Just wish the Greek pols had the same nerve that the Unions have to fight the good fight and not just bend over to the Troikans.....

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/56837

Clash over power corp privatisation

10 Jul 2012

President of DEI union Fotopoulos threatens DEI strike this summer The trade union head in the Public Power Corporation (DEI) has threatened to strike and cause summer blackouts if the government takes moves to privatise the electric company.   Speaking to radio station Alpha 98,9, Nikos Fotopoulos described the strike as "legitimate weapon, and a constitutional right " and invited the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to prove that Greek consumers would have cheaper power if electricity was privatised.   Fotopoulos also accused Prime Minister Samaras of choosing the easy target of the unions, rather than the more daunting challenge of taking on big corporations.   Government spokesman Kedikoglou Simos said that "the government will not leave people unprotected and vulnerable,” adding that the country will not succumb to threats and blackmail.   Simos called Fotopoulos an “alter ego” of Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, and declared that both men have a proclivity for making dramatic threats to the public.   Regarding potential blackouts, Fotopoulos said: "We will fight on behalf of the poor and the unemployed.” He also said that the union will fight to save the company and maintain it as a public entity.   DEI has said it will be sending out a seperate bill for the property tax in the near future. Last year the property tax was incorporated into electicity bills.  The finance ministry is currently evaluating a 5 installments payment plan for the tax. The government is also considering not cutting off power for those who are unable to make their tax payment. (Athens News). and...... Eurogroup puts off looking at Greek program until September Eurozone finance ministers will discuss Greece’s bailout program in September after the troika has completed its inspection in Athens, the Eurogroup decided on Monday. The troika is due to deliver a report on the state of the Greek program by the end of the month. This will form the basis for discussions between the Greek government and its lenders in August, when they are due to decide on possible changes to the program, such as an extension to the fiscal adjustment period. The head of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, confirmed that Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras «did not make any requests during tonight's Eurogroup meeting» with regards to the Greek program but emphasized the government’s determination to «take the necessary measures to get the program back on track». Juncker said the issue would be discussed in greater detail in September. He also said a solution would be found for the 3.2-billion-euro Greek bond held by the European Central Bank, which matures on August 20. "There is no need to worry about Greece's obligations» he said, without explaining how this bond would be paid. Kathimerini understands that either a clause will be triggered, extending the maturity by a month, or the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will step in to pay it. The eurozone ministers also agreed early on Tuesday to grant Spain an extra year until 2014 to reach its deficit reduction targets in exchange for further budget savings and set the parameters of an aid package for Madrid's ailing banks. No final figure was agreed for aid to ailing Spanish lenders, weighed down by bad debts due to a housing crash and recession, but the EU has set a maximum of 100 billion euros and some 30 billion euros would be available by the end of July if there was an urgent need. A final loan agreement will be signed on or around July 20, said Juncker. Ministers agreed that once a single European banking supervisor is set up next year, Spanish banks could be directly recapitalised from the euro zone rescue fund without requiring a state guarantee. That fulfils an EU summit mandate to try to break a so-called «doom loop» of mutual dependency between weak banks and over indebted sovereigns, but represented a climbdown for hardline north European creditor countries. “We reaffirm our strong commitment to do whatever is necessary to ensure the financial stability of the euro area, in particular through the flexible and efficient use of existing EFSF/ESM instruments for Member States respecting their Country Specific Recommendations and their other commitments including their respective timelines, under the European Semester, the Stability and Growth Pact and the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure,” said the Eurogroup statement. “The Eurogroup has today reached a political understanding on the draft MoU underlying the financial assistance for the recapitalisation of financial institutions for Spain, to be provided via the EFSF until the ESM becomes available and then transferred to the ESM without gaining seniority status. The Eurogroup envisages providing the final approval of the programme by 20 July, after national procedures have been completed. The Eurogroup supports the recently adopted Commission recommendation to extend the deadline for the correction of the excessive deficit in Spain by one year to 2014,” the ministers added. “In order to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns, technical discussions on the future ESM direct bank recapitalisation instrument will also start in September so that the ESM could, following a regular decision, have the possibility to recapitalise banks directly once an effective single supervisory mechanism is established.” Leaders to discuss bailout strategy with Stournaras Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is to brief Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and the leaders of the other two parties in the coalition government on Wednesday at 7 p.m. following the former’s first meeting with his eurozone peers in Brussels, where he was told that Greece must implement agreed-to measures worth around 3 billion euros before international creditors will consider any concessions. “They want us to implement the measures we committed to for 2012,” Stournaras told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of European Union finance ministers in Brussels yesterday, referring to a batch of measures that were thrashed out in March but most of which have yet to be implemented. Of those measures, only cuts to pensions have been enforced. Authorities still have to make good on cutting spending on pharmaceuticals by 1 billion euros, to save 200 million euros by cutting the so-called “special salaries” of certain categories of civil servants such as military and judicial staff, to reduce defense spending by 300 million euros, to curb a public investment program by 400 million euros and to cut the state’s operational costs by 370 million euros. Stournaras and the coalition leaders - Samaras, socialist PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis - are expected to focus on the minister’s talks in Brussels and on the call for measures. According to sources, efforts will be made to ensure that citizens with outstanding tax dues can pay them in installments and to avert cuts to certain categories of the “special-salary” civil servants, such as military and police staff. Stournaras said the government would be able to propose alternative measures to those agreed as long as they amount to the same revenue. “We are considering the measures and we will fight to be able to impose them in installments,” he said. The minister did not request an extension to the country’s fiscal adjustment period, which is believed to have irked Venizelos, at whose initiative today’s meeting with Stournaras was convened, according to sources. But the minister said that he would broach the subject in due course. “When the time comes, the issue of an extension will be raised persistently because it is only fair,” he said, adding that a report by creditors into the cost of an extension and its repercussions on debt sustainability was in the pipeline. here's how Greece should "negotiate "  with the Troika......