Monthly Archives: March 2015

Parliament will re-establish a committee whose purpose would be to examine Greece’s claims to Second World War reparations from Germany

Parliament speaker Zoe Constantopoulou submitted a proposal for the re-establishment and upgrade of a house committee whose purpose would be to examine Greece’s claims to Second World War reparations from Germany.

In her proposal, which is expected to be debated in parliament this week, Constantopoulou noted that the committee would continue collecting and organising historical material related to Greece’s case. She also said that it would be contacting with parliaments across Europe, the European Parliament as well as other international institutions which have dealt with similar cases. The committee, in which Constantopoulou is set to participate, is also expected to organise conferences and lectures in order to raise awareness on the subject.

Meanwhile, speaking to German media, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias noted that Germany had come up with a “splendid arrangement” with regard to the country’s external debts in the London Debt Agreement of 1953, adding that Greece should not be facing worse conditions to pay off its own debts than those set out for Germany after the country had lost an “entire war.”

Source: Kathimeirini

If found guilty, Golden Dawn members face up to 20 years in prison.

Senior members of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party will stand trial on April 20 after spending almost 18 months in detention waiting for their case to be heard, court officials said this week.

Party leader Mihaloliakos and more than a dozen top figures in Golden Dawn were arrested on charges of founding and participating in a criminal organisation following the killing of an anti-fascism rapper in 2013 by a party supporter.

The party denies the allegations and says the defendants are victims of a political witch-hunt. If found guilty, they face up to 20 years in prison.

The stabbing shocked Greece and triggered nationwide protests leading to a government-led crackdown on the party, which entered parliament for the first time in 2012 as it tapped into voter anger over the collapsing economy.

Under Greek law, suspects can only be held for 18 months before a case comes to court. As a result, Mihaloliakos and senior lawmaker Christos Pappas are due to be released from detention in the coming weeks, ahead of their trial.

A total of 70 people will face trial, including all of the 16 lawmakers Golden Dawn had in the previous parliament, which was dissolved for a Jan. 25 snap election.

Thirteen of the lawmakers were re-elected, including Mihaloliakos and Pappas, along with four new members, making Golden Dawn the joint third largest party in parliament.

Source: Reuters

European finance ministers piled pressure on Greece to open its books and follow through with pledges agreed to in its rescue package, as the country tries to avoid running out of cash as soon as this month.

Greece will resume talks with its creditors in Brussels on Wednesday, alongside technical talks in Athens to comb through data. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Greece will make “all necessary” data available.

As Greek officials struggle to meet the euro area’s demands, the government’s cash supplies are running low. One official from the currency bloc, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Monday that Greece’s funding might last for one, two or three weeks, though it was difficult to be precise.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi took a personal hand in persuading Greece to allow new visits from technical experts, according to two officials familiar with Monday’s talks. After the meeting, Varoufakis — who described Draghi as “a very skilled central banker” — said he was confident negotiations would resume in good faith.

“I believe that we are doing our job properly and they will do their job,” Varoufakis told reporters in Brussels. “Our job is to start the process which is necessary for the European Central Bank to have confidence.”

Greece could gain access to some of its remaining bailout money if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers his nation’s pledges, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said after finance ministers met Monday in Brussels.

Recent debate about who would meet where and when had been “a complete waste of time,” Dijsselbloem said.

“If there is time pressure for financing needs that should be helpful for getting the package back on track,” he added.

Concerns about the pace of talks helped send the Greek ASE stock index down 4.2 percent in Athens, its lowest level in more than three weeks, with Piraeus Bank SA down more than 12 percent. Greek three-year yields rose 191 basis points, or 1.91 percentage points, to 15.95 percent at 4:52 p.m. New York time.

Financing Issues

The euro-area finance ministers reprimanded Greece for dragging its heels during the two weeks since they reached an agreement to extend Greece’s bailout. Tsipras, whose anti-austerity government was elected in January on a promise to renegotiate terms of Greece’s 240 billion euro ($260 billion) bailouts, now has through June to reach a broader agreement on further support.

Euro-area creditors are willing to help solve Greece’s financing issues once talks resume, a Greek government official said in an e-mail to reporters. Greece will add to its list of proposed reforms and sees progress in the most recent talks, the official said, asking not to be named in line with policy.

