XpatAthens

XpatAthens

Thursday, 19 February 2015 13:23

Parties Ratchet Up Campaigns As Elections Near

With less than two weeks to go until critical snap elections, political parties are to ratchet up their rhetoric following a weekend of vehement campaigning that included Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pledging a series of tax cuts as part of a “roadmap for a post-bailout Greece.” Samaras pledged tax cuts in a speech before New Democracy cadres on Saturday in Athens, adding that there will be no further reductions to pensions and salaries.

He promised to scale back a unified property tax (ENFIA) as of this year, to introduce a flat corporate tax rate of 15 percent and to revoke pension and benefit cuts for ethnic Greeks from the Soviet Union and Black Sea region. He envisaged the creation of 770,000 jobs by boosting growth in a number of sectors, adding that primary residences would be protected and heralding incentives for the repatriation of funds removed from Greece during the crisis years.

“Now we are entering a growth period and it is time for increases,” Samaras said, noting that any boosts will be properly priced and will not unbalance the budget. He added that Greece could “exit the memorandum a year before schedule.”

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

The French slogan “Je Suis Charlie” dominated the streets in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities across Greece, as thousands participated in the solidarity demonstrations, in response to the barbaric and brutal attack in Paris.

On online people’s initiative, named “Je Suis Charlie – Athènes” announced that “no authoritarianism, no ideology, no invocation of religion, no violence will intimidate us to speak, write and paint what we want. Nobody can deny us the right to peacefully coexist with migrants, nobody can separate people who want to live in societies of reciprocity and common rules. We are not afraid!”.

The French Institute on Sina Street in down town Athens and on Stratou Avenue in Thessaloniki became the rallying points for many people, who gathered to express their condolences and support to the French people.

To read more, please visit tovima.gr/en

Under the presidency of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras meets tomorrow New Democracy‘s executive secretariat in order to finalize the ratification of the party’s election ballots, which will shortly after be published.

According to reports, the renewal in the nominations reaches almost 60% and the persons involved are well-known in local communities. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, members of chambers and associations, local and regional officials as well as MEP candidates are among those to participate in the upcoming January 25 elections.

“It is the first time we are so well prepared,” said New Democracy’s executive members and emphasized that, despite the various press leaks, there was great willingness to participate in the ballots.

Similarly, Greek main opposition SYRIZA‘s central committee met today in order to take its final decisions on the matter. The special committee charged with the ballots drafting has completed its work and is expected to submit its proposals to the central committee, which might proceed with limited differentiations. The final ballots will be published today.

 

To read more, please visit greekreporter.com

By Aggelos Skordas

Greek households will be able to offset electricity cost by installing photovoltaic systems and provide electricity both to themselves and to the power grid, according to a decision signed last week by Deputy Environment, Greece ‘s Energy and Climate Change Minister Assimakis Papageorgiou.

The offsetting system, known as “net metering,” allows households and companies who produce their own electricity through photovoltaics to share it with the local utility company that then credits them for it against the cost of electricity it provides to them.

A meter will measure both the energy consumed by the producer — e.g. a household — and that provided to the utility grid. For a household, the bill issued every four months will factor in incoming and outgoing energy; if the incoming energy is greater, the household pays the difference, if it is the lesser of the two, the household will be credited for the next four-month cycle. A final statement will be issued at the end of the year, after which any surplus will not be carried over.

Installations will not have to be on roofs only, and self-producing energy consumers will pay a fee only for the electric energy they consume from the power grid or the system.

To read more, please visit greekreporter.com

By A. Makris

Thursday, 19 February 2015 13:19

New Survey Gives SYRIZA 3.1-Point Lead Over ND

Greece's radical leftist Syriza party led the ruling conservatives by 3.1 percentage points in an opinion poll conducted after it became clear that a snap election would be called, the pollster Rass said on Saturday.

The survey for Sunday's Eleftheros Typos newspaper was conducted on Dec. 29 to 30, after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras failed to have his candidate elected president by parliament.

The poll put support for Syriza at 30.4 percent against 27.3 percent for the conservatives of Samaras's New Democracy party, if an election were held now, a slight narrowing from a 3.4 point lead in a previous Rass poll last month. The election has been set for Jan. 25.

