Yiannis Boutaris

The Radical Left Coalition’s (SYRIZA) transition from a vibrant, youthful idealistic party to a supporter of the third bailout has caused existential problems amongst its younger members.

September’s victory lacked the jubilance of the January election with most of its younger set choosing to distance itself from the party’s failed promises and rapid U-turn to austerity.

With the country?s cash reserves running dangerously low, the union representing Greece?s municipalities voted over the weekend against handing over their cash reserves in line with a decree issued by the government last month obliging state entities to transfer their spare money to the Bank of Greece.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly said he is prepared to reopen the Greek Orthodox Seminary of Halki off the coast of Istanbul if Greece opens a mosque in Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris believes that the government?s behavior is ?completely crazy? but he has nevertheless led the way among peers in transferring his municipality?s cash reserves to the Bank of Greece, where the government can use them for short-term borrowing.

Mayors insisted on Tuesday that they would not allow their municipalities? cash reserves to be transferred to the Bank of Greece, as the government wants, at least until they have held a meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Thessaloniki mayor Yiannis Boutaris, a late political bloomer best described as a “maverick”, has been voted as the eighth best mayor worldwide by the City Mayors Foundation.
In fact, the outspoken northern metropolis’ “first citizen” won the distinction in a public vote out of 26 candidates.
The “top three” were the mayors of Calgary, Ghent and Surabaya.

Yiannis Boutaris, Thessaloniki’s outspoken mayor, has posed half-naked for a photo shoot in the context of an AIDS awareness campaign.

The pictures of Boutaris and another 31 public figures are to be published on Sunday in Adore magazine, which is published with the city’s Makedonia newspaper.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris (photo) revealed at a meeting of the city’s municipal council on Tuesday that checks on employees’ contracts have so far only revealed one case that might have breached regulations.

Police were called in on Wednesday to ensure that public administration inspectors in Thessaloniki could carry out checks on the work contracts of local authority employees.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris called Wednesday for the formation of a national unity government.