Social Benefits

The number of applications in the two phases of the Fuel Pass (auto fuel subsidies) programme is the clearest indication of the needs created by the hike in fuel costs.

The government exceeded primary surplus targets by taking from the many so as to hand out electoral benefits to the few.

The electoral horizon can be measured by opinion polls but also by the results of the European Parliament election in May.

How will the labour market absorb the wage hike? One would hope it will not be by reducing the number of jobs.

Political normalcy requires clears rules of the game. It means that a government does not live and breathe only with elections in mind, without setting their date.

The problem is the PM's untrammeled pledges of handouts, the en masse civil service hiring, and the salary hikes for those affiliated with the ruling party.

The aim of the SYRIZA-Independent Greeks government is clear. It wants to win over as many social groups and strata as possible so as to avert an electoral trouncing.

“All banks have exceeded targets as regards the resolution of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) and have passed the stress tests,” Tsakalotos stressed, noting that all four banks have capital adequacy and that there has been a rise in deposits.

'The 2019 budget I believe will not include pension cuts, but rather measures to relieve vulnerable social classes and positive messages for the country, society, and working people,” Dragasakis said