Setting the Bar Too High?
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TOURISM HOME ENERGY MINISTER AUCTIONS MARKETS Olga Kefalogianni ‘Red’ mortgages Israel, Greece, explains why and home Cyprus set to tourism is the way auctions split redraw Europe’s to recovery coalition members energy map » 8-9 » 4 » 10 ATHEG G NSG VGIEWSG p FRIDAY 16 AUGUST 2013 No 3 WEEKLY NEWSPAPER GREECE IN ENGLISH www.athensviews.gr 1.50 SettingSetting thethe barbar tootoo high?high? The euphoria over the PM’s visit to Washington, the prospect of US investments and the sale of a major stake in a state-controlled gambling firm is tempered by a report confirming bailout targets are at risk - suggesting, perhaps, the government may have set the bar too high » 4-5 Reuters Konstantinos Filippidis competes in the men’s pole vault final during the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. Filippidis came in tenth with 5.65 metres ARTS ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE MIND THE MARATHON DAM LEGACY OF ODYSSEUS How a striking symbol of technological progress inspired Greeks and The storm in the philhellenes alike » 16-17 soul of Homer’s hero, who symbolises LIFE ancient Greek WALKING ON WATER patrimony A solar-powered chair allows the disabled to ride effortlessly into the sea » 18-19 » 24 2 ATHENS VIEWS FRIDAY 16 AUGUST 2013 editorial The end of austerity? 14-15 AS GREECE enters its sixth year of re- cession, it is clear by now to all but a few that the Troika’s policy in Greece is not working. And if it even- tually does — it’s difficult to predict what will remain standing. German leaders have repeatedly urged Greece to stay the course of austerity as the only way out of the recession. But Greece resembles a group of swimmers out at sea strug- 12 gling to make it to shore. They may have worked out the right swimming method that will lead to safety but they are doomed because they are simply out of breath. Greece has been swimming for a long time now and perhaps the 20-21 shore is in sight but it is now gasp- ing for breath and there are no guar- antees that it will make it. Unem- ployment is creating a lost generation and a brain drain, neo- Nazi nonsense has monopolised 5 and demeaned the public debate while the homeless are piling up on the streets of the capital. So far, the Greeks have managed to withstand 22 the worst effects of the recession without imploding by relying on a tradition of strong family bonds. But these bonds cannot carry the burden forever. The road of austerity has lost its al- lure even among northern Euro- peans while even Obama joined a growing chorus of critics last week pressing home the point that tough 26-27 fiscal adjustments alone are not enough to put Greece back on the path of recovery. The end of fiscal adjustment does CONTENTS not justify the means of social and Politics Hospital directors to be screened for potential fraud under economic disintegration in order to an overhaul of healthcare spending put the country on firm fiscal ground. Usain Bolt intensifies dispute over ERT shutdown G Pages 4-5 Ahead of next month’s federal elec- Diplomacy tions, the German government has Premier urges Greek-Americans to invest in Greece G dismissed any talk of writing off an- What Samaras got from his visit to Washington Pages 6-7 other chunk of Greek debt. But Ger- Digest Immigrants in detention centre clash with police G Page 11 many’s leadership and the ideal of Culture Jurgen Habermas on the rocky road to a political constitution for European solidarity will suffer on a world society and Umberto Eco’s New Realism G Page 12 moral grounds if a fellow European nation is allowed to come apart un- Under the full moon The August full moon and the nocturnal activities at archaeological G der an unsustainable debt burden. sites across the country Pages 14-15 Planning ahead Euripides and how people define themselves when the world around them falls to pieces G Pages 20-21 Travel Why pilgrims and visitors throng to the church of Panagia on the ATHENS VIEWS Cycadic island of Tinos every year on August 15 G Page 22 G PUBLISHER: GA ORAMA-Communication Shipping Why the world would freeze and starve without shipping Page 23 EDITOR: Paris Ayiomamitis OFFICE: 107 Solonos str, Athens 106 78 Community Holy month of Ramadan comes to an end but capital’s immigrants EMAIL: [email protected] still pray in basements G Page 25 WEBSITE: athensviews.gr TEL.