Greece’s creditors are eagerly anticipating the first firm figures from the Finance Ministry on the impact of measures implemented to battle the recession, although the early signs are disappointing, with the size of the 2011 budget deficit ranging between 9.5 and 10.7 percent.
The failure to contain the deficit even to the revised target of 9 percent of gross domestic product signifies the urgent need for yet more measures, starting from 2 billion euros and rising according to the level of the 2011 deficit.
The possible measures include the curtailing of auxiliary pensions, new cuts to public sector salaries, a more aggressive policy for the closure of state bodies deemed ineffective, direct dismissals (since the labor reserve system has not borne fruit), immediate cuts to social and welfare benefits amounting to some 14 billion euros per year, a further decline in pharmaceutical and medical expenditure, cuts to defense spending and slashing more tax exemptions.
Two people are in intensive care and another 11 are being treated for minor injuries after an explosion in a taverna on the island of Salamina, off the coast of Piraeus, on Sunday morning.
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A bomb went of on the street where the Greek embassy in Tripoli, Libya, is located but the building was not damaged and there were no injuries, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
"This l...
Germany's Bjoern Otto recorded the world's leading performance in the men's pole vault at the Athens Street Pole Vault event that took place at Zappio, in central Athens, on Saturday afterno...
PAS Giannina upset PAOK at Thessaloniki on Sunday to take the lead at the Super League play-offs, while Asteras Tripolis rebounded from its loss at Ioannina in midweek to defeat Atromitos at...
Certain people have created a monster and now, when they observe it, they wonder what it is. Golden Dawn, along with all its slogans and behavior, is the work of many, not one single person....
The country has a unique opportunity to turn the page. Society has displayed incredible maturity and responsibility, despite all the hardships. Reforms which had been under discussion for de...
