Greek Foreign Minister Meets With Serb Counterpart In Belgrade

Stella Tsolakidou
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Greek Foreign Minister Meets With Serb Counterpart In Belgrade

Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Dimas held talks with his Serb counterpart Vuk Jeremic while in Belgrade on Tuesday, with the focus mainly on Serbia’s European accession prospects.

Dimas was in Belgrade to attend an informal ministerial meeting of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP).

Their talks were mainly about next month’s planned European Union summit, which will examine Serbia’s application to become an EU candidate country. Dimas reiterated Greece’s support for Serbia’s accession bid, stressing that Europe would be incomplete without Serbia.

Jeremic briefed the Greek minister on developments in dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, especially the effort underway for a solution concerning Kosovo’s representation in regional organisations.

The Serb minister emphasized that his country will not accept any solution that overlooks UNSCR 1244 and stressed that Belgrade will only agree to Kosovo’s representation in regional organisations within this framework.

Dimas had earlier paid a visit to Serb Patriarch Irineos and briefed him on the effort to overcome the economic crisis in Greece, expressing hope that the country would soon return to growth.

Responding to the Patriarch’s questions about the progress of talks on the name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Dimas noted that the government in Skopje was displaying intransigence, chiefly in order to strengthen its position domestically and stay in power.

The minister stressed that Greece desires a solution to the name dispute arising through mutual consensus on the name issue, in the framework of UN processes, and to restore good neighbour relations.

Dimas also visited Belgrade’s Nebojsa Tower, now a museum that was partly refurbished with the assistance of Greek funds, and includes a gallery dedicated to Greek independence struggle hero Rigas Ferraios, who was killed in the tower by Ottoman Turks.

(Source: AMNA)

Thomsen Says Must Be Limit to Greek Fiscal Pain

A. Makris
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Thomsen Says Must Be Limit to Greek Fiscal Pain

Debt-laden Greece and its international lenders must focus less on deficit reduction and more on reform because there are limits to what society can tolerate, a senior IMF official said on Wednesday.
With a long-awaited debt swap deal with private sector creditors almost secured, Athens’ focus is now squarely on its 130-billion euro bailout talks with the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank — its public-sector lenders collectively known as the troika.
Structural reforms and spending cuts are the main sticking points in the negotiations, which the EU and Greece want to complete by the end of this week. If they fail, Greece will plunge into a chaotic default that may spill over to other debt-laden countries such as Italy and Portugal.
“We will have to slow down a little as far as fiscal adjustment is concerned and move faster – much faster – with implementing reforms,” Poul Thomsen, the head of the IMF’s inspection team for Greece, said in an interview with newspaper Kathimerini.
More reforms and slower deficit reduction would be a policy shift compared with the country’s first 110-billion euro bailout, which relied heavily on tax increases and less on spending cuts and which some economists blame for social unrest and the country’s worst post-war recession.
“Greece must surely continue reducing its budget deficit, but society and political support have their limits and we’d like to make sure that we strike the right balance between fiscal adjustment and reforms,” Thomsen said.
Despite an unprecedented tax onslaught, Greece has been consistently missing its deficit targets. Its budget shortfall is expected to have narrowed slightly last year to 9.6 percent of GDP from 10.6 percent in 2010.
However, some analysts said Thomsen’s suggested policy switch would not work unless Greece’s lenders, including the IMF, increase their aid for Greece above the 130 billion euro mark, some analysts warn.
“It makes sense to put the emphasis on structural reforms and less on deficit reduction but this strategy will mean that Greece needs extra support and, at the moment, I don’t see anybody willing to do that,” said Christoph Weil, a Frankfurt-based economist at Commerz bank.
The minimum wage may have to be lowered and holiday bonuses cut to make Greece’s firms more competitive, Thomsen said in the interview. Greece may also have to fire civil servants, he said, adding however that the vast bulk of savings in the public sector payroll will come from retirements.
Greece’s lenders have demanded it make extra spending cuts worth 1 percent of GDP – or just above 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) – this year, including big cuts in defense and health spending.
“Talks about the programme will be completed very soon, it is a matter of days,” Thomsen said.
The prospect of elections as early as April has further complicated the talks, with political leaders in Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s national unity coalition eager to distance themselves from any cuts that herald more pain for ordinary Greeks.
“We need assurances that whoever is in power after the election and reasonably wishes to make some changes in economic policy will be in line with the targets and the basic framework of the agreement,” Thomsen was quoted as saying by the paper.
Greek banks should not be nationalized as part of efforts to recapitalize them. “We don’t want the state to run banks,” he said.
(source: Reuters, Kathimerini)

Greece Among Top Romantic Destinations

Fani Toli
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Greece Among Top Romantic Destinations

