Greek gambling privatization of OPAP threatens to unravel

Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:52pm EDT

* Privatization of gambling company OPAP has stalled

* Opposing business groups haggle over sale terms

* Failure to complete deal would derail asset sale plan

ATHENS, June 27 (Reuters) - Conflicting interests between opposing business groups threaten to unravel the sale of Greek gambling company OPAP, the head of the country's privatization agency said on Thursday, risking delivery of a fatal blow to the country's asset sale program under its international bailout.

UPDATE 3-TAP to carry Azeri gas via Greece as Austria loses out

Wed Jun 26, 2013 11:49am EDT

* BP, Statoil lead development of Shah Deniz II gas field

* Plans call for flows to Europe from 2019

* Nabucco West pipeline not chosen, OMV says

* Official announcement awarding project to TAP expected Friday

* TAP project will cross Greece, Albania

By Georgina Prodhan and Karolin Schaps

VIENNA/LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - The group developing Azerbaijan's vast gas reserves has chosen the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via Greece to link to Europe, officials said on Wednesday, defeating the Nabucco West consortium which had backed a route to Austria.

Analysis : Bruised Greek government to limp along, toughen stance with lenders

By Harry Papachristou

ATHENS | Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:23am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece's weakened coalition government is expected to survive the departure of a junior partner for now but will be forced to resist any fresh demands from its foreign lenders to prevent its tiny parliamentary majority from crumbling.

A year after coming to power, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras suffered a heavy blow when his smallest coalition partner, the Democratic Left, quit the government last week to protest the abrupt closure of state broadcaster ERT.

Greek Bonds Tumble Amid Political Uncertainty

Greek Gaming Company Intralot Postpones Bond Sale

By ED BALLARD, TOMMY STUBBINGTON and SERENA RUFFONI

The Wall Street Journal

Greek government bond prices fell sharply in thin volumes Friday to their lowest level in two months amid renewed political uncertainty, with market jitters also forcing Greek gaming company Intralot to shelve a planned bond sale.

Markets already nervous about a potential unwinding of monetary stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve received another jolt Friday after Greece's junior coalition government partner said it will withdraw from the government's cabinet, after a deadlock over the shutdown of the state broadcaster.

Greece Faces Fresh Threats

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI And GABRIELE STEINHAUSER

The Wall Street Journal

Greece's shaky coalition government was hit Thursday with a double blow as talks over the shutdown of the state broadcasting company threatened to fracture the government and new worries over the financing of the country's bailout program emerged.

The breakdown in the talks sparked a threat from the junior partner in the three-party coalition to withdraw its support from the government, representing the coalition's gravest internal crisis to date.

Greece to avoid funding problems if it delivers on bailout program: IMF

WASHINGTON | Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:32pm EDT

(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday urged Greece to speedily deliver on its bailout program, adding that doing so would ensure the country encounters "no financing problems."

There is an ongoing review of the Greek bailout program, the IMF said on Thursday.

"If the review is concluded by the end of July, as expected, no financing problems will arise because the program is financed till end-July 2014," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a brief statement.

Greece’s Coalition Government Teeters Over Broadcaster Impasse

By Marcus Bensasson, Tom Stoukas & Paul Tugwell - Jun 21, 2013 3:28 AM GMT+0300

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras may be set to lose a coalition partner over his closure of the country’s state broadcaster ERT, heightening concern about his government’s stability.

A one-hour meeting late yesterday between Samaras, Pasok party leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis failed to break a deadlock over ERT, closed June 11 without the coalition partners’ consent. Kouvelis insisted on the broadcaster reopening with all of ERT’s 2,600 employees, while Venizelos accepted a proposal by Samaras for fewer workers, according to statements by the three leaders after the meeting.

EMERGING MARKETS-Shares and bonds rocked by U.S. Fed comments

By Carolyn Cohn and Sujata Rao

LONDON, June 20 | Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:17am EDT

(Reuters) - Stocks and bond prices plunged and debt insurance costs soared in a general flight from emerging markets on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve laid out a timetable for turning off the taps on its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying programme.

The MSCI emerging stock index was down by over 3.3 percent, hitting its lowest level since July 2012 and heading for its biggest one-day fall since Oct 2011, with weekly losses of more than 6 percent, as U.S. 10-year Treasury yields surged to 15-month highs.

Euro zone wrangling may cost Greece 2 bln euros in 2013: sources

By Martin Santa and Lefteris Papadimas

BRUSSELS/ATHENS | Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:00pm EDT

(Reuters) - European foot-dragging could leave Greece short of 2.0 billion euros ($2.7 billion) this year as some euro zone creditors are reluctant to roll over their Greek debt holdings, Greek and euro zone sources involved in the matter told Reuters.

