Greece news of note - January 28 , 2013..... Expect Greek politicians to keep nodding their heads and making all the right sounds , while still not selling off any assets or actually implementing any promised reforms or actually collecting taxes promised...... - right up the moment after they receive the Febuary tranche of welfare..

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-28/greek-tax-tzar-i-have-difficulty-paying-property-taxes

Greek Tax Tzar: "I Have Difficulty Paying Property Taxes"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2013 11:58 -0500

• Greece

While it may be a little early for humor this week, this was just too ridiculous to pass up.As Keep Talking Greece notes, Charis Theocharis - Greece's new revenues general secretary - recently appeared at a conference and made the rather intriguing "me neither" reply to an audience member's “I have no money to pay property taxes" comment. “Me too, as all of you, I have difficulties to pay the property taxes,” a rather perplexed Theocharis told the audience in an effort to continue his speech.

This follows former deputy PM Theodoros Pangalos, a PASOK MP for several decades, who had often claimed he could not pay property taxes for his more than 50 residences.

If those who have salaries cannot pay property taxes, what should the unemployed or the pensioner do who has a roof over his head but no other income?

and Greek news.......

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_28/01/2013_480876

Transport strike waning as other sectors limber up

 Farmers, doctors, seamen plan walkouts

Buses are seen immobilized at a depot in Athens on Monday.

Public transport services were gradually returning to normal on Monday after trolley bus workers went back to work and striking bus employees appeared to be wavering, but the government faces fresh upheaval in the coming days with a rash of strikes and walkouts by farmers, seamen, doctors and other civil servants looming.
Following the example of Athens metro staff, who called off a nine-day strike last Friday after the government issued a civil mobilization order, trolley bus employees returned to work on Monday following a court ruling deeming their protracted walkouts to be illegal. Workers on the buses were holding out until late Monday but a decision by engineers to suspend their strike action indicated that their united front was crumbling. The head of the union representing employees of the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA), Leonidas Skoulas, called on authorities to revoke the civil mobilization order imposed on striking metro workers last week, noting that “a head-on clash will not lead anywhere.”
A spokesman for the Transport Ministry expressed satisfaction that most transport unions were “listening to the voice of reason and going back to work” and said he was hopeful that bus staff would follow suit.
As farmers in central Greece parked their tractors near key road junctions, calling for dialogue with the government on a new law that revokes their tax breaks, sources close to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras indicated that authorities were not overly concerned about farmers’ action intensifying, dismissing as exaggerated television reports of unionists threatening to “cut the country in half” by blocking roads.
Meanwhile Agricultural Development Minister Athanasios Tsaftaris noted that the government already had taken steps to support farmers, disbursing half of a rebate on the special consumption tax on diesel and paying out more than 200 million euros in compensation for damaged crops. Unionists representing farmers met Monday with the head of Democratic Left, Fotis Kouvelis, and are to meet with PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos on Tuesday.
Meanwhile a host of other sectors are gearing up for strike action. The union representing employees of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), GENOP-DEI, has called a 24-hour strike for Thursday in solidarity with transport workers. Seamen will also walk off the job on Thursday, launching a 48-hour strike in protest at the government’s plan for coastal shipping which, they claim, will cut routes and jobs.

