Greek government-debt crisis

The sooner Greece goes to the markets in 2024, the better, say analysts, stressing that demand for Greek bonds during next year's issues will be particularly strong.

It is seen as a foregone conclusion that the government's recent decision to introduce postal votes will boost turnout as Greeks abroad will now be able to cast their ballots without moving from their place of residence.

In the last national elections, Greeks abroad who voted numbered just 17,258.

With two statements - one in the Sunday edition of Kathimerini (November 26) - the former prime minister presented, as he should, his concerns both on national issues and on the issue of marriage for same-sex couples. Antonis Samaras does not belong to the center-left or to social democracy.

Yannis Dragasakis, who served as deputy prime minister in Alexis Tsipras' government, has resigned from the central committee of SYRIZA. 

Several financial reporters are celebrating - some even more than the government - the "privatization" of Greece's systemic banks - those whose rescue taxpayers are still paying for.

The famous "cushion" of 37 billion euros will very soon start to "deflate" until it is reduced to around €12-13 billion, in about three years.

The new parliamentary group formed by the 11 MPs who recently left the main opposition SYRIZA party announced their name as "New Left" (Nea Aristera) on Monday at an event open to the public in Athens.

Greece's Infrastructure and Transport Minister Christos Staikouras will attend the EU Council of Ministers of Transport in Brussels on Monday. The agenda encompasses discussions on a comprehensive set of measures and proposals for regulations and directives related to the road and intermodal transport sectors. 

The 11 MPs who defected from SYRIZA are set to reveal their parliamentary group on Monday. Comprising members from the "Umbrella" and "6+6" factions that broke away from the main opposition, the group will be led by the widely respected former economy and interior minister Alexis Charitsis.

The changes to the taxation of the self-employed and freelancers proposed by the Finance Ministry brought to mind a discussion I had in 2012 in Washington with Poul Thomsen, the then head of the International Monetary Fund's mission for Greece and later the Fund's director for Europe.