| Author (Corporate) | Euro|Topics |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Euro|Topics |
| Series Title | Debates |
| Series Details | December 2016 |
| Publication Date | 15/12/2016 |
| Content Type | News, Overview |
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The Debates feature from Euro|Topics offers English (+ French and German) translations of a selections of articles in European news sources on this topic. Euro|Topics relaunched their website during 2016. Features published before that date are still available via an archive website (see related url hyperlinks0The Greek parliament voted on the 15 December 2016 to approve a government proposal to provide a Christmas bonus for poor pensioners. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wanted to use around €617m of the primary surplus to give roughly 1.6 million Greeks with pensions of less than €850 a month a thirteenth monthly payment. Is this an urgent measure to help struggling pensioners or the start of the next election campaign? The Greek government also suggested that it wanted to keep in place a value-added tax discount for remote islands that it had earlier promised its lenders (the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) to revoke. The developments did not please Greece's international creditors and news sources suggested on the 14 December 2016 that the Eurogroup and the European Stability Mechanism has suspended short term debt relief negotiations with Greece. However, on the 24 December 2016 Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that creditors had agreed to recommence talks after he had a received a letter from Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos reaffirming the government's commitment to reforms demanded as part of Greece's third bailout. Separately, Euro|Topics and other news sources reported in January 2017 that for people in Greece the new year had also begun with various tax increases. Coffee, cigarettes, fuel and other products had become more expensive. The state was hoping to raise an additional €2.45bn per year with the new tax measures. Greek journalists saw the people at the mercy of the creditors and doubted that the economy would recover. |
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| Source Link | http://www.eurotopics.net/en/171050/tsipras-wants-to-give-pensioners-christmas-bonus |
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| Subject Categories | Employment and Social Affairs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe, Greece |
