Agora
Posts by Jens Bastian
The demand for Greek debt relief: Is the cart being put before the horse?
The focus of economic debates during this electoral campaign in Greece has tended to converge on one issue: Is the country’s accumulated public debt sustainable or does it need to be restructured for a second time after the PSI of 2012? Domestic and international observers of various professional and political provenances have weighed into this debate in the course of recent weeks.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Europe (119), Politics (171), Economy (169), Greece (260)
Searching for electoral manifestos and overcoming voting obstacles in Greece
As the electoral campaign has started to heat up in Greece, the focus of domestic and international attention has increasingly been on various policy proposals from SYRIZA, the main opposition party in the outgoing parliament and frontrunner in the opinion polls.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Politics (171), Economy (169), Greece (260)
Voting for brinkmanship while the real economy needs solutions
Athens’ addiction to partisanship and political drama was yet again on full display during the last days of 2014. The election of the country’s president by parliament through an open roll call may appear unusual for observers from outside Greece. But the outdated electoral procedure through the assembly makes for lively political theatre in a climate of ferocious unreasonableness.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Europe (119), Politics (171), Greece (260)
From London to Paris, no happy returns for Greece
Last week saw Greek politicians clock up air miles to European destinations. Government representatives flew to Paris in order to meet a troika delegation that has repeatedly delayed its return to Athens.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Politics (171), Economy (169), Greece (260)
Waiting for Godot in Greece
According to its Wikipedia article, Waiting for Godot by Irish writer Samuel Beckett is an absurdist play, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone named Godot. The current situation in Athens has remarkable similarities with this classic piece of European literature.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Europe (119), Politics (171), Economy (169), Greece (260)