Greek tax officials began a 48-hour walkout Thursday to protest wage cuts and other reform measures, even as Greece struggles to meet revenue targets it has promised international creditors.
The strike closed tax offices around the country on the last two working days of the year, and forced the government to extend deadlines for the payment of some year-end taxes.
As a result of the austerity measures, tax officials have seen steep cuts in their salaries and other perks. A plan by the government to shutter dozens of tax offices–as part of a broader campaign to reform Greece’s dysfunctional tax system–has also stoked opposition.
“As a result of the austerity measures putting some tax officers on reduced pay, we have 5,500 fewer tax office jobs,” said tax officers’ union head Charalambos Nikolakopoulos.
The strike comes one day after two top prosecutors tasked with cracking down on widespread tax evasion resigned citing political interference in their work.
(source: Dow Jones)
Tax Officials Stage 48-Hour Strike
Captain Christantonis Konstantinos Returns to Greece
Captain Christantonis Konstantinos, who lived aboard his empty ship in Malaga harbour since December last year, has returned to Greece.
When his ship, the Arhon (or Apxon), docked a year ago an official inspection revealed several technical defects. The shipowners were unable to pay the €90,000 required, leaving the captain and crew with no option but to remain on board.
Food, fuel, electricity and money started to run out and crew members began to leave the ship as conditions worsened. Finally only 49-year-old Konstantinos, nicknamed Captain Costas by those who got to know him, remained.
Living without electricity or running water, he ate each day in a Greek restaurant and was also helped out by Malaga’s port community who rallied round him.
Assisted by lawyers in Malaga and Greece, the Merchant Navy ministry in Athens provided €30,000 of the money Captain Kostas was owed. It is hoped that the remainder will be settled following the sale of the Arhon.
The captain flew back to Greece, after spending the night in a hotel – his first dry land in a year.
(source: EuroWeekly Online)
American Jewish Committee to Provide Financial Assistance to Holocaust Greek Survivors
The American Jewish Committee is providing emergency financial aid to help Holocaust survivors in Thessaloniki, Greece pay for medical care and every day expenses.
The aid is necessary due to the economic crisis in Greece, which has stretched the Jewish community’s resources to the limit, according to a statement released by AJC
“We feel privileged to assist our cherished friends in Thessaloniki, who are few in number and face extraordinary financial challenges at this critical time,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris, who has visited Thessaloniki numerous times in recent years. “The Thessaloniki Jewish community’s determination to provide essentials to improve the quality of life for the remaining Holocaust survivors is laudable and deserves help.”
Before the Nazi invasion of Greece, Thessaloniki was a center of Sephardic Jewish life in the world. During World War II, some 96 percent of the Thessaloniki Jewish community was deported and killed in the Nazi death camps.
“Through this generous gesture, you have given a prime example of solidarity, a fundamental element of world Jewry,” David Saltiel, president of the Thessaloniki Jewish community, wrote in a letter thanking the organization.
(source:JTA)
Papandreou Commits to Reconvening Political Council on January 4th
Despite some calls for a meeting of PASOK’s national council to be called so the process of electing a new leader could begin, Papandreou only committed to reconvening the political council in January.
PASOK heavyweights put pressure on party chief George Papandreou to begin a leadership race during Tuesday’s meeting of the Socialists’ political council, with some arguing that a new president should be in place by next month.
PASOK spokesman Panos Beglitis avoided to talk about the process of electing a new leader of PASOK, but he only discussed a potential election that will be decided over time.
During the political council on the 4th of January, Papandreou is intended to ask for the assembly of the national council, during which an ordinary congress will be decided.
2,000 "Parcels of Love" from Cyprus to Athens
The humanitarian campaign “Parcels of Love”, organized by the Cypriot radio station “Astra” and the NGO “Cyprus Stop Trafficking”, has showed impressive results in gathering help to support 200 children living in the Municipality of Athens and facing the challenges of food crisis.
After the relevant appeal of the Municipality of Athens and the successful coverage of the needs of the 200 children by Friday, December 23, the campaign aims at expanding its activities in order to aid the ten thousands of homeless people living in the Greek capital.
According to an announcement, the warehouses of the Cypriot Post Offices in Latsia are already containing 2000 parcels of humanitarian aid and the next mission is expected to commence early next week.
