Leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn jailed before trial

By Lefteris Papadimas and Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS | Thu Oct 3, 2013 7:36am EDT

(Reuters) - The leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party was sent to jail on Thursday pending trial on criminal charges, the first time an elected party chief has been put behind bars since a military coup nearly five decades ago.

The imprisonment of Nikolaos Mihaloliakos, who has watched support for his party wane after a supporter fatally stabbed a popular rapper, is a reprieve for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's government that has vowed to wipe out the party, calling it a "gang of neo-Nazis".

Greece's Golden Dawn lawmakers freed before trial

By Renee Maltezou and Yorgos Karahalis

ATHENS | Wed Oct 2, 2013 1:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - Three senior lawmakers from Greece's far-right Golden Dawn were freed on Wednesday pending trial on criminal charges, an unexpected setback to the government's efforts to clamp down on a party it has labeled a neo-Nazi criminal gang.

The decision to free the men after an 18-hour court session raises questions about the solidity of the state's case against Golden Dawn after one of its sympathizers stabbed to death an anti-fascism rapper.

Greek Arrest of Far Rightists Bolsters Government, for Now

Greece Moves to Outlaw the Golden Dawn Party

By ALKMAN GRANITSAS and NEKTARIA STAMOULI

ATHENS—Greece's crackdown on the country's far-right Golden Dawn party, with the weekend arrest of the group's top leadership, is a needed fillip for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's fragile coalition government.

But the boost may be temporary if the social problems that fueled the group's rise—unemployment, corruption, collapsing public services—aren't soon addressed by a government not many Greeks support, analysts say. And correcting those issues could take some time.

"There will be some political gains for the government and particularly Mr. Samaras, but after that, if the economy continues to stumble, those benefits will evaporate and the Golden Dawn phenomenon will return," said John Dimakis, a political analyst at Athens-based consultancy STR. "The crackdown on Golden Dawn won't bring jobs, or investments, or growth. And Golden Dawn is an expression of social needs that the political system right now can't cover."

UPDATE 5-Greek police arrest leader, lawmakers of far-right Golden Dawn

Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:16am IST

* Biggest crackdown on elected party since fall of junta

* Party members charged with participating in criminal group

* "Nothing can scare us!" party spokesman says

* Government rules out snap elections

By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos

ATHENS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Greek police arrested the leader and more than a dozen senior members of the far-right Golden Dawn party early on Saturday after the killing of an anti-fascist rapper by a party supporter triggered outrage and protests across the country.

Golden Dawn arrests take Greece into uncharted waters

The crackdown on the far-right party will undoubtedly release new tensions on to an already poisoned political scene

Helena Smith in Athens

The Observer, Saturday 28 September 2013 17.56 BST

Before his untimely death at the age of 34, Pavlos Fyssas was a hip-hop rapper popular on Greece's anti-fascist scene but little known beyond the frontiers of that music genre or the borders of the country itself. On the night of 17 September all that changed.

Greece nominates new privatization agency chief, third in seven months

ATHENS | Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:36am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece has nominated a new chairman to take over at its privatization agency after the dismissal of its previous head last month, the finance ministry said on Saturday.

Constantine Maniatopoulos was named to head privatization agency HRADF, where asset sale delays and shortfalls in targeted revenues have been a source of headaches for Greece's international lenders overseeing the country's 240 billion euro bailout program.

Greece Arrests Senior Members of Far-Right Party

September 28, 2013

The New York Times

By LIZ ALDERMAN

ATHENS — The counterterrorism police conducted a crackdown on Greece’s neo-fascist Golden Dawn party early Saturday morning, arresting 5 members of Parliament, including the leader of the organization, and 10 party officials. A search was under way for another lawmaker and more than 20 party members.

It is the first time that the leader of a political party and members of Parliament have been arrested in Greece since the fall of a military junta in 1974.

Greek bonds rally as German election draws near

Fri Sep 20, 2013 4:50pm IST

By Marius Zaharia

(Reuters) - Greek government bonds rallied on Friday as an election campaign in European paymaster Germany neared its end with little clarity about what it might mean for Greece's future in the euro zone.

Funding gaps facing Athens and the risk Portugal may not return to markets when its bailout runs out next year will be among European policy challenges for Germany's next government.

Τέσσερεις νεκροί, δύο ιστορίες...

Ακολουθούν δύο κείμενα, ένα για τον νεκρό Π. Φύσσα που έπεσε νεκρός μετά από τις μαχαιριές που δέχθηκε από τον Γ.Π. φερόμενο ως μέλος της Χρυσής Αυγής και δράστη του εγκλήματος, και ένα για τους 3 νεκρούς την 10-5-2010 στην ΜΑΡΦΙΝ, οι οποίοι εγκλωβίσθηκαν στο κτίριο της τράπεζας όταν αντιεξουσιαστές πέταξαν βόμβα μολότοφ στο ισόγειο με αποτέλεσμα να πάρει φωτιά το κτίριο. Ο αναγνώστης μπορεί να συγκρίνει το λόγο και το ύφος που η ίδια εφημερίδα, η ΑΥΓΗ, υιοθετεί στις δύο περιπτώσεις και να βγάλει τα συμπεράσματά του. Για όσους θέλουν να το ερευνήσουν περισσότερο, τα άρθρα που δημοσίευσε η πιο πάνω εφημερίδα μπορεί να τα βρει γράφοντας στο search box του Google, “inurl:www.avgi.gr μαρφίν 3 νεκροί” (χωρίς εισαγωγικά).

