Public sphere

Deputy Prime Minister Giannis Dragasakis told the pro-government radio station Sto Kokkino on Friday Greeks are faced with a crucial choice that they need to make amid a climate of pressure and “blackmail”.

The Serbian government on Thursday adopted a decision on launching the initiative for privatization of the telecommunications company Telekom Srbija.

The government website said that the Ministry of Economy and the Privatization Agency have been tasked with implementing this decision.

After agreeing to yield measures worth 8 bln euros, the government has set up a minefield of VAT increases. VAT increases to food items are particularly tricky with hidden details aimed at yielding 2 bln euros in 15 months!

Here are the government’s hidden tax shocks:

– 45% hike to VAT at Aegean islands

“Anti-austerity”, distinctly anti-capitalist and mostly government-friendly the one day, “pro-Europe” with significant whiffs of anti-government and … anti-communist fervor the next day — so goes the “dueling” rallies in front of Greece’s Parliament.

The political climate in Brussels may be positive towards the Greek side after the latest proposal submission — or so the early afternoon ‘spin’ held — nevertheless government sources later in the afternoon switched gears and attempted to keep expectations low.

Several thousand demonstrators gathered in Brussels on Sunday and several hundred in Amsterdam to plead for solidarity with cash-strapped Greece on the eve of a make-or-break summit with European leaders.

Addressing the crowd in Amsterdam, veteran Greek MEP Manolis Glezos urged Athens' creditors to give the country «one more year» to resolve its debt crisis.

Public sector union ADEDY is holding a rally at 7 p.m. on Sunday at Syntagma square. The group’s announcement states that “workers cannot remain spectators towards plans at their expense. They need to give a fight to reverse the memoranda policies of austerity and support the popular needs.”

Another anti-austerity protest and a demonstration in support of Greece remaining in the euro are due to take place on Sunday and Monday respectively.

The anti-austerity protest, which is supported by SYRIZA, has been planned for 7.30 p.m. on Sunday in Syntagma Square.

Its main slogan is ?Democracy cannot be blackmailed.?

A day after a pro-government rally in central Athens across from Parliament, unofficially dubbed an “anti-austerity” protest, a second rally comes on Thursday evening  under the theme “We’re staying in Europe”.

Ivan Tasovac, Serbia's Minister of Culture and Information, said state-owned media must submit the necessary documentation for their sale immediately and the process of privatization ought to be completed in four months. Media outlets that fail to submit the requisite documents by June 19 risk being shut down.