Public economics

The government is facing hard legislative and executive work ahead to complete the privatization projects that have been ongoing for a long time and to proceed with others that have run into problems. At the same time, it will take an extra push to start other projects concerning the privatization of state assets that have not been utilized.

A new study traces an international procurement network that the Islamic State group cultivated over years

Building projects adding up to 630 million euros have served as a lifeline for the construction sector, which has seen only a handful of new projects in the past few years. Since the start of this year, however, four tenders have been proclaimed, mainly by universities that intend to upgrade their facilities and particularly their student accommodation, where shortages are considerable.

A union of states is there for various reasons but a fundamental one is to provide public goods that cannot be provided optimally by actions at the level of individual states.

The construction sector is turning its attention to investment-bolstering projects that the government appears to be placing major emphasis on in 2020.

Construction firms hope that those tenders will offer additional turnover that could top 1.5-2 billion euros in the next few years.

Social protection spending in Greece fell in 2016 and 2017, according to the latest Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) data, despite the social profile the previous government tried to project, mainly through the handouts made at the end of every year.

Women in the European Union still earn on average 16% less than men, a slight improvement from last year's 16.2%. This year the European Equal Pay Day falls on 4 November. It marks the day when women symbolically stop getting paid compared to their male colleagues for the same job.

The new minister of infrastructure, Costas A. Karamanlis, will have to juggle several hot potatoes when he takes over the portfolio on Wednesday, as in the net result of economic growth in infrastructure projects has been negative for the last four-and-a-half years, according to sector professionals.

Due to planned updates and maintenance of the electronic vignette system from 17:00 to 19:00 on May 29, 2019 (Wednesday), electronic vignette buying services will not be available, the Road Infrastructure Agency announced.

It is recommended that customers planning a trip, to buy electronic vignette prior to this period to avoid sanctions.

Looking back at the politics of economic transformation, and especially at the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the process was highly politicized and non-transparent. It was accompanied by corruption scandals, clientelism and ethnic-political struggles, characterised by the distribution of power according to the ethnic divisions in the country.