Athens Informer

The media in Greece can only be considered “partly free,” the democracy watchdog group Freedom House said in its annual report yesterday. “Political unrest and financial pressures brought on by the European economic crisis took a toll on media freedom… Full News here – Kathimerini English

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Main opposition Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras’ speech and press conference at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair captured broad media attention, with pro-memorandum dailies charging that Tsipras promised everything to everyone. But the crux of Tsipras’ message was that the bailout memorandum, along with the new, 11.5 million euro budget cuts package, is leading the economy and [...]

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The winding road toward approval of the 11.5 billion euro budget cuts package and various developments that might help inject liquidity into the Greek economy dominated the headlines of Athens dailies. A 1.4 billion loan from the European Investment bank was intensely covered. About 750 million of that will be disbursed immediately and the rest [...]

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The troika’s hardline stance on the mammoth budget cuts package continued to preoccupy the press, even as the normally docile President Karolos Papoulias spoke out against the demands for ever greater austerity by the country’s lenders, which he called a “merciless lashing”. All eyes were on tonight’s scheduled meeting between Premier Antonis Samaras and the [...]

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The Athens press was again abuzz with the outlandish demands of the dread troika, which thirsts for the blood of civil servants. Greece’s lenders want direct sackings, and they want them now, the press reported. To make matters worse, the word is that a move to raise the retirement age by two years (from the [...]

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The troika is back and it is lashing out with a vengeance against Greek senior citizens and civil servants, demanding sackings and an extra 2.5 billion euros in budget cuts. They had already made sure to decimate the income of pensioners – both public and private sector – thus transforming Greeks’ golden years into rust. [...]

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Can the queen of neo-liberalism be a bleeding heart liberal? Well, that’s what Angela Merkel would like us to think, at least if one is to believe the reports in the Athens press. The German chancellor is quoted in dailies as having said that, “My heart bleeds for Greece”. The full quote reads, “One’s heart [...]

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Judging by the headlines in the Athens press, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ first European tour was all about the environment, or at least about climate change. The general consensus was that Samaras managed to “change the climate”, and “break the ice” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Full News here – Athens news – News

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The Athens press focused on today’s meeting between Premier Antonis Samaras and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, as well as yesterday’s talks between French President Francois Hollande and Merkel, also in the German capital. The consensus, based on yesterday’s brief remarks by Merkel and Hollande, was that the Franco-German axis will insist on full implementation [...]

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Wednesday’s talks between Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras dominated headlines in the Athens press. Judging by his statements, one would conclude that Juncker is something between Lord Byron and Saint Stephen, a man pierced by the deadly arrows of those who want Greece out of the euro, because of his passionate [...]

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Yesterday’s meeting in Berlin between Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, captured broad media attention. The dailies reported that the climate was good in the talks, which essentially prepared the way for Premier Antonis Samaras’ meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday. Full News here – Athens news – News

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Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ scheduled meetings this week with top EU officials dominated headlines, as did the long list of draconian budget cuts with which he hopes to persuade Greece’s lenders to agree to a two-year extension of the fiscal adjustment period. Like the government, the press pinned great hopes on Samaras’ scheduled meetings with [...]

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The Athens press focused on the question that has preoccupied everyone for months – will the euro survive? The problem is that no one is quite sure what the German economic elite wants, but everyone knows that the ball is in Berlin’s court. Given that, much attention was paid to the upcoming meeting between German [...]

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As Greeks prepared to celebrate tomorrow’s feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary – one of the year’s biggest religious holidays – the Athens press offered a motley array of front page stories, which largely veered away from the depressing new measures that will further decimate the income of millions of Greeks (mainly the [...]

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The dreaded labour reserve as a means to cut government spending is back on the table of negotiations with the troika, and most of the Athens press focused on it like a laser beam. The issue caused friction at yesterday’s meeting between the leaders of the three coalition parties – Premier Antonis Samaras, Pasok leader [...]

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