Greece facing critical year, says finance minister: FT

LONDON | Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:27pm EST

(Reuters) - Greece is facing a critical year that hinges on its three-party ruling coalition sticking together and following the bailout program agreed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said in the Financial Times on Thursday.

Struggles Mount for Greeks as Economy Faces Winter

By MARCUS WALKER and MARIANNA KAKAOUNAKI

The Wall Street Journal

...Ms. Katri had a Dickensian image of the former orphanage, she says, as "a place where children are punished." However, she says the foundation has been good to her son,...

...The slumping economy and the retreat of the welfare state under austerity has caused a wave of requests to take children into care...

...Since 2011, more than 700 families have asked the Greek branch of international charity SOS Children's Villages to take in a child for economic reasons...

Special Report: Greece's triangle of power

A nexus of media, business and politics lies behind the country's crisis, say critics.

 

By Stephen Grey and Dina Kyriakidou

Europe Wins a Battle, but Not Yet the War

(to)...create a new common bank-resolution authority for the euro zone...
The first is political and Italian
The next risk is political and German
A further risk is technical and possibly Spanish
The next risks are Hellenic

EU, IMF agree to lend Greece 49 bln euros by March

BRUSSELS | Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:59am EST
(From the administrator: This article is from Reuters, and at the end you can find the link, the names of the authors and the adresses of their blogs)

Dec 13 (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to release 49.1 billion euros in aid to Greece by the end of March, with most of that sum flowing immediately, senior EU officials said on Thursday.

Greece Can Grow Again

Red tape, corruption, tax evasion—and a failure of marketing. Despite being the world's third largest olive oil producer, Greece sells 60% of its olive oil in bulk to Italy, where it is packaged and sold at a premium.
The Wall Street Journal

By JOHN SFAKIANAKIS

 

Lessons from Latin America for Greece - FT.com

Lessons from Latin America for Greece - FT.com: "nderlying solvency problems were addr"

'via Blog this'

For Greece, Oligarchs Are Obstacle to Recovery

By RACHEL DONADIO and LIZ ALDERMAN

The New York Times

Link: http://goo.gl/nkgwE

ATHENS — A dynamic entrepreneur, Lavrentis Lavrentiadis seemed to represent a promising new era for Greece. He dazzled the country’s traditionally insular business world by spinning together a multibillion-dollar empire just a few years after inheriting a small family firm at 18. Seeking acceptance in elite circles, he gave lavishly to charities and cultivated ties to the leading political parties.

Greece takes bottom EU spot in global corruption index

Greece replaces Bulgaria as lowest-ranking EU state

* Italy below ex-communist Romania in global league table

* China realises tackling graft in its own interests-TI

* Russian NGO curbs make it harder to check corruption -TI

By Gareth Jones

History Shows Why Germany Should Help Greece

By John Sfakianakis Dec 4, 2012 1:37 AM GMT+0200

Bloomberg

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has at last opened the door to the possibility of writing off Greek debts, but only several years from now. As they decide on the right thing to do, Germans should take a close look at their own history.

Merkel says understands Germans' frustration over Greece: paper

 (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
BERLIN| Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:01pm EST

(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she understood her compatriots' doubts about a bailout deal for Greece, but insisted in an interview that aid for Athens was in the interests of Berlin and all euro zone members.

Greece says voluntary debt buy back must succeed

(Reuters) - Greece's debt buyback plan, a key element of the cash-strapped country's bailout deal, will be voluntary but must succeed, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Wednesday.

Europe’s Plan C for Greece Is No Better Than Plans A or B

Bloomberg
Europe’s leaders have reached Plan C in their efforts to rescue Greece. Unfortunately, it lacks a crucial element also absent in Plans A and B: adequate debt relief.

Greece, markets satisfied by EU-IMF Greek debt deal

(Reuters) - The Greek government and financial markets were cheered on Tuesday by an agreement between euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund to reduce Greece's debt, paving the way for the release of urgently needed aid loans.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares, euro fall on Greece, U.S. fiscal talks

Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:48pm EST

* U.S. stocks fall as fiscal talks set to resume

 * Market focus on outcome of Greece aid negotiations

 * Euro edges down vs dollar

 NEW YORK, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Stocks around the globe and the euro were mostly lower on Monday, with investors cautious over whether Greece will receive emergency aid to keep it financially afloat and no signs of progress by U.S. lawmakers to avoid the U.S. "fiscal cliff."

Analysis: Greek economy pays high price for its high prices

By Alan Wheatley and Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS | Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:02pm EST

(Reuters) - Signs across Athens advertise property for rent or sale. One in three shops has closed. At those still open for business, turnover has slumped.

So it is one of the mysteries of Greece's economic depression that prices of some things - milk and the new iPhone, for example - are among the highest in Europe.

Standoff on Greece Driven by Short-Sighted Europolitics

http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlwhelan/2012/11/22/standoff-on-greece-driven-by-short-sighted-europolitics/

Forbes

Karl Whelan, Contributor

Economist focused on European macro issues

As Greece comes ever-closer to running out of money, the Eurozone finance ministers and the IMF have now met for two weeks in a row and failed to agree a new deal to loan Greece any additional funds.

Your Cheat-Sheet to Greece

By Matina Stevis

The Wall Street Journal

Another week, another euro-zone finance ministers’ meeting on Greece. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has flown back from Asia to attend the meeting starting later today, while European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and the European Union’s economics commissioner Olli Rehn are also due to be there.

Euro zone, IMF make progress on Greece: Juncker

By Matthias Inverardi

BIELEFELD, Germany | Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:12am EST

(Reuters) - Euro zone governments and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are making headway in settling a row over how to make Greece's debt manageable, Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Saturday.

Greece: It’s Not About the Numbers

The Wall Street Journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/eurocrisis/2012/11/16/greece-its-not-about-the-numbers/

The spreadsheets spell it out clearly. Billions of euros of austerity measures on top of an already fast shrinking economy have made the country’s growing debt pile unsustainable.