Furthermore, money contributions are estimated so far at 30,000 Euros. This money will be sent in form of coupons, which will be cashed in several Greek supermarket chains.
The organizers of the campaign are appealing for clothes, which can be thrown into the special purple baskets of the NGO “Anakyklos”, found all over around Cyprus.
The response of the Cypriot people is astounding and the Turkish-Cypriots have also contributed to the overall effort.
Everyone willing to help this coordinated campaign, should address one of the 55 Cypriot Post offices.
Abbot Efraim Enjoys Full Support from Moscow
Moscow sees political interests behind the judicial decision of arresting and keeping in detention Abbot Efraim of Vatopedi.
Just a few minutes after the news of the abbot’s transfer to Korydallos Prison Complex, the Russian Foundation of Andrew the First-called, which was responsible for the transfer of the Cincture to Russia the past month, proceeded with openly defending Efraim.
With two statements, authorized by Russian PM Putin and President Medvedev, the Russian government has also declared its support to the face of the abbot and tried to intervene with the workings of the Greek justice.
The secretary of the External Church Relations of the Russian Patriarchate has characterized the decision of the Greek justice as flimsy and exaggerated, while he also noted that the abbot is a victim of conspiracy, whose case has been brought up right after his triumphal return from Russia.
“This time sync is by no means a coincidence. Many people in Russia believe there are political motives behind Abbot Efraim’s case” said the Russian representative.
Greeks Require Compensation for 1990s Turkish Fires
Greece requested clarifications from Turkey on Monday, Dec. 26, regarding former Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz’s statements over a “Turkish link” to devastating forest fires in Greece in the past.
“The Greek side awaits to be informed on the matter by the relevant Turkish authorities,” said Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras, commenting on Yilmaz’s allegations that during the premiership of Tansu Ciller in mid 1990s Turkish MIT agents had been starting forest fires in Greece.
In an interview with Turkish daily Birgun, the Turkish former Premier referred to a state report on the arsons, implying a possible retaliation for the Greek stance of the Kurdish issue.
Greece suffers from many catastrophic forest fires every summer that are linked to arsonists in many cases. In the past Greek secret services pointed to the neighbor NATO ally and arch-rival Turkey for some forest fires, but there was no tangible evidence to support the claim.
Greece’s conservative New Democracy party and rightist Popular Orthodox Rally party, two of the parties backing the interim government of Lucas Papademos, asked current Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide full details on the issue and compensation for the damage caused, if the story will be confirmed, Defencegreece reported.
(source:panArmenian net.com)
Civil Servants Have Their January Salary Slashed
The new salary system for Greek civil servants went into effect on Tuesday, with thousands of public sector workers getting a considerably reduced salary for the first 15 days of January, as daily Kathimerini reports.
The retrospective validity of the system, affecting salaries dating from November 1, 2011, resulted in considerable amounts of money being withheld from civil servants as their pay for the new year’s first couple of weeks was reduced by between 206 and 1,004 euros.
This is the first time that the single salary system has been applied for the majority of civil servants, unlike Finance Ministry employees, who had their salaries adjusted to the new system earlier.
Yet even without the retrospective payments, the cuts are considerable across the board: For instance, newly hired tax officers with a university degree have had their salary cut by 934 euros per month, while their colleague with a degree and 33 years of service will be hit with a 1,410-euro cut on a monthly basis; an Agricultural Development Ministry employee with six years of service received 1,600 euros per month in 2010, but will now see their monthly salary drop 23.4% to 1,225 euros.
(source: ANSA)
Turkish Freighter Sinks in Greek Waters
Greek authorities have confirmed that a Turkish freighter has sunk 18-miles northeast of Samos Island in the Aegean Sea and all 12 crew members have been evacuated safely.
The dry cargo ship, the Dogu Haslaman, was carrying nitrates from Ukraine to Israel when the ship issued a distress signal on Tuesday in international waters and began to sink.
Greek defense ministry released a statement saying that the 12-person crew was picked up by another Turkish cargo vessel and had refused any assistance from Greek authorities, citing that they would wait for Turkish rescue efforts.
Greece and Turkey are neighboring countries that have been locked in disagreements regarding the maritime boundaries of the Aegean Sea; one of the areas of contention is who has jurisdiction in search and rescue operations.
