Greece

Greek Coast Guard is being stretched to its limits with at least 1,728 illegal immigrants being rescued by over the past 3 days around the eastern Aegean islands of Samothrace, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Agathonisi, Kos and Megisti. The ‘irregular’ immigrants were collected in 66 coast guard operations that took place between Friday- August 14 and Monday-August 17.

SYRIZA’a gradually declining MP numbers in the Greek parliament, something that became even more evident during the voting on August 14 during the vote of the terms for the 3rd ESM bailout agreement, forces Greek PM Alexis Tsipras to take the political initiative.

Greece might have barely scraped by and avoided a default on payment of ECB bonds due August 20, after the Eurogroup approved the 3rd 86bln Euro rescue plan on Friday, but the real task of implementing the harsh austerity measures in exchange for the cash still lies ahead for the Greek government.

In the following infographic you can see the biggest defaults in modern history from 1983 onwards. Unsurprisingly, Greece stands on top of the rest. Argentina comes a distant second, while Russia’s default in 1998 under President Yeltsin wraps up the top 3. Four European countries are found on the list.

Greek government sources say the preparatory Euroworking group (EWG), which had met earlier Friday has given the ‘green light’ for the new 3-year Greek bailout plan. The same sources told reporters that this means 13bln Euros will be immediately released, earmarked for payments to Greece’s creditors, while 500mln will be used for arrears.

The annual Feast of the Dormition (or Assumption) on Aug. 15 is the most celebrated summer religious commemoration in Greece and also marks the peak of the holiday season.
Cities empty and even the least economically able urban dwellers try to steal a few days for a mid-August vacation.

At least 582 undocumented migrants have been rescued or intercepted by Greek authorities over the last 24 hours in 21 separate incidents in various sea regions in the eastern Aegean, from Samothrace to Rhodes.
The third country nationals were attempting to sneak onto Greek territories from neighboring Turkey.

The Tsipras government appeared surprised at the number of MPs from its ruling SYRIZA party that didn’t support the memorandum agreement during a Friday morning vote , with the figure now falling under the “psychological barrier” of 120 deputies.

The Greek Parliament approved on Friday the draft terms of a third bailout programme amounting to nearly EUR 85 B.

In order to be granted the bailout by its international creditors, Greece will have to implement a set of reforms, which include tax rises, pension and other spending cuts.

The Athens Stock Exchange opened on Friday with drop of 0.30 to 0.40 percent and was hovering at the 681-point level amid gitters after another marathon session in Greece’s Parliament to ratify terms of the third memorandum with international creditors.

Political “theatrics” in parliament and the ongoing holiday season kept interest and turnover low.