Για το τρέχον περιστατικό η αρθρογραφία είναι σε εξέλιξη.

On the edge

The mood in the Greek capital is at the boiling point

Sep 21st 2013 | ATHENS |From the print edition

A WHIFF of tear gas, the first in the city centre for almost a year, signalled the start of a new round of protests led by Greek teachers, school and university administrators, and members of the capital’s recently disbanded municipal police. All face being laid off in a long-awaited cull of public-sector workers. Riot police resorted to firing the tear gas on September 16th to dissuade a group of school guards from occupying the ministry of public administration.

Why Greece Is Not Weimar

By ROGER COHEN

Published: September 19, 2013

The New York Times

ATHENS — The perfect political storm for violent extremism has descended on Greece. It consists of national humiliation, economic disaster, high immigration, political division and international tutelage. Look no further than Weimar Germany to understand its ingredients

In the subdued streets of the Greek capital, where a vague menace hangs like a pall, tempers are frayed. The economy is turning slowly, after draconian cuts and two bailouts totaling €240 billion, but not enough yet to be felt. The cry of the extreme right resounds: We, the fathers of civilization, have been sold out by the international loan sharks!

The Syria deal

Russian reading

Sep 14th 2013, 22:46 by J.P.P. | WASHINGTON, D.C

AMERICA and Russia have an agreement on removing or destroying Syria’s extensive collection of chemical weapons. The headline points are that Bashar Assad’s regime must submit a full inventory within a week. Should his government find that deadline too exacting, Vladimir Putin’s former colleagues in the SVR, the successor organisation to the KGB, can probably help out. Then the weapons must be destroyed or removed by mid-2014. If Syria fails to comply with these terms it will face a chapter seven resolution in the UN Security Council which, for those who have not looked at their copy of the organisation’s charter since 2003, is the one that covers the use of force. Compliance will be in the eye of the beholder.

Greece says primary budget surplus means it on track to hit EU-IMF targets

By Harry Papachristou and Lefteris Papadimas

ATHENS | Tue Sep 10, 2013 5:53am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece said on Tuesday its budget was in surplus, not counting interest payments, and that it was on course to hit fiscal targets and fulfill conditions to seek additional debt relief from its international lenders.

The central government had a primary budget surplus of 2.92 billion euros ($3.87 billion) between January and August, the finance ministry said.

Can China lead Greece out of darkness?

9 September 2013 Last updated at 00:57 GMT

Mark Lowen

By Mark Lowen

BBC News, Athens

At Greece's southern port of Piraeus, the Chinese have arrived.

Rail-mounted cranes use a complex system of ropes and pulleys to offload containers from cargo ships onto lorries.

The equipment was built by China's state-run shipping company, Cosco, which paid 500m euros (£426m) to upgrade and run the terminal. It is Greece's largest inward investment and gives China a key access point to Europe.

Draghi cautious on recovery, says ECB ready to act

By Eva Taylor and Sakari Suoninen

FRANKFURT | Thu Sep 5, 2013 11:51am EDT

(Reuters) - The European Central Bank said on Thursday it was ready to cut interest rates or pump more money into the euro zone economy if needed to bring money market rates down and help the euro zone's "very, very green" recovery.

The bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent, as expected by all 60 economists polled by Reuters.

Analysis: How much Europe is too much Europe?

By Luke Baker

BRUSSELS | Sun Sep 1, 2013 2:03pm EDT

(Reuters) - In the dark days of Europe's debt crisis in 2012, when it seemed Greece might be forced out of the euro and the single currency could implode, leaders believed "more Europe" was the only answer.

Merkel Blames SPD’s Schroeder for Letting Greece Into the Euro

By Stefan Nicola - Aug 28, 2013 1:00 AM GMT+0300

German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to pin the blame for the euro-region’s debt turmoil on her Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, saying he should never have let Greece into the single currency area.

Merkel, addressing a campaign rally in the northern German town of Rendsburg yesterday, said the debt crisis that emerged in Greece in late 2009 and dominated her second term had been “brewing for many years” going back to the euro’s inception.

Greece on Track for More Aid, Official Says

August 26, 2013

By JACK EWING

The New York Times

BERLIN — The highest-ranking German in the European Central Bank said Monday that Greece could be eligible for additional aid and debt relief next year if it continued to fulfill promises made for the assistance it was already receiving.

This Age of Bubbles

August 22, 2013

By PAUL KRUGMAN

The New York Times

So, another BRIC hits the wall. Actually, I’ve never much liked the whole “BRIC” — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — concept: Russia, which is basically a petro-economy, doesn’t belong there at all, and there are large differences among the other three. Still, it’s hard to deny that India, Brazil, and a number of other countries are now experiencing similar problems. And those shared problems define the economic crisis du jour.

Greece could return to debt market in late 2014, Stournaras says

BERLIN | Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:11am EDT

(Reuters) - Greece could return to debt markets to test the water in the second half of 2014 if his country returns to growth in the first half of next year and manages a primary surplus, its finance minister said in a German media interview out on Monday.