International

The plan includes measures to attract investment, to lower taxation, to reduce the volume of non-performing loans, to modernise public administration , to reduce unemployment, and to stimulate productivity and exports.

Threats and territorial claims, on land and at sea, have no place in the relations between countries that are members of the same military alliance, Nato, or pursue, as Turkey does, membership in the European family.

Aircraft and Greek Navy ships were involved in the search. Frigates, Coast Guard ships, a Super Puma helicopter, and a Chinook helicopter with Greek Navy seals were sent to the area of the crash in order to search for and retrieve the pilot.

“The key for resolving the name issue is realism, pragmatism, and the realisation that we must make compromises – not rotten compromises, but compromises that produce a win-win situation,” Kotzias said.

The involvement of Turkey in the conflict can only complicate matters for Athens, which has its own concerns about Turkish provocations in the Aegean and about the prospect of Ankara exporting to Greece its problems on other fronts.

On 21 June, the Eurogroup must decide on all the key aspects of the Greek programme: completion of the fourth bailout implementation evaluation, agreement on the Greek growth strategy, agreement on debt relief measures, and post-bailout fiscal supervision.

Even as the government tries to tone down the rhetoric in connection with Turkish provocations, and avoids responding on the same wavelength, the defence minister has chosen the dangerous and problematic tactic of shrill tones and grandiose rhetoric against Ankara.

'We seem to be losing the momentum, rather than seizing it. Let me explicitly warn here against the risk of political inaction. Countries need to understand that the current reform agenda is a package. One should not look at its individual elements in isolation,' Regling said.

The distance between Greece and other eurozone countries remains, despite the imposition of capital controls in 2015, nearly three years ago, which led to a dramatic increase in the use of plastic money, mainly debit cards.

'Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean/Nicosia FIR area.'

It is obvious that Turkey is pressuring Greece, in an intensive and organised manner, to sit at the bargaining table with unfavourable terms, and to conduct negotiations that will be to Ankara’s benefit.

Burdened by weighty foreign policy issues, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last week tried used a cabinet meeting and his nationally televised remarks there to shift the political agenda to the crucial area of the economy

If Skopje agrees to a constitutional revision and certain other terms that Athens demands, Greece could by that time approve of its neighbour’s Nato admission and the start of EU negotiations.

The overall impression in the military staffs is that Greece finds itself alone in a sea of instability, which requires the adoption of elements of the Israeli military model – to depend on its own forces to fend off a threat from the east.

Greek troops in the guard post on the island of Ro, west of Kastelorizo, fired tracer ammunition last night, in a secure area, against a Turkish Coast Guard helicopter that was flying at a low altitude.

The times demand different leaderships with a true understanding of the contemporary world, recognition of our position, a clear description of duties, and the fashioning of well-designed policies, with specific targets.

A map published with the news report shows that the area to be covered begins four nautical miles south of the Cape of Saint Andreas, and extends eastward to coastal area where the Turkish-Syrian border is located.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Lambridis said that Wednesday’s announcement of the sale of a majority stake has already attracted “interest from a number of good quality investors”.

For the fifth time since the capture of their sons on 1 March, the parents of the two officers are today making the journey to the maximum security prison in Edirne to visit with them.

With the deterioration in Greek-Turkish relations, the government has entered one of the most critical periods of its tenure, and it is determined to do everything in its power to ensure that April will not be the cruellest month.