News archive of October 2019

The UN Secretary-General's report on the work of UNMIK for the period 16 May 2019 to 15 September this year will be discussed at the session.

International rating agency Moody's on Thursday described Greece's planned early repayment of part of the loans issued by the International Monetary Fund as a "credit positive." Amounting to 2.7 billion euros, the payment was approved on Monday by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Greek households and businesses paid 76 billion euros in taxes and social security contributions last year, according to a study by Eurostat that placed Greece among the countries with the highest burden on taxpayers.

The Energy Ministry presented a new bill on the electricity market on Thursday that introduces a series of important shifts, including an end to the ban on dismissals of staff hired at the Public Power Corporation (PPC) from now on.

October was another month of growth for the main index of the Greek bourse, leading to gains of 1.63 percent. Almost half of that growth came through Thursday's advance, which was once again led by bank stocks. Meager though the monthly growth may seem, it has taken the benchmark's gains since the start of the year to almost 44 percent.

Greek MPs were on Thursday night poised to approve a government bill aimed at easing pressure on the Aegean islands by speeding up asylum procedures and returns of migrants not meriting international protection to Turkey. 

Last Thursday the prime minister invited the heads of Greek banks to his office to discuss exorbitant fees even for the simplest electronic services.

Prior to that there was a deluge of customer complaints when they discovered that banks exacted a fee even for an electronic printout of their account balances.

Greece and Israel are on the same page regarding the situation in the wider region and on the need to find "new ways" to further increase military cooperation between the two countries, according to Israeli diplomatic sources' comments following visiting Foreign Minister Israel Katz's round of talks in Athens Thursday.

Greece plans to split its natural gas company DEPA into two separate entities, its distribution grid and its commercial operations, the country's deputy energy minister said on Thursday.

I am not sure why Kostas Karamanlis has decided to resume an active public role at this point in time. Following his recent speech at the Society for Macedonian Studies in Thessaloniki, he is due for another appearance next Wednesday at City, University of London, while he may also speak at Tufts Fletcher School in Boston at a later date as well.