Euro Becomes the Port in a Storm

As Central Banks Mull Pullback of Easy Money, Investors Turn to Relatively Stable European Currency

By MATTHEW WALTER and NICOLE HONG

The Wall Street Journal

The euro is emerging as an unlikely oasis in the latest bout of market turmoil.

Assets ranging from Japanese stocks to emerging-market bonds to U.S. Treasurys have slumped this spring, as investors brace for the possible pullback from easy-money policies by the world's major central banks. But the euro has largely avoided the volatile trading that has whipsawed other currencies, including the dollar and the Japanese yen, gaining about 4% against the greenback over the past four weeks to trade late Friday at $1.3345, near a four-month high.

Greek PM offers to reopen state broadcaster-govt source

ATHENS, June 17 | Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:59pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece's prime minister has offered to quickly restart state broadcaster ERT under temporary management, a government official said on Monday, in a bid to defuse a political crisis and avoid snaps elections.

Jean-Paul Philippot, European Broadcasting Union Chief, Arrives In Greece To Support State TV Employees

June 15, 2013

The Huffington Post

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS 06/14/13 04:05 PM ET EDT   

ATHENS, Greece — Greece's prime minister has raised the stakes in a fight with key government allies over his decision to shut "sinful" state-run TV, offering a minor compromise while suggesting he would risk early elections unless they back him.

A Chance to Do Better on Greece

June 14, 2013

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The New York Times

The International Monetary Fund now has a chance to show what it has learned from past policy mistakes on Greece, mistakes it acknowledged last week. This week a delegation from the fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission was in Athens to review Greek compliance with the terms of the latest bailout agreement, a condition for releasing this month’s $4 billion installment. Greek officials said they hoped the European examiners would show new flexibility on changing the agreement’s more counterproductive requirements.

Greece Shuts Broadcaster in Bid to Show Resolve

ATHENS — Under pressure from its creditors to cut public employment, the Greek government said Tuesday that it was closing down its state-run television and radio broadcaster, idling 2,900 people — less than 1 percent of the public work force — and outraging the country’s powerful labor unions.

Describing the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, known as ERT, as a “haven of waste,” a government spokesman said ERT, which went off the air at 11 p.m. local time, would reopen soon as a “modern state organization” with a fraction of the current staff.

Greece's Alpha Bank raises private capital to avoid state control

ATHENS, June 3 | Mon Jun 3, 2013 5:28am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece's third-largest lender Alpha Bank raised more than the required proportion of a share offering to plug a capital hole from private investors, allowing its existing managers to keep control.

Alpha is the first of the country's biggest banks to successfully recapitalise without falling under the full control of a bank rescue fund, which is financed from Greece's international bailout package.

Possibility of Grexit is now "remote", Greek cenbank says

ATHENS | Wed May 29, 2013 2:36pm

May 29 (Reuters) - Fears that Greece may exit the euro zone are now remote but its economy will stay in recession for a sixth straight year in 2013 and unemployment will rise further before recovery sets in next year, the country's central bank said on Wednesday.

Softer Austerity Message As EU Sets New Budget Goals

The Wall Street Journal

By MATINA STEVIS and LAURENCE NORMAN

BRUSSELS—The European Commission confirmed Wednesday that it was giving France, Spain, the Netherlands and two other countries extra time to meet their deficit targets as Brussels softened its insistence on austerity-first policies.

France, the European Union's second-biggest economy, received two extra years to cut its deficit to 3% of gross domestic product, pushing the deadline to 2015. The commission is proposing a deficit target of 3.9% of GDP for this year and 3.6% in 2014.

Krugman Accused of ‘Uncivil Behavior’

May 26, 2013, 6:29 PM

The Wall Street Journal

The gloves are off in the roiling academic dispute over the merits of austerity and the dangers of debt.

In the latest round, Harvard economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart accused Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman of “spectacularly uncivil behavior” and the inaccurate allegation that they refused to share data supporting their work linking heavy debt levels to subsequent slow economic growth.

Luring Tourists Back to Greece

The New York Times

By LIZ ALDERMAN

Published: May 22, 2013

The sun was blazing above the Acropolis, draping the ivory pillars of the Parthenon in a golden sheen. The red-tiled roof of the ancient Agora museum glimmered in the heat, and a breeze ruffled the boughs of olive trees. On the rough cobbles of Plaka, a cafe-lined tourist area, crowds of camera-toting visitors paused to soak it all in.

Greece’s government: Up, but not out

Greece has performed better than expected, but still has much to do

May 25th 2013 | ATHENS

The Economist

WHAT a difference a year makes. Last May Greece seemed to be heading out of the euro. Lagging reforms, political in-fighting and violent protests had worn out creditors’ patience. An election failed to produce a clear winner. Athenians stashed euros in safety-deposit boxes and under mattresses amid fears of instability and a chaotic return to the drachma.