Athens government

Velizar Enchev, an MP who quit the nationalist coalition Patriotic Front (PF) last year, has announced he is due to set up his new organization on April 4-5.

The entity is due to be founded in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria lying in the north-central part of the country.

The European Commission’s representative in the EC-ECB-IMF troika negotiating with the Greek government has vetoed measures envisioned by the new Greek government to alleviate what the latter calls the “humanitarian crisis” in the country.

The level of deposits in Greek banks dropped by 12.2 billion euros in January, leaving 155.5 billion euros in the vaults, according to the ECB.

This reduction is attributed to political uncertainty ahead of the Jan. 25 election and the subsequent clash between the new Athens government and its eurozone creditors.

By Jan Strupczewski & Matthias Sobolewski

Greece secured a four-month extension of its financial rescue on Tuesday when its euro zone partners approved a reform plan that backed down on key leftist measures and promised that spending to alleviate social distress would not derail its budget.

Greece secured a four-month extension of its financial rescue yesterday when its eurozone partners approved a reform plan that backed down on key leftist measures and promised that spending to alleviate social distress would not derail its budget.

Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis continued to express optimism over reaching an agreement with eurozone creditors following the sudden and disappointing Eurogroup meeting on Monday in Brussels.

Greece might secure a further safety net of credit from its eurozone partners if it manages to meet the strict terms required to exit its bailout at the end of this year, a source close to discussions told Reuters yesterday.

Kudret Ozersay was on Wednesday sacked as chief Turkish-Cypriot negotiator in talks to reunify the Mediterranean island, according to reports in the local media.

The decision, made by Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, came a few days after Ozersay announced his intention to run in next year’s elections for the Turkish-Cypriot leadership.