After two decades, the issue of the name of Macedonia is back at the center of public attention. This topic is now being discussed between the governments of Greece and Macedonia or F.Y.R.O.M. (‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ which is the temporary internationally agreed name) at Davos under the supervision of the United Nations and the great powers. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the newly consti ...

A new blatant intervention of the European Commission was triggered by the decision of the third Court of Appeal of Athens on August 1st, on the hearing of the former President of ELSTAT (Hellenic Statistical Authority), Andreas Georgiou, for repeated breach of duty. By Leonidas Vatikiotis   The provocative intervention of the European Commission (indication of their great discomfort over the decision ...

Uit het recente enquêteonderzoek ‘Generation What’ blijkt tweederde van de Grieken tussen de 18 en de 34 jaar bereid te zijn om deel te nemen aan een grote opstand tegen de regering. Door Dimitris Pavlopoulos - Arbeidssocioloog VU   Landelijke staking tegen de nieuwe bezuinigingen - Athene , 17 mei 2017 Het Griekse drama gaat onvermijdelijk door. De Griekse regering heeft met de Trojka een nieuwe bezui ...

This is a story about far-right in the Netherlands and how it is trying to intimidate everyone who fights against it.   After the Dutch elections many commentators and citizens were pleased with the fact that Geert Wilders has failed to come first. Nevertheless the reality shows that despite this supposed fail, the ideas and practices of the far-right become more and more acceptable in Dutch politics a ...

ReINFORM invites you to a discussion with the title: Greek history X: is a left government possible in the EU?  The event will take place on Saturday 11 February at 12:00 at the LAB111, Arie Biemondstraat 111, Amsterdam (see poster below).  Two years have gone by since the so-called "left-wing" Syriza-Anelgovernment in Greece came to power on 27 January 2015. What are the promises and hopes it broke? What a ...

(scroll naar beneden voor Nederlands) Debt increased, public assets sold. The Greek and European elites make profits. In January 2017 the coalition government of SYRIZA and ANEL will be two years in power. During this time, in the Dutch media there has been an almost total silence about Greece, interrupted only by short references to the ongoing negotiations for the disbursement of the loan tranches. Silenc ...

By Leonidas Vatikiotis Leonidas Vatikiotis has studied Statistics at the University of Piraeus. His doctoral dissertation, at the Sociology Department of Panteion University (2008) considered the causes of the 1970s economic crisis. It is not only the new austerity measures, which among others include VAT increase, reduction of pensions, reintroduction of the zero deficit clause, Sunday shop opening and imp ...

By Ingeborg Beugel on May 10, 2015 For five years, the Greeks have been publicly shamed, insulted, humiliated and spat upon by the rest of Europe. It is high time to show some respect. As a former correspondent in Greece I am still regularly invited to radio and TV shows in the Netherlands, or to give lectures or talks about the Greek debt crisis somewhere in the country. The latter are usually organized by ...

scroll down for Greek The recent Eurogroup negotiations dispelled any remaining doubts about the purposes of the European Union. What we saw in the last few days had nothing to do with “our equal partners”, as the finance minister Y. Varoufakis had said, but was nothing less than a gang led by the interests of the German capital, shamelessly threatening and blackmailing the Greek people. The Greek governmen ...

By Dimitris Pavlopoulos (Dimitris Pavlopoulos works as an assistant professor in Sociology at the Free University of Amsterdam.) The Greek elections on January 25th are sending a message to whole Europe. On January 25th the Greek citizens are going to cast their votes. Since the announcement of the early parliamentary elections, intimidation of Greek citizens begun. The President of the European Commission ...