Search Results for: Greek

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is coming under pressure to toughen its action against high mobile roaming charges, as its latest proposals are debated at the European Parliament.

MEPs want the Commission to go further in its action to foist more competition on the roaming market while capping bills.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed it is scrapping sugar production quotas across the European Union (EU) in 2015 when proposing a comprehensive reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). There have been calls from some member states and MEPs for the quota regime to be renewed, but the Commission has stuck to its guns and will continue with abolition.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES

THE GREEK government has launched an international multibillion Euro tender regenerating the old Athens airport area at Hellinikon. The 620 hectare site is more than twice the size of Hyde Park in London. It includes facilities used for the Athens 2004 Olympics and listed buildings such as the former ‘Athens East Terminal’, designed by the architect Eero Saarinen.…

BY MICHAEL KOSIMEDES

A SIGNIFICANT loophole has emerged in the public place smoking ban imposed since September 1, 2010 in Greece, home of some of the world’s keenest smokers. The government has now extended for two years an exemption, (initially expiring on June 1), allowing smoking in entertainment venues exceeding 300 square metres in size, notably casinos and popular music halls (bouzoukia), if they buy a smoking permit costing Euro EUR200 per square metre per season.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES

WITH Greece on the brink of financial default, and consumer spending power diminishing, the country’s consumers are less than concerned about looking their best, at a time where they are being forced to cut down on even the essentials – thus posing a challenge for the Greek cosmetics industry.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of a possible Greek Euro exit and default. GrExit, as it has been termed, could have catastrophic repercussions for European and possibly the global economy or it could provide some kind of solution for the troubled Eurozone and the heavily indebted country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has told the Greek government it must recover Euro EUR17 million from Aluminium of Greece, having concluded these were a disguised illegal subsidy paid via lower electricity bills from 2007 to 2008. Following an 18 month inquiry, Brussels has concluded this support breaks European Union (EU) state aid rules, which are designed to prevent member states from giving local companies an unfair advantage in the EU’s border-free market.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IT might sound like science fiction, but airport managers really are exploring the use of robots to boost security at airports. Partly this is because for some potentially extreme events, it is better to put a robot in harm’s way, rather than humans.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES

GREECE soft-drinks consumers are abandoning multinational brands for local manufacturers, wanting to help them survive the country’s economic crisis, a Greek firm claims. Plato Marlafekas, Marketing Director of leading Greek soft drinks industry Loux (http://www.loux.gr/) told just-drinks there has been a clear switch of demand to local brands, which have increased their market share.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES

Rocky times lie ahead for the food retail sector in Greece, as consumers are faced with increasing pressure in the debt-ridden country. With rising unemployment rates, which currently stand at about 16%; a 4.8% drop in the GDP for the first three months of 2011 alone; and price rises mainly due to two VAT increases last year – the spending power of Greek consumers has been reduced significantly, and the food industry is suffering because of it.…