeting failed to produce any results, with talks continuing in Brussels between Greece and its lenders.
Book Presentation | Athens | March 22
Australian writer Gillian Bouras, a resident of Greece since the 1980s, presents her latest book of humorous and heartfelt observations on life in the Peloponnese at the Athens Center, on Wednesday, March 22, starting at 7 p.m. In "Seeing and Believing," say the organizers, Bouras "delivers a fresh crop of joys and heartaches, to which she tries to adjust.
Ankara aims to bring peace to Cyprus, says Turkish FM
Turkey's vision for Cyprus is to turn the island into a bastion of peace and stability, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in an opinion piece in the Washington Times published on March 21.
The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, after Turkish troops intervened in response to a coup by Greek Cypriot militants seeking union with Greece.
Merkel ally says Turkey’s Erdogan ‘not welcome’ in Germany
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has crossed a line by comparing Berlin’s government to the Nazis and he and other officials are no longer welcome in Germany, a senior ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.