Athens News starts a 24 hour strike on Wednesday July 25th....Barosso comes to town on Thursday .... Samaras admits what everyone has known - like Lucy did to Charlie Brown every time - away goes the football ........ items from the desk of Captain Obvious......

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/57197 24-hour strike at the Athens News 25 Jul 2012 Staff vote to go on strike because they have not been paid for almost two months The staff of the Athens News will be on a 24-hour strike on Wednesday July 25. Staff took this decision because they have not been paid their salaries for almost two months. Nor have they received their statutory summer pay entitlement. In addition, freelance staff at the newspaper were last paid in April. The strike action will mean that the newspaper’s newsroom and classifieds office will be closed and that our website,AthensNews.gr, will not be updated from 6am on July 25 to 6am the following day. The print edition of the newspaper will be published on Friday, as normal, but with 40 instead of the regular 48 pages. Staff regret any inconvenience to our loyal readers and would like to assure them that they remain dedicated to the newspaper’s objective of reporting on Greece in English, as they have done in the sixty years since the title was established in 1952. (Athens News) and from the desk of Captain Obvious..... EU officials say economy will need more debt restructuring 24 Jul 2012 The economy is significantly off from reaching the 2020 goal, an EU official has said (file photo) Greece is unlikely to be able to pay what it owes and further debt restructuring is likely to be necessary, three EU officials said on Tuesday, a cost that would have to fall on the European Central Bank and euro zone governments. The officials said the country would be found to be way off track by EU and International Monetary Fund officials who have been assessing its financial condition. Inspectors from the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF, returned to Athens on Tuesday and will complete their debt-sustainability analysis next month, but the sources said the conclusions were already becoming clear. It means the country's official-sector creditors - the ECB and euro zone governments - will have to restructure some of the estimated 200 billion euros of Greek government debt they own, if Athens is to be put back on a sustainable footing. But there is no willingness among member states or the ECB to take such dramatic action at this stage. "Greece is hugely off track," one of the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "The debt-sustainability analysis will be pretty terrible." Another official pointed to the latest growth estimates from Athens, which show the economy contracting by 7 percent this year rather than the 5 percent previously forecast, meaning that the debt burden is only increasing in relation to GDP. "Nothing has been done in Greece for the past three or four months," said the official, referring to the delays caused by the two elections held since May. "The situation just goes from bad to worse, and with it the debt ratio," said the official, a policymaker directly involved in trying to find solutions to the crisis. Diminishing options Under the terms of the second bailout agreement struck with the EU and IMF in February, Greece committed itself to further spending cuts and tax increases in exchange for a 100-billion-euro reduction in its debts. The restructuring involved private-sector owners of government bonds accepting losses of up to 70 percent on their holdings, with the aim of reducing the debt ratio from around 160 percent of GDP to below 120 percent by 2020 - a level the IMF has deemed sustainable in the long-term. But Greece is significantly far off  from reaching that 2020 goal, the officials said. One estimated that the overshoot could be up to 10 percentage points, equivalent to around 30 billion euros. As a result, the IMF could decide to pull out of the second bailout programme, having already said that further missed targets would not be acceptable. That would leave euro zone member states and the ECB to bear the cost alone. In that case, the only way to keep Greece afloat and in the euro zone would be for the ECB and member states to write off some of the Greek debt they own, or change the terms to give the country ever more time to pay back at lower interest rates. "This has not been explored yet politically because no one wants to launch that discussion," the first official said. "The political feasibility of carrying out an official-sector restructuring is becoming more and more complicated." Even though no formal discussions have begun over so-called official-sector involvement, two possibilities have been mentioned - the ECB taking a writedown on the estimated 40 billion euros of Greek bonds it holds, or member states improving the terms on their loans to Greece. But the officials Reuters spoke to, listed six member states who are firmly opposed to extending Greece further lifelines, not only because of the country's persistent missing of targets, but because the costs will soon be born directly by taxpayers. "The political dynamics are really going against the economic dynamics," one source said. "The economic arguments may be clear - we need to restructure Greece's debt if it is to be sustainable - but politically there's no willingness." That returns the debate to whether Greece, after 2-1/2 years of crisis and two attempts to overhaul its economy with multi-billion-euro rescues, will stay in the euro zone in the long term. (Reuters) and more from the desk of Captain Obvious..... Government stance encourages troika, Syriza say 24 Jul 2012 Syriza once more stressed that the road of the memorandum, was leading the country out of the euro (file photo) Syriza warned on Tuesday that the EU/IMF Troika, was returning to Athens to oversee the terms of implementation of the 11 billion euro package of measures that the "memorandum government was supposedly going to renegotiate". Press party pokesman Panos Skourletis accused the coalition government of having encouraged the troika with its stance, ignoring the message of the recent general elections that condemned the memorandum policies. The result of this, Skourletis said, was that the country's lenders strong-armed the government by demanding an additional 5 billion euros in measures. He said that by continuing on the path of the memorandum was absolutely irrational and warned that this would lead to Greece's exit from the euro. Skourletis reiterated Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras' call