Greece update !

News bites @ 9

by Damian Mac Con Uladh 24 Jan 2012

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos shares a joke with the Spanish economy minister, Luis de Guindos, at the start of a Eurogroup meeting at the European Union council headquarters in Brussels, January 24 (Reuters) 1. DEBT-SWAP TALKS It’s back to the drawing board for negotiators on the talks to restructure the country’s state debts after eurozone finance ministers on Mondayrejected as insufficient an offer made by private bondholders. At the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, ministers said they could not accept bondholders' demands for a coupon of four percent on new, longer-dated bonds that are expected be issued in exchange for their existing Greek holdings. Banks and other private institutions represented by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) say a 4 percent coupon is the least they can accept if they are going to write down the nominal value of the debt they hold by 50 percent. The government says it is not prepared to pay a coupon of more than 3.5 percent, and eurozone finance ministers effectively backed that position, which the International Monetary Fund also supports. Some analysis say the move now raises the threat of default.   2. NEW DEADLINE The government now aims to submit a final debt swap offer to its private sector bondholders by February 13, a finance ministry official has said. "Intensive consultations with the private sector will continue ... aiming to submit an official offer by February 13," the unnamed official said.   3. PARTY PRESSURE The meeting also saw European officials signal they are seeking fresh commitments from the country’s main political parties that they will abide by austerity plans made in exchange for the second planned bailout package, worth 130bn euros. Coalition partners Pasok and New Democracy are at odds over austerity ahead of the general election, which is expected in April, with the former insisting more growth-friendly policies are possible while still meeting strict fiscal targets set by the troika. 4. SCHOOL BULLYING BOOM The rate of bullying in the country’s schools has increased significantly in less than a decade, according to a new study. The University Mental Health Research Institute (Epipsi) survey found that 8.5 percent of school children had been bullied by classmates at least twice in the past month. One in four boys said they had been involved in fights in the past year. "Between 2002 and 2010, we have observed a significant increase in the percentage of adolescents who report have acted as aggressors. The number of perpetrators rose from 9.1 percent in 2002, to 15.8 percent in 2010," the study found.   5. PHARMACIES PROTEST Pharmacies will be closed on Tuesday afternoon after the the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Society decided to call a strike to coincide with a debate in parliament on the deregulation of pharmacy working hours. Pharmacists say that if the amendment is passed it will endanger the provision of medicines and would not guarantee the operation of duty pharmacies at night and the weekends.   6. EX-BANK BOSS SUED Proton Bank, currently under liquidation, on Monday filed a suit against former major shareholder and board chairman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis and 12 other people, accusing them of a series of criminal-level offences that include breach of faith, fraud, morally instigating and acting as accomplices in these offences and forming a criminal organisation.   7. ANTIRABIES CAMPAIGN Authorities are to begin vaccinating dogs in the northwestern region of Epirus in order to stem the potential spread of rabies from neighbouring Albania. The rural development ministry on Monday said it is assisting the Epirus regional authorities in the campaign against the deadly virus, in what is described as a precautionary measure. Priority will be given to an area within 30km of the Albanian border. State and private veterinary service will be used to vaccinate herding dogs, strays and hunting dogs.   8. MUST READ A hotel security guard named Kostas witnesses a gang of violent men attack a group of defenceless women (who happen to be sex workers) outside the Athens hotel where he works. He was put in a spot after the women run into the hotel seeking refuge, they were followed by the men, so he tried to defuse the situation best he could, but ended up being attacked after the crowd left the building and was hospitalised. And how did his employer react? Read all about it on his blog.   9. HATZIDAKIS SOIREES Musical soirees featuring the work of composer Manos Hatzidakis are to be held at the Acropolis Museum on Thursday evenings during the month of February, as part of the museum's "One Day at the Acropolis Museum" programme. The performances, organised in collaboration with Technopolis, the Athens municipal cultural complex, will take place at 5pm on February 2, 9, 16 and 23, on the museum’s second-floor terrace, which has a view of the archaic sculpture gallery.