The Dogu Haslaman is owned and managed by Turkish company, Elba Denizcilik Ticaret Ltd., and its reason for its sinking is still unknown.
(source:the Maritime Executive)
Greece’s Tax Evasion Prosecutors Quit, Blame Political Interference
ATHENS – As Greece continues to bury its workers, pensioners and poor with waves of taxes to keep the country from going bankrupt, the two prosecutors in charge of going after tax cheats costing the country more than $60 billion in back taxes and $17 billion a year have resigned, saying a coalition government wants to replace them with a court official.
Spyros Mouzakitis and Grigoris Peponis submitted their resignations to the Supreme Court on Dec. 28, citing political interference. The head of the tax inspectors union, whose members are charged with rampant corruption, said the government was meddling in its work as well. The coalition, made up of holdover ministers from the former ruling party of PASOK Socialists, their bitter rival New Democracy conservatives, and the far Right-Wing LAOS party is headed by former European Central Bank Vice-President Lucas Papademos and is charged with trying to keep international rescue loans flowing into the country and approving a second bailout that would allow the write off of 50 percent of much of the debt.
The Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank that is providing Greece rescue money to help it cope with a $460 billion debt, 10 percent deficit and correct generations of corruption, incompetence and packing public payrolls with political hires, has accused the government of failing to after tax evaders, despite a recent crackdown that has led to 50 arrests but no prosecutions.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that the prosecutors – who were appointed in September – claim they were recently made aware of a draft law that would essentially make their roles irrelevant. Peponis and Mouzakitis had recently launched investigations into a number of high-profile cases, including major tax evasion, the funding of Alter TV by banks, allegations of benefit cheating and claims of fiddled statistics at the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
The head of the tax inspectors’ union, POE-DOY, Christos Nikolakopoulos accused the Deputy Agriculture Minister Asterios Rondoulis, a member of LAOS, of intervening to prevent the merger of two tax offices in Larissa, central Greece. Nikolakopoulos also said that claims of corruption among tax inspectors had been exaggerated.
Peponis and Spiros Mouzakitis say the government is “attempting to replace and get rid of” them with a new draft law that would appoint a high court prosecutor in their stead. In a letter, the prosecutors insisted that they had served their mission with full dedication. The finance and justice ministries said the draft plan for the prosecutors’ replacement was meant to improve the task force’s functioning.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos,who has repeatedly missed self-imposed deadlines to release the names of the country’s top 6,000 tax evaders, asked Peponis to conduct an urgent investigation into claims made at a conference by former and current tax officials about corruption among tax inspectors that is causing billions in lost revenues each year. Venizelos wanted Peponis to examine whether there is any evidence to back up the claims made by Diomidis Spinellis, the former General Secretary of information systems at the Finance Ministry, and the head of inspections planning at the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE), Nikos Lekkas. Spinellis said that it was common for inspections on businesses suspected of evading their dues to be governed by what he called the “40-40-20” rule. He said this meant that tax inspectors would agree to reduce the penalty that firms would have to pay by 40 percent in return for receiving a bribe of 40 percent. Spinellis claimed that only 20 percent of the original penalty ended up in public coffers. He suggested that the state loses some 13 billion euros ($17 billion) annually, or 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product, as a result of the failure to clamp down on tax evasion. As with most calls for investigations in Greece, nothing happened.
Lekkas alleged that when companies are due to receive large amounts in tax repayments, inspectors often demand 10 percent of the amount as a bribe in order to ensure the transfer takes place. Lekkas added that a bank transparency law adopted in 1995 had been applied only last year. He suggested that entangled interests between the political and business worlds were to blame for the delay, Kathimerini said.
The comments by the two men prompted tax inspectors to issue a statement calling for them to propose specific measures to tackle the problem rather than try to impress people with “fireworks.” They went on to suggest that politicians had to take a large share of the blame for any failures in tax collection. Spinellis resigned earlier this year over a Finance Ministry decision to scrap penalties for oil trading firms, another charge Peponis was investigating.
Deputy Defense Minister Yiannis Ragousis told SKAI TV at the time that when Spinellis was still at the ministry, the Cabinet was under the impression that progress was being made in the fight against tax evasion. “At cabinet meetings we were told categorically that everything was being done to fight tax evasion,” he said.