Politics of Greece

Greek universities are in a position to cooperate with Chinese universities on joint undergraduate and postgraduate programs, Education Minister Andreas Loverdos has said on a visit to China.

The Finance Ministry cleaners who have been protesting their placement in a labor reserve for the last few months have been officially fired, it emerged on Friday.

Some 600 cleaners have been engaged in a legal battle to regain their jobs but the government announced this week that their spell in the labor pool on reduced salaries had ended and that they would not be rehired.

Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos stressed on Friday that the government would not impose new austerity measures such as cuts to pensions and salaries and that a deal with the troika would be reached by the middle of this month.

Speculation about the government's prospects for achieving the 180-seat super-majority needed to elect a president peaked on Friday after several independent and opposition MPs indicated that they would be willing to back the coalition's candidate, thus contributing toward averting snap polls.

Dozens of ambulance workers in the northern port city of Thessaloniki gathered outside the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace on Thursday morning, demanding a meeting with the minister to express their concerns regarding the poor state of their fleet.

Although employment barriers have dropped significantly around the world, many young Greeks would still rather look for work in Greece, according to a survey carried out across 189 countries by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Network, which comprises 50 leading job websites including Greece’s skywalker.gr.

Greece's international lenders have asked for more information on pension reform to plug a potential budget gap next year, a government official said on Wednesday, as the two sides continue to haggle in a bailout review.

An Athens court has turned down a request by anarchist and convicted bank robber Nikos Romanos for a furlough to study at a technical college.

Romanos, 21, has been on hunger strike since November 10 after authorities rejected his application for an educational leave since he passed a university entry exam earlier this year. He is currently hospitalized at an Athens clinic.

Twelve people were arrested and 31 briefly detained late Tuesday after a protest march in support of anarchist and convicted robber Nikos Romanos, in central Athens, erupted into violence, police said.

Almost one in three of some 15,000 retail bondholders who lost around 75 percent of their savings when Greek sovereign debt underwent a haircut in 2012, known as the Private Sector Involvement (PSI), are now unable to pay their bank loans or tax bills, according to a survey carried out by the association that the investors have formed.