for an EU summit on Greece, in order to negotiate a halt on the repayment of Greek debt and re-planning of the European policy on the crisis. Government lied to the people, says Milios Meanwhile, party member Yiannis Milios accused the government of lying and misleading the Greek electorate concerning the issue of negotiating an extension of bailout loans to Greece. Milios based his claims on the updated tables for  the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) financial activities posted on the Internet, according to which Greece entered into an 'extended arrangement' on March 15, 2012 (before the elections in May and then June) for 23.78 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) - a sum equivalent to roughly 29.50 billion euro - until March 14, 2016. According to Milios, the Greek electorate was not informed of the existence of this arrangement but subjected to daily promises by government members that they would 'renegotiate' an extension of the period of the bailout. He suggested that the government had deliberately concealed the arrangements decided before the elections in order to later present them as a negotiated extension of the bailout programme. (AMNA) and....... MY WORK HERE IS DONE - Captain-Obvious Troika arrives, further cuts, new restructuring may be needed  The visit by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to Athens this week will be the first to the debt-wracked country in three years Troika officials arrived in Athens on Tuesday to conclude an inspection on Greece’s fiscal program, as the government hoped that a visit by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday might help lift the gloom surrounding the country’s economic prospects and chances of remaining in the euro. The troika inspectors met with officials from the State General Accounting Office (SGAO), Finance Ministry and the latter’s General Secretariat for Information Systems. Their first task is to agree on the macreconomic data that will underscore the program. Sources said that the Finance Ministry believes the economy will contract by 6.2 percent of GDP this year, compared to a forecast of 4.8 percent. It forecasts a 0.9 percent contraction for 2013 and growth of 2 percent in 2015. The troika will then attempt to work out if the deficit reduction target for this year can be achieved with just the measures that have been agreed or whether more will be required. The same will apply for the 11.5 billion euros in cuts for 2013 and 2014. The government believes that no new measures are required this year but officials at the SGAO believe that cuts for 2013 and 2014 may need to reach 14 billion euros. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is due to meet the troika representatives on Thursday, when he will outline the savings for the next two years but details will not be given until inspectors return after August 20 to wrap up negotiations. The issue of the sustainability of the Greek program and the country’s debt is also likely to come up during discussions. The matter was raised by European officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity on Tuesday. “Greece is hugely off track,” one of the officials said. ”The debt-sustainability analysis will be pretty terrible.” The official suggested that the restructuring of Greece’s official sector debt, held by the European Central Bank and its eurozone partners, could be a way to tackle the problem. ”This has not been explored yet politically because no one wants to launch that discussion,” the official said. Greece’s privately-held debt underwent a haircut earlier this year with the aim of reducing its debt from about 160 percent of GDP to below 120 percent by 2020, which the International Monetary Fund has deemed sustainable in the long-term. Meanwhile, the government is hoping that Barroso’s visit will help improve the negative feeling about Greece within the eurozone. According to sources close to Samaras, Barroso’s decision to visit Athens is being interpreted as a gesture of political support for Greece. But Barroso’s spokesman played down the significance of the visit, the first by Barroso to Greece in three years, noting that it was part of the official’s “regular contacts.” Samaras and Barroso spoke by telephone on Tuesday, according to sources in the premier’s office who said that the two men would meet on Thursday afternoon before having a working dinner. It is expected that Samaras will press Barroso to make good on pledges to boost sluggish growth in Greece and raise the possibility of future renegotiation of some of the terms of the country’s bailout. The meeting will come just a few hours before Samaras’s scheduled meeting on Friday with troika representatives. ekathimerini.com , Tuesday Jul 24, 2012 (22:47)   and..... PM rules out bailout changes for now Prime Minister Antonis Samaras made it clear to his party’s MPs on Tuesday that the government has no intention of attempting to renegotiate Greece’s bailout terms at the moment and would prefer to wait until it can do so from a position of greater strength. Addressing New Democracy’s parliamentary group, Samaras said that Greece would have nothing to gain by trying to convince its lenders at the moment to change the loan agreement. “We will not aim for a renegotiation from a position of greater weakness and exasperation,” he said. In a speech aimed at domestic and international audiences, Samaras struck traditional conservative themes by saying that the government would defend the “right to work” following the police’s intervention to end the Halyvourgia steel plant strike. He also pledged to lower unemployment from 23 percent to 10 percent within four years. With regard to those who might have been watching from abroad, the prime minister accused foreign politicians who speculate about Greece’s eurozone membership of “undermining” the country. Speaking at a meeting of PASOK’s political secretariat, Samaras’s coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos stressed the need for Greece not to become an election tool for Northern European politicians. “We cannot let Europe’s position on Greece be affected by the upcoming elections in the Netherlands or by the fact that Germany is entering a pre-election period,” he said. Like Samaras, Venizelos also attacked leftist SYRIZA, labeling it an “irresponsible” opposition party. SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis accused the government of conceding ground to the troika and allowing Greece’s lenders to “blackmail” the coalition over new austerity measures.

ekathimerini.com , Tuesday Jul 24, 2012 (22:05)