Yiannis Mouzakis via MacroPolis | Last July the conditionality of Greece’s third programme included savings of 1 percent of GDP from pensions. It did not require any major fortune telling skills to anticipate that this would soon lead the government of Alexis Tsipras into an extremely tense situation.
Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | For some years now, and especially over the last 12 months, Greece has acted as Europe’s lifeguard, first aid provider and gravedigger. It seems, though, that the strain of the refugee crisis means Greece’s European partners also want it to serve as a prison warden.
Yiannis Mouzakis via Macropolis | The IMF formally announced last week that it changed the policy of exceptional access criteria, in essence reversing a highly political decision of the Fund back in 2010, a decision that saved the euro and paved the path for half a decade of economic devastation that sealed Greece’s fate.
Yiannis Mouzakis via Macropolis | During 2015, Greece’s ability to meet its debt obligations became one of the most drama-ridden aspects of a story that started unfolding when SYRIZA won the January elections.
Nick Malkoutzis via Macropolis | There are probably a number of officials in European capitals, and perhaps Washington, who have been scratching their heads over the past few days after the Greek government indicated that it would prefer the International Monetary Fund not to be involved in the country’s bailout.
The Agora via Macropolis | Two of the key participants in Greece’s financing programme, the European Stability Mechanism’s Klaus Regling and the head of the Eurogroup Working Group Thomas Wieser, gave interviews to two Greek Sunday newspapers in which they covered a wide range of issues relating to the latest developments in Greece.
Jens Bastian via Macropolis | Portugal and Greece are geographically located at the opposite ends of the eurozone’s southern periphery. In the course of the past five years, both countries had to confront various political calamities and economic crises, culminating in having to seek financial assistance from international official creditors.
One of the main reasons that Alexis Tsipras wanted to hold elections as soon as possible after agreeing the third bailout in August was that it gave him the best chance of obtaining a fresh mandate before the impact of the latest set of fiscal measures was felt by the average voter.