The site boldsky (boldsky.com) ranked Greece as one of the most romantic destinations in the world, due to the favorable summer climate, large number of islands, variety in island activities, and its scenic and architectural wonders.
This is what they had to say about Greece:
“The Greek civilisation did not spring up from the earth suddenly without love. Greece is supposed to be one the most romantic destinations in the world because of its scenic and architectural wonders. The river valley of Paxi or the mountain city of Sartorni, along with Greek delicacies, is surely worthy of your love”.
Other top romantic destinations included France, the home of so many expatriate poets and artists, a city where love flows through its veins like blood, the Netherlands, which are known for celebrating ‘freedom’ of love with surprising permissibility, Scandinavia, a favorite for Scandinavians and Italy, in which exist the quite charm of Milanese museums and the romantic gondolas in Venice.

Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem to Visit Cyprus

Fani Toli
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Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem to Visit Cyprus

Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem will be paying an official visit to Cyprus, from February 10th to the 13th, at the invitation of Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus.
According to a notice, the Patriarch of Jerusalem will land in Larnaka Airport on February 10, and later on in the morning the delegation will be officially welcomed at the Archdiocese by the Archbishop of Cyprus, members of the Holy Synod, the clergy and people, and in the afternoon will meet President of the Republic of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias.
On February 11, the Patriarch of Jerusalem will attend the laying of the cornerstone of the exarchate of the Holy Sepulchre.
On February 12, the Primates of the two Churches will lead an Archieratical Liturgy, officiated in the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God in Strovolos.

Using The Property Tax To Live the Greek Dream

Emmanouela Seiradaki
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Using The Property Tax To Live the Greek Dream

For the past two years crisis-hit Greek citizens have seen their lives ruined as measure after measure is being passed in return for IMF “help”. This “help” translates to countless new taxes and salary reductions. This “help” is responsible for the new Greek underclass that is evident in every little corner of Athens; evident in the homeless, the hungry, the drug addicts and the psychiatric patients ejected from institutions and shelters that can no longer offer them a place. Evident in the tens of thousands of shop owners forced to close because they simply can’t afford to pay all these crazy taxes and in the pensioners who are forced to survive on less than 400 a month and forage through municipal rubbish bins.
You would have thought that in this situation, the “sacrifices” Greek citizens make at least go towards the right direction. But as it turns out, Greeks are starving themselves for no reason. It turns out that one of the most controversial taxes, the property tax or “χαράτσι”, instead of going to the pockets of the Greek state, has been pocketed by two Greek “businessmen” and travelled all the way to…Switzerland.
How  Two Thirty-Year-Olds “Changed the Lights” to The Greek Government
According to Thema newspaper, the bosses of two of Greece’s biggest alternative power suppliers, Energa and Hellas Power, literally “αλλαξανε τα φώτα” (Greek slang expression for changing the lights, aka harming and taking advantage of) of the Greek State as instead of  remitting the property tax by the electricity bills to the state, they preferred to pocket the money – more than 120 million Euros – and send it to… Switzerland! Behind this incredible story are two thirty year-old young entrepreneurs with different origins. The 33 year-old Energa boss, Mr. Aristides Floros, and the 31 year old Hellas Power boss, Vassilis Milionis.
The “Killer” With The Family Tradition in Energy
Aristides, or Aris, or the “killer” for those who know him well, has studied in London Trading Electricity and Natural Gas.  His last name has been known in the Greek Energy sector since the early ’90s  as his father used his connections with the Mitsotakis government to try to bring the company Tractebel to build the first private plant power. However his plans never materialized as there were fierce reactions from the opposing political parties and the unions.
Cass Business School, Political Connections and Expensive Cars
31 year-old Vassilis Milionis is clearly less known in the Greek energy sector, but famous in the celeb hotspots of Kolonaki and Psychico.  His appearance in Armani suits driving a Porsche, often caused a debate as to how he actually managed to have such an expensive lifestyle at such a young age.
Some attributed his lavish lifestyle to his close friendship with a current New Democracy deputy and oldest son of one of the most powerful party members of the Karamanlis government.  His mother, Mrs. Ria Milioni, owned a transport company and had very close connections with the Mitsotakis government in the ‘90s.
Mr. Milionis has studied Business Administration at the City University of London and holds an MSc in Energy, Trade and Finance from Cass Business School in London. He worked in Clarksons London, Oil and Gas Trading Department as well as in Teletrans Group of Companies as managing director.
In Greece, his company first appeared as “Blue Energy”.  He had actually bought a large piece of land in the Agioi Theodoroi area to build a power plant that would operate only during peak hours. However, Tina Birbili, then Minister of Energy, withdrew the provision of the relevant energy bill as she assessed it as photographic for preferential pricing of energy, so they factory was never built.
Black Money and The Greek Dream
If someone were looking for a symbol of the excesses that led to the country’s financial crisis, they need look no further than the stereotype of Mr. Milionis and Mr. Floros, who basically impersonate the Greek dream for the past couple of decades: expensive studies at prestigious Business schools in London, designer clothes, expensive cars, connections at high places and over-the-top entertainment in Bouzoukia, clubs and restaurants in Athens’ posh suburbs. Needless to say that this lifestyle is almost always based on easy credit and untaxed money. And needless to say that people like Mr. Milionis and Mr. Floros along with corrupted politicians are basically the main reason Greece is on the brink of bankruptcy . So maybe it’s time that the IMF and the EU drop their obsession with reducing Greece’s €750 monthly minimum wage or eliminating the two-month salary bonus granted to private sector workers, and apply policies that fight corruption and tax evasion, for it is the only way they will actually get their money back.
(Sources: Thema, Ethnos)