Varoufakis declined to comment on Greece’s cash position, saying instead that the country liquidity would be guaranteed by the government with the EU institutions.

Back in Athens

Euro-area finance ministers welcomed the decision to allow technical teams back to Greece for more research. “Most discussions will take place in Brussels, but supporting people will go to Athens to find the right number so that there is no misunderstanding on that,” Dijsselbloem said.

While the negotiations continue, the ECB is effectively financing the Greek private sector because of its support for its banks. In a bid to raise the pressure on Greece to reach a deal with authorities, ECB officials will increase the scrutiny on the Emergency Liquidity Assistance extended to Greek lenders with an extraordinary review this week, two officials familiar with the matter said.

As long as Greece remains unlikely to regain market access soon, the ECB probably won’t allow its banks to post more T-bills as collateral because that would effectively be monetary financing, another euro-area official said. Monetary financing is banned under European law.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that while Greece wasn’t the main focus of Monday’s meetings — which also discussed national budget plans — Greece must work with the euro-area institutions and not on its own.

Time to Implement

“The Greeks must implement now what they promised to do and must especially refrain from taking one-sided measures,” Schaeuble told reporters.

Greece is seeking the disbursement of an outstanding aid tranche totaling about 7 billion euros. Without access to capital markets, its only sources of financing are emergency loans from the euro area’s crisis fund and the International Monetary Fund.

The country’s ability to win over its euro-area counterparts will depend on whether it can produce budget data and a clearer understanding of the country’s financial situation, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said.

“The time comes when what’s needed is not declarations of intention or slogans, but figures and verifiable data,” Sapin said.

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture has hit back at Tony Abbott’s claim Australians are “tired of being lectured to by the United Nations”, saying his organisation deserves respect.

“I’m sorry that the Prime Minister believes that we lecture,” Juan Mendez told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

“We don’t believe so. We try to treat all governments the same way and deal with specific obligations and standards in international law as objectively as we can.”

Mr Mendez is a human rights lawyer who survived torture under Argentina’s military junta in the 1970s.

In 1975 he was blindfolded and shoved in a car and taken for nearly three days of questioning by Argentinian intelligence officials. Interrogators gave him electric shocks and at one point put a gun in his mouth to try to force him to reveal information about his work and associates.

He presented his report examining cases of torture and mistreatment by governments to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

Of the 200 cases in the report involving 68 different countries, four refer to Australia and each of those examines claims of torture or cruel or degrading treatment in immigration detention.

Mr Abbott triggered a widespread outcry after he dismissed the report on Monday and attacked the UN for not giving his government credit for stopping boat arrivals.

“I think the UN’s representatives would have a lot more credibility if they were to give some credit to the Australian government for what we’ve been able to achieve in this area,” the Prime Minister said.

Among the concerns raised by the report was that escalating violence on Manus Island, and the “intimidation and ill-treatment of two asylum seekers” who gave statements about last year’s violent clashes at the centre was in breach of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The report also found that recent changes to the Maritime Powers Act to give the government the power to detain asylum seekers at sea and return them violated the convention.

“I think people who are detained in the high seas and subject to prolonged detention on the basis of their status and not given a fair opportunity to make their case that they should not be sent back to a country where they might face torture,” Mr Mendez said on Tuesday.

“I think it is my duty to tell Australia that, at least in that respect and in respect of keeping children in detention, that policy needs to be corrected.”

He added that the government’s response to concerns he had raised about the alleged mistreatment of two asylum seekers on Manus Island had been “insufficient”.

“I called on the authorities to investigate and see if someone is being mistreated,” Mr Mendez said.

“The government just said it’s going through the courts. I think that is insufficient. What I want to know is if the investigation has singled anybody out for investigation or prosecution for torture.”

Mr Mendez said the UN and the Abbott government disagreed about the extent to which Australia’s asylum seeker policies complied with international law.

He described Mr Abbott’s response as combative and invited Mr Abbott to have a constructive conversation.

“I appreciate the government has responded to the four cases I submitted, I just disagree that we are lecturing,” Mr Mendez said.

“We are treating every government with a lot of respect.