-FAX: 211 407 6988 Sports New football season kicks off featuring a revamped 18-team top flight G Pages 26-27 4 ATHENS VIEWS POLITICS FRIDAY 16 AUGUST 2013 ‘The‘The party’sparty’s over’over’ Hospital directors screened for fraud as Greece grapples with health cuts By George White each year,» Georgiadis said. «There was a party going on in TATE HOSPITAL directors the health sector ... But we must and senior administrators view public money as sacred. will be screened for po- We have taken money away from Stential fraud cases under pensioners. And as soon as we an overhaul of healthcare spend- can, we must correct this,» he ing announced by the govern- told Mega television. ment. Georgiadis said he had asked Adonis Georgiadis, the health the Finance Minister to re-exam- minister, said the country was ine tax and income declarations now forced to address the «party» of hospital directors going back of mismanagement and over- to 2000. spending at state hospitals for Healthcare reform, along with more than a decade as it struggles major changes in public sector to make long-term spending cuts, staffing rules, and spending con- with most of the EU-IMF bailout trols on local government are money already paid out, and any seen by bailout lenders as key new fiscal austerity measures un- areas that will help Greece keep likely to have a serious impact. as balanced budget as European «Do you know how much state allies decide on how to deal with spending on medicine was a year its national debt, still widely con- before the bailout? €7 billion. Do sidered to be unsustainable with- you know much it is now? €2.3 [ out further relief. billion. That’s €5 billion in savings Georgiadis, 40, was one of three [ ministers brought in by the con- Most Greeks know servative government leadership «There was a party going on in the health sector ... LAOS party - and late-night pitch- in June to usher in a more con- es on television, selling books Georgiadis for his frontational approach to reforms But we must view public money as sacred. We have on ancient Greece for the family far-right politics and - together with Interior Minister taken money away from pensioners. And as soon as publishing business. late-night pitches Yiannis Michelakis and Public we can, we must correct this» Cabinet colleagues regard him on television, selling Administrative Reform Minister to be a hard-working eccentric, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. [ whose presence keeps the con- books on ancient After being a few weeks in his of strikes and claims by the po- to the private sector. servative New Democracy party Greece for the family new position, Georgiadis an- litical opposition that reforms Most Greeks know Georgiadis in touch with its largely dissatisfied publishing business nounced a major hospital merger were also being used as a pretext for his far-right politics - he was rightist voters. programme for state facilities na- to close hospitals and hand pa- a former lawmaker and But critics argue the new minister [ tionwide, spurring a new round tients and state resources over spokesman for the nationalist is presiding over the dismantling Greece stuck in recession, bailout targets at risk [ By Harry Papachristou and Renee Maltezou «Recession will decelerate in the third quarter, helped GREECE’S recession eased slightly in the second quarter but not nearly enough by tourism, and in the to boost tax revenues to levels the gov- fourth, helped by base ernment needs to meet its bailout tar- effects,» said Dimitris gets, figures showed this week. The data follows a magazine report say- Maroulis, an Athens-based ing Germany’s central bank saw risks economist with Alpha Bank to the rescue package aimed at keeping Greece afloat and expects the euro member to need more aid in 2014 after [fort for Greeks, who are facing a sixth it scrapes through the last aid review. consecutive year of recession in 2013, As Europe’s largest economy, Germany as austerity measures have crippled pri- has funded a chunk of the bailout but vate consumption, the main engine of there has been resistance from German its economy. voters who are also facing tight budg- The slump, one of the biggest peace- ets. The subject of Greek aid has played time recessions recorded in history, is into the campaign for elections next undermining the ability of firms and Reuters month. households to pay taxes, separate The Greek data showed the economy The economy shrank at annual pace of 4.6 percent in the second quarter, budget figures showed on August 12. contributing to a slump of more than 20 percent in real terms since 2008 shrank at an annual pace of 4.6 percent Gross tax revenues lagged targets by in the second quarter, according to the about 1.5 billion euros in the first seven country’s statistics agency Elstat. enues and making it hard to meet tar- The figure was slightly better than econ- months of the year, hit by record unem- The economy has slumped 23 percent gets agreed with international lenders omists’ average forecast for a 5 percent ployment of nearly 28 percent and a in real terms since 2008, hurting tax rev- who backed the 2010 bailout.