To read more, please visit thetoc.gr/eng

Thursday, 19 February 2015 13:19

Change To ENFIA Dues For Owners

The ENFIA property tax that 565,000 owners have to pay will be reduced compared to the original amount, following the processing of modified property statements (E9) on the Finance Ministry’s Taxisnet online platform. There are 65,000 property owners whose payments will be reduced by at least 300 euros, but they will have to produce documents to justify that.

There also are some 400,000 owners who will see a small rise in their ENFIA dues as a result of the corrections they have made to their official property status.

More than 3.1 million modifications to the E9 forms had been submitted by December 30, with 1.4 million changes concerning taxpayers’ 2014 property status. The other modifications concerned previous years. Owners will be allowed to make more changes to their E9 for previous years, but that will incur a 100-euro fine per form changed.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

Greek households will be able to offset electricity cost by installing photovoltaic systems and providing electricity both to themselves and to the power grid, according to a decision signed on Tuesday by the Deputy Environment Minister Makis Papageorgiou.

The offsetting system, known as "net metering", allows households and companies that produce their own electricity through photovoltaics to share it with the local utility company that then credits them for it against the cost of electricity it provides to them.

The new smart meters will measure both the energy consumed by the producer (e.g. a household) and that provided to the utility grid. In a household's case, the bill issued every four months will factor in incoming and outgoing energy; if the incoming energy is greater, the household pays the difference, if it is the lesser of the two, the household will be credited for the next four-month cycle. A final statement will be issued at the end of the year, after which any surplus will not be carried over.

To read more, please visit thetoc.gr/eng

Heavy snowfall and icy conditions in many parts of Greece have resulted in several roads being closed to traffic in the north, as well as in mountainous regions in central Greece and near the capital, Athens. On Mount Pendeli, north of Athens, the stretch of Pendeli Highway from the 414 Military Hospital to the Aghios Petros junction has been closed off by orders of the police. Snow was also falling at midday in the capital's northern suburbs, though it has not hampered travel.

Northern Greece has seen the heaviest snowfall from a cold snap that swept into the country in the early hours of Tuesday, with police shutting down parts of the rural highways leading from Kastoria to Florina and to Ioannena.

There is also no access to the ski resorts of Vorras in Pella and Kalavryta in the northern Peloponnese, while on the island of Evia, motorists are advised to avoid the stretch of road between Halkida and Edipsos.

Motorists, especially in rural and mountainous parts of the country, are advised to limit their travels and to ensure that all necessary precautions have been taken, such as having snow chains for their vehicles.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

The third and final vote in the first phase of the critical Presidential elections is set to take place at noon today. Should the government-sponsored candidate Stavros Dimas not be elected today, then general elections will take place on the 25th of January or 1st of February.

In order to secure Mr. Dimas’ election the coalition government will have to secure the support of 180 members of parliament. In the first vote Mr. Dimas received 160 votes and in the second he received an additional 8. In order to reach 180 votes, Mr. Dimas would have to attract the votes of MPs from the Democratic Left and Independent Greeks.

At present it seems unlikely that early elections will be avoided, as senior government officers have predicted that Mr. Dimas may receive a maximum of 173 or 175 votes. Nevertheless, should more MPs be considering to change their vote, they will do so at the final moment.

To read more, please visit tovima.gr/en

Thursday, 19 February 2015 13:16

Paperwork For Taxpayers Living Abroad

Authorities are asking taxpayers who are resident in other countries to prove they are indeed based or employed abroad. The Finance Ministry’s General Secretariat for Public Revenues has issued a circular offering guidelines regarding the documents that must be submitted for taxpayers based abroad to be recognized as such. Unless the necessary papers are produced, they will be considered as residents of Greece and be asked to pay the amount of tax that Greek legislation provides for.

The taxpayers in question, who may have submitted some of the documents required or none at all, are at any rate obliged to provide the certificates that will confirm they have indeed moved their residence or their main professional activity to another country. Greeks living abroad will need to produce the following documents:

– Papers confirming that the taxpayer and their dependent family members are permanent residents of another country, such as a certificate from the state or municipal or other recognized authorities, proof of children’s education or home rental contract, or proof of owner residence abroad if that applies.

– A tax residence certificate, issued by the foreign tax authority, that illustrates that the taxpayer is resident in that country. If the taxpayer has settled in a country that has an agreement with Greece to avoid double taxation and has an income from this country, they can produce an application to avoid double taxation that carries the tax residence certificate and is in both languages.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

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