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WORLD NEWS Thursday 13 July 2017

After 8 years of austerity, Greece gets EU budget approval

By PAN PYLAS lion euros of bailout funds
RAF CASERT means the country has
Associated Press enough money to pay up-
BRUSSELS (AP) — coming debts and its bud-
After eight years of toil by get surpluses will help it
the Greek people, the Eu- build up cash balances to
ropean Union’s executive pay them in the future.
arm is recommending that The Greek government
Greece be taken off its welcomed the move and
list of budget offenders, a said in a statement that it is
move it hopes will help the “becoming clear that the
country to start tapping fi- Greek economy is steadi-
nancial markets for money ly returning to European
soon. normality, restoring confi-
Wednesday’s proposal dence lost because to the
from the EU Commission decisions made that had
to end the so-called “ex- brought the country to the
cessive deficit procedure” brink of collapse in 2010.”
on Greece comes after a Being outside of the EU’s
sharp improvement in the corrective procedures
country’s finances follow- doesn’t mean Greece can
ing years of spending cuts go back to its profligate
and tax increases and a ways as it remains sub-
recession that wiped out Tourists take pictures in front of the fifth century BC Parthenon temple at the Acropolis hill in Athens, ject to the demands of its
a quarter of the economy Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Greece’s Culture Ministry says that all Greek archaeological sites, in- bailout program. The gov-
cluding Athens’ internationally famed Acropolis, will close during the hottest hours of the day from
and caused unemploy- Wednesday, due to a predicted heat wave. ernment is committed to
ment and poverty to swell. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) running a primary surplus
“This is a very symbolic mo- — that is, not counting the
ment for Greece,” said away, it found itself unable three bailout programs, 0.7 percent compared with cost of servicing debt — for
Pierre Moscovici, the EU’s to borrow money in bond successive governments the peak deficit of 15.1 per- decades.
top economy official. “It’s markets. By May 2010, it enacted waves of austerity cent in 2009. The country also remains
the end of austerity, and required an international measures and economic Greece is hoping to exit its mired in debt, worth 175
the end of austerity means bailout to avoid going reforms. bailout era next year and percent of GDP, and can-
also we need to move to bankrupt and it’s been re- The turnaround in the is planning to start tapping not afford to see its debt
a strategy that’s based on liant on rescue funds ever government budget has bond markets, possibly in ratchet higher, potentially
growth, job creation and since. In return for 300 bil- been remarkable. In 2016, the next few months. The frightening off international
social fairness.” lion euros ($340 billion) over Greece posted a surplus of recent release of 7.7 bil- investors again.q
Greece has been under
the spotlight since 2009
when its debt crisis explod- Germany:
tics scandal that showed Police arrest 4 in brazen gold coin heist in Berlin
ed in the wake of a statis-
the public finances were
in far worse shape than By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER lier this year. ent buildings lasted several The Canadian “Big Maple
thought. Greece’s bud- Associated Press Heavily-armed masked po- hours, but the gold coin Leaf” coin, worth several
get deficit was suddenly BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds lice arrested the suspects, was not recovered. million euros (dollars), was
revised upward to double- of German special police one wearing a hood over “We assume that the coin stolen from the Bode mu-
digit levels and way above raided several buildings in his head, in Berlin’s Neu- was partially or completely seum in March.
an EU limit of 3 percent. Berlin early Wednesday, koelln neighborhood. An- sold,” Carsten Pfohl of the Police say the three-centi-
Being put under the cor- arresting four suspects in other nine people are be- Berlin state criminal office meter (1.2-inch) thick gold
rective procedure, Greece connection with the bra- ing questioned in the case. told reporters at a press coin, with a diameter of
had to come up with a zen heist of a 100-kilogram All suspects are related to conference. He added 53 centimeters (20.9 inch-
strategy to get its finances (221-pound) Canadian one another and aged that police also confis- es) has a face value of 1
in order but as confidence gold coin stolen from one between 18 and 20, police cated clothes and cars to million Canadian dollars
in the country drained of the city’s museums ear- said.The raids of 13 differ- comb for traces of gold. ($750,000). q