Loverdos Bows Out of PASOK Race and Backs Venizelos

Phaedon Boukas
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Loverdos Bows Out of PASOK Race and Backs Venizelos

Greek Health Minister Andreas Loverdos (L) says Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos the man to resurrect a disappearing PASOK Socialist party

ATHENS – With the PASOK Socialist party imploding into near-nothingness and beset by infighting over who should be its new leader when former Prime Minister George Papandreou steps aside, just before new elections for Prime Minister are held, Health Minister Andreas Loverdos says he won’t run and will support Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who has imposed waves of pay hikes on Greeks. Loverdos said he wants to stop the growing divide in PASOK, which has slid to 12 percent approval ratings among voters behind four other parties, including the front-running New Democracy conservatives, its bitter rival.
“We have decided with Mr Venizelos to fight together for the country and within PASOK,” he said. “We will proceed together.” They had been considered the leading challengers to assume control of PASOK, but Papandreou is clinging to power and there is growing disgruntlement that he’s keeping the party tethered to the past, and his own failures and resignation as the country’s leader more than two months ago. Papandreou had been in power since 2009 but quit in the wake of dozens of protests, riots and strikes against austerity measures he put on Greeks at the demand of international lenders giving the country a series of $152 billion in rescue loans to keep its debt-choked economy from crashing.
Five years ago, Loverdos backed Venizelos to replace Papandreou, who had lost two consecutive Prime Minister races against New Democracy’s Costas Karamanlis, whom he finally beat in 2009 before it was revealed the government had lied about the sinking economy, strapping Papandreou with the task of trying to keep the country from going under.
Loverdos and Venizelos had been among the favorites to succeed the current PASOK leader; George Loverdos didn’t say how he would work together with Venizelos, who would have the unenviable task of trying to convince Greeks to support him although he has doubled their property and income taxes, taxed the poor, and led government policies to slash pensions and lay off 150,000 workers. Loverdos, who has been brutally critical of Papandreou now but supported him as Prime Minister, said the party would only be hurt by continued bickering and jockeying for leadership,  tactics which have turned off many Greeks, some 35 percent of whom said they now don’t trust any political parties and won’t vote. “Our initiative may play a positive role in uniting the party,” said Venizelos, although some analysts said the party is on the verge of extinction.
PASOK has been floundering in the polls and public perception, especially in the wake of the admission by another possible leadership candidate, Development Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, that his duties as then Public Order Minister prevented him from having the time to read a memorandum from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank providing the country’s lifeline of bailout monies.
The party’s election for a new leader is scheduled for March, barely ahead of elections for Prime Minister, which would give its candidate scant time to campaign, prompting a number of party leaders and PASOK Members of Parliament to say they may try to force out Papandreou, who has largely been absent and attended the conference of Socialist International as its President in Costa Rica and then set off for Israel while his party disintegrated. The party’s Parliamentary group is due to meet on Feb. 2 and could call for a vote of no confidence in Papandreou.

Ensemble Play Metamorphoses Based on Greek Mythology

Fani Toli
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Ensemble Play Metamorphoses Based on Greek Mythology

Based on Greek mythology, the ensemble play ‘Metamorphoses’ takes Ovid’s classic transformation stories and sets them to contemporary language. The play uses the idea of love through the medium of water to examine how and why human beings change, shown through the transformation of characters such as King Midas, Orpheus, Eurydice and many others.

The element of water literally takes center stage in this production, featuring a 10’ x 20’ pool built onstage as part of the set. The 31 student actors spend time in the water during their scenes, using it to symbolize the transformation of their characters.

The central idea of Metamorphoses can be defined as the changing power of love. Playwright Mary Zimmerman explains that the play “makes it easy to enter the heart and to believe in greater change as well… that we all can transform.”

Ticket prices are $6 for Coronado Unified School District students/staff, $8 for students and children, $14 for senior/military, and $16 for adults.

