Bailout

The recent court decisions vindicating pensioners over the cuts they sustained under the second bailout program, and the upcoming verdict of the Council of State over the Katrougalos law are causing serious turmoil in the political system, as they may not only upset this year's budget but also those of the years to come, along with sinking the country's social security system.

The government's promises of fresh handouts ahead of next years's general elections have reportedly annoyed officials in Brussels and are rattling investors, with analysts warning they will serve as another obstacle to Greece's bid to tap international markets.

No reasonable person can argue that the Greek state will ever be in a position to retroactively return to the country's pensioners the money they have lost as a result of repeated cuts under the bailout programs. Alas.

As a result, it is extremely unfair - not to say cynical - that a politician would seek to woo voters, suggesting that he could make it happen if re-elected to power.

The European Central Bank lowered the ceiling on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) Greek banks draw from the domestic central bank by 100 million euros to 4.9 billion euros ($5.60 billion), the Bank of Greece said on Thursday.

Ten European Union finance ministers want any unsustainable public debt in the eurozone to undergo restructuring, with losses imposed on the private sector, before a public bailout is organized, a joint position paper by the 10 ministers said.

Greece is struggling to follow the example of other eurozone countries that have emerged from bailout programs and are now comfortably able to issue short- and long-term debt on the money markets.

The government is considering popular measures such as extending the protection of main residences to all, a new 120-tranche debt payment scheme, increasing the amount of farmers' protected bank deposits to 10,000 euros, and early heating oil subsidy payments in order to change the political agenda and put a stop to the rise in New Democracy's popularity.

The European Central Bank lowered the ceiling on emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) Greek banks draw from the domestic central bank by 200 million euros to 5.0 billion euros ($5.74 billion), the Bank of Greece said on Wednesday.

The eurozone's European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bailout fund on Friday issued a statement denying recent press reports it was taking part in preparatory work for a possible intervention plan in favor of Greek banks.

Greek banking shares are down sharply amid investor fears over lenders' needs to reduce their large stock of bad loans resulting from the financial crisis.