Doctors and nursing staff at state hospitals are to hold a 24-hour strike on Thursday to protest the government’s reorganization of the health sector, which has closed dozens of departments. Doctors and diagnostic centers working with the National Organization for Healthcare Provision (EOPYY) are due to strike the following day to protest a government plan to pay them 20 percent less than what they were owed by the social security funds that merged to form EOPYY. Also on Thursday, the civil servants’ union, ADEDY, has called a work stoppage from noon until 4 p.m. to protest health sector reforms. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_28/01/2013_480890 One in five mortgage loans turns bad  Households are increasingly unable to pay their debts due to economic conditions, increase in taxation  The National Bank loans that were affected by legislation for the protection of borrowers in weak social groups (with a suspension on auctions for debts below 200,000 euros) added up to 1.05 billion euros in September. By Yiannis Papadoyiannis The number of households who are unable to pay their debts is showing a meteoric rise due to the deterioration of economic conditions and the increase in taxation, with the difficulty being faced by many even to repaying mortgage loans showing the extent of the problem. Bank officials estimate that at the end of 2012 some 20 percent of borrowers were unable to service their housing loans, which amount to 15 billion euros. Another 11.1 billion euros in consumer loans is not being serviced as almost 37 percent of loans in this category are qualified as bad. The increase in nonperforming loans (NPLs) is an inescapable effect of the dire economic conditions and soaring unemployment that is approaching 27 percent. According to data from the National Bank of Greece, in September 2012 it had received 17,194 applications from clients to have their debts settled as they were unable to pay them. In December 2011 that number had stood at 5,930, which means the increase was more than 200 percent within just nine months. The National Bank loans that were affected by legislation for the protection of borrowers in weak social groups (with a suspension on auctions for debts below 200,000 euros) added up to 1.05 billion euros in September 2012, from 365.7 million euros in December 2011, representing an increase of 186 percent. The picture presented by National is but a reflection of the the general situation in the sector, hurting mostly the systemic banks: National, Eurobank, Alpha and Piraeus are facing a rapid deterioration in their loan portfolios. Bank officials told Kathimerini that in 2012 there was an expected slump in economic activity as a result of the back-to-back general elections in May and June and widespread concern about a possible Greek exit from the eurozone. The only redeeming feature is that in the last few months there has been a slowdown in the creation of new NPLs. However, for the picture to show a significant improvement, the market will immediately require growth policies (privatizations, the restarting of construction of major highways etc) that will bolster economic activity and contribute to creating jobs. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_28/01/2013_480894 Who is raising obstacles to sell-offs and why  It took TAIPED months to get the title deeds of the former royal estate at Tatoi in northern Attica, which were in the possession of the Agricultural Development Ministry’s Agrogi corporation. By Vangelis Mandravelis Although Greece has been discussing its privatization program for almost three years, precious little has materialized to date. In essence, the sell-off program is yet to start, given that the projects that have been completed were either necessary for the investors, as in the case of Deutsche Telekom, cell phone networks and the International Broadcasting Center, or concerned internal transfer of properties, such as OPAP’s exclusive rights. The first real privatization, if it is implemented, will be that of gaming company OPAP, which is expected to be completed within the first half of the year. It will bring foreign funds into the country while a series of state assets will be passed over into the hands of private investors. There are several factors that have been hampering this process. This is not just about the usual political reaction by parties or unionists and employees, who are by definition against any changes to their working status in state companies and corporations; this not about the traditional “national” procurers either – those who will need to find new means of doing business. The greatest reaction comes from the “rival business,” the type of entrepreneurship that despite having no dealings with the public sector finds it convenient to exist next to a lazy and slow state engine. A case in point is the companies offering Internet betting, which have been doing brisk business for years without any licenses or having to pay a single euro in taxes. They are strongly against the privatization of OPAP as they know very well that a private manager at the helm of the betting corporation would not be indifferent to the company’s interests, as has happened time and again with appointed managers at state-run OPAP. Another factor hampering sell-offs, which is possibly even more important, is that no one among the political elite, including the country’s governments, has really taken to privatizations. Given that they reduce the field of ministries’ control, government members were never excited about cooperating with the state privatization fund (TAIPED). Delays in the submission of documents for the properties to be privatized suffice to show the extent of departmental reluctance. It took TAIPED months to get the title deeds of the former royal estate at Tatoi in northern Attica, which were in the possession of the Agricultural Development Ministry’s Agrogi corporation. Furthermore, a number of authorized civil servants, with the blessing of their superiors (i.e. general secretaries, deputy ministers etc), took weeks or even months to respond to simple questions from the fund that were crucial for the promotion of the sell-off program. Reactions to and delays in the program are not always deliberate. The lack of know-how in the mass privatization of state assets has become obvious and has often generated discontent and embarrassment. Not only did the state lack the appropriate human resources to promote the program, but it was often unaware of the work that had to be done. For instance, the creation of an operation framework for the market even in the case of a monopoly, as in the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) and gas transmission network operator (DESFA) required the mobilization of an army of experts, mostly from the European Union, in order to avoid the possibility of replacing a state monopoly with a private one. It took dozens of legislative interventions and it is doubtful there may be any more than two or three people in Greece who could have handled them. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_28/01/2013_480895 Tranche for January gets EFSF nod The disbursement of the January bailout tranche of 9.2 billion euros was approved on Monday by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the funds are expected to be credited to a Bank of Greece account later this week. There was no formal announcement by the EFSF given that this forms part of an installment and not a new tranche as such. Its disbursement was practically taken for granted after the approval last week by the Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers. Out of this amount, some 7.2 billion euros will be supplied in EFSF bonds as they concern the recapitalization of banks, while the remaining 2 billion will come in the form of cash for coverage of budget needs and the repayment of the state’s dues to its suppliers. This week Greece has to present its revised midterm plan to secure the February tranche of 2.8 billion euros.