(Source:e.Coronado.com)

PASOK Leader George Papandreou Meets Peres and Netanyahu in Israel

Fani Toli
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A meeting was held in Israel on Tuesday among PASOK party leader George Papandreou, Israeli President Shimon Peres and the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Papandreou said that during the meeting they discussed the crisis in the Eurozone as well as the proposals suggested by Greece and PASOK for a “developmental prospect of the European Union”.

Moreover, Papandreou emphasized the great effort being made by the Greek people and the transition government so that Greece can pull through the crisis and the economy can become more sustainable and more competitive.

The PASOK leader also noted the progess that has been made concerning the relations between Greece and Israel in the last two years and their close cooperation in tourism and energy, stressing the need for greater cooperation in the region in order to generate a sense of security and certainty.

George Papandreou has been always the initiator concerning the resurgence of Greek-Israeli relations, and thus it is natural he attended the meeting, in which many ministers and businessmen took part.

Italian Actor Οmero Antonutti: “I Owe My Cinema Career to Theo Angelopoulos”

Stella Tsolakidou
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Italian Actor Οmero Antonutti: “I Owe My Cinema Career to Theo Angelopoulos”

“I owe my career in the cinema to Theodoros Angelopoulos” said Omero Antonutti to Greek news agency ANA-MPA. The Italian actor and protagonist of the award-winning “Alexander the Great” (Megalexandros) remembers how his career had taken an upward turn after the Greek filmmaker gave him the leading role in his production.

“I had worked for the Taviani Brothers already but for two years no other director would call me for casting because they thought I was almost exclusively a theatre actor. After the casting for Alexander it was a long time before Angelopoulos contacted me. But once we started working together, it was a unique experience” commented Mr. Antonutti.

The 77-year-old Italian actor remembers the shootings for the film on the Greek mainland and the snow in Dotsiko, near Grevena, northwestern Greece.

“At first I thought I would see the Greece of tourist advertisements. The Greece we all know. I found out, however, that there is another country, completely different from the advertisements. Next to Theodoros everything was a constant surprise” said Mr. Antonutti.

“I will always remember how Angelopoulos wanted me to maintain the harsh and cruel attitude of the robber-protagonist even after the shootings were over. It was a sort of unique and innovative interpretation of the Stanislavski method” added Mr. Antonutti.

As far as his personal relationship to the late Greek filmmaker is concerned, Mr. Antonutti said that there was a tremendous difference between the open and witty Angelopoulos off work and the professional, completely immersed in his project Angelopoulos during work. “The film had to be completed no matter what. Angelopoulos was totally and solely concentrated on his film and its needs.”

Commenting on the dynamics and directness of Angelopoulos films, Omero Antonutti said that Angelopoulos became internationally recognized because his work addressed and always focused on the person living inside a difficult and complex society.

AtaTravel Partners With Greek Tourism Company in Azerbaijan

Fani Toli
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0
AtaTravel Partners With Greek Tourism Company in Azerbaijan

The ceremony for the presentation of AtaTravel Ltd as an official partner of Greek tourism company Le Grand in Azerbaijan was held in Baku’s Excelsior Hotel. The ceremony, with participation from heads of travel agencies and media representatives, was conducted by AtaTravel Ltd director Vusal Aliyev and sales & VIP-services manager of travel company Le Grand Konstantin Konhidis.

During the presentation AtaTravel Ltd and Le Grand signed a cooperation agreement. Speaking at the event, AtaTravel’s director Vusal Aliyev emphasized: “AtaTravel was established in 2011 by AtaHolding OJSC and offers numerous services for organizing tours in all corners of the world, provides clients with services on booking hotels, air tickets, tours, transfers, insurance and visa support.

According to the agreement signed today, AtaTravel has become Le Grand’s official partner in Azerbaijan. We’ll organize trips and tours of Azerbaijani tourists to Greece. Besides which, in the future, taking advantage of tourist company Le Grand, we’ll begin to invite Greek tourists in our country”.

During his turn, Mr. Konhidis spoke regarding the beginning of cooperation with the Azerbaijani company: “Greece has an ancient history. Beautiful nature, recreational sites and antiquities of Greece attract the attention of tourists. Every year the number of inbound tourists to Greece from around the world increases. Our country has created on tourist sites all sorts of conditions for reception and full rest of tourists, including the future tourists from Azerbaijan”.

Le Grand was founded in Heraklion Crete in 1985. The Company offers high-level trips for visitors to all corners of Greece, including Crete, Rhodes, Kish, Santorini and other islands. The company annually takes approximately 200,000-215,000 tourists. Its guaranteed hotel fund is 2,000 rooms. The Company prefers not to accommodate its clients in different hotels and book all the seats at selected hotels for them.

(Source: ABC.AZ)

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