Austerity

Greece's Parliament on Tuesday observed on minute of silence in commemoration of three bank employees who were killed in a firebombing attack during an anti-austerity protest in downtown Athens on May 5, 2010.

Greece is racing to bolster a public healthcare system battered by a decade of austerity before an expected second wave of the coronavirus pandemic hits the country in the fall, its health minister has said.

"It will be a tiring summer for us, full of work, but this will be a legacy for the country," Vassilis Kikilias told Politico in an interview last week.

More than eight in 10 Greeks are optimistic about the prospects of moving past the current pandemic and feel the right steps are being taken, according to a survey by Metron Analysis carried out for the DiaNEOsis think-tank. 

While unfathomable to some, among Orthodox Christians in Greece and elsewhere Dimitra's ambivalence is unsurprising given the mixed messages that came from church clergy.

In a length investigative report published on 21 April TIME magazine has lionised Greek authorities for the country's spectacular success in drastically limiting the spread of coronavirus and keeping the death toll extremely low (116 at the time of writing).

By George Gilson

During Greece's decade-long economic depression in which 25 percent of GDP was lost and the harsh austerity imposed by creditors broke the back of society, much was written about the biggest collateral damage wrought by the financial crisis.

In a article co-authored by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas the two ministers table a number of ideas on how the EU can get by through and after the coronavirus pandemic and grapple with its enormous social and economic repercussions in a spirit of solidarity that is needed to keep the Union together.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Thursday that over 30% of the Romanian economy is affected by the novel coronavirus epidemic, noting that he is not favouring austerity measures or price freeze. "Given that a large part of the economy has been affected by the epidemic, it is clear that economic growth will be affected.

During the recent debt crisis in Europe, there was plenty of scope for moralizing on fiscal issues that allowed austerity to be imposed even when it made no economic sense, even when that was done for with disciplinary purposes in mind.

Since the second week of March, the Greek government has been attempting to delay the spread of the virus by shutting down most economic activity, ordering the closure of all shops apart from supermarkets, bakeries, petrol stations and pharmacies.