“I think we in the United Nations also deserve respect and I wish the Prime Minister had taken my views on this more seriously and engaged with my rapporteurship more constructively.

“That is what I have always tried to do and I am still available for a constructive conversation.”

Mr Mendez was appointed the UN special rapporteur on torture in 2010.

Prior to his appointment, he was a special advisor on crime prevention to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and co-chair of the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute.

source:smh.com.au

Guy Sebastian ready for the kitschness. Photo: AAP/Dean Lewins.

Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian will be representing Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The 33-year-old was announced as the Australian act on Thursday, and will be finalising his song selection in the coming days.
Sebastian said he’s “incredibly excited” to be heading to Austria to represent the country and our long-running love of the competition.

“It is the biggest music event in the world with an amazing history and tradition and I’m truly honoured to be invited to represent Australia in its first time ever in the competition,” he said.

Sebastian admitted his song selection will work to his strengths, and he will most likely choose to sing a ballad.

Sebastian has prior experience of global song contests, having finished seventh at the 2003 World Idol final.

This is the first time Australia will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest with an entry and the ability to vote.

Last year Australia was asked to provide an interval act, which saw Jessica Mauboy take to the stage and represent the country.

The performance was a catalyst in the European Broadcasting Corporation (EBU) agreeing to give Australia a spot at this year’s 60th anniversary show.

While Guy Sebastian readies for his Eurovision act, Greece and Cyprus have also chosen their representatives.

Greece will be represented by Cypriot-born Maria-Eleni Kyriakou, who many recognise from Greece’s version of The Voice.

She will be performing a pop-ballad, called One Last Breath, that she co-wrote.

Cyprus, who return to the contest this year having missed the 2014 edition in Copenhagen, will be represented by singer/songwriter Giannis Karagiannis.

He will be performing the ballad One Thing That I Should Have Done.

Greece and Cyprus will perform in the semi-finals of the song contest on May 21 and 22.

Because Australia’s entry is a one-off, it will participate in the final of the contest on May 23.

source:neos kosmos

It’s predicted new migrants will add $1.6 trillion to the economy of an ageing population.

Australia will need more than 250,000 new migrants a year to raise living standards, a recent study by the Migration Council of Australia reveals.

To reap the benefits of the reported $1.6 trillion that new migrants will add to the economy of an ageing population, treasurer Joe Hockey says it will require adequate planning.

“You’d need to build more infrastructure to cope and that means government spending more money, so that’s a good debate to have and we welcome the debate,” said Mr Hockey.

It’s something that Professor Anastasios Tamis believes has been lacking for the newly arrived Greek migrants and repatriating Australian citizens.

“I don’t think the Australian government has done enough to accommodate those incoming immigrants and Australian citizens,” Professor Tamis told Neos Kosmos.

“We were not well prepared to accommodate this incoming arrival. We didn’t have the infrastructure.”

This is amongst the many topical issues covered in a book that was launched last night at the Greek Community Centre, entitled New Migration To and From Greece.

The book is compiled by the University of Crete’s Professor Michalis Damanakis, an expert on the history of the Hellenic diaspora, along with a cohort of 10 scholars and researchers, which has put together a study on the new migration trends of Greece from 2009 onwards following the financial crisis.

“The book covers the consequences of the new migration to and from Greece, and the consequences emerging from the hundreds of thousands of new immigrants settling in Greece during a period of crisis,” said Professor Tamis, co-editor of the book.

Since the crisis first struck Greece in 2009, it is estimated that 145,000 Greeks have migrated abroad and many of them have ventured down under.

Yet according to Professor Tamis, officials have found it difficult to say exactly how many have started to call Australia home.

With a large percentage of Greeks born in Australia and living in Greece from the early 1980s, upon returning with their Australian citizenship they were not recorded as Greek migrants.

Although the Intergenerational Report proves that countries like Australia can benefit from skilled and educated inhabitants of countries such as Greece seeking opportunities abroad, the Professor also highlights the negative impact this can have on the home country, referring to the movement as a ‘brain drainage’.

“Greece is experiencing a brain drainage and thousands of Greeks are leaving, which is to the calamity and misfortune of the social structure of Greece for years to come, not only the present,” he says.

source:neoskosmos.com