English Edition

Βy Andrea Enria, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB

For the crisis to be weathered successfully the state must exhaust all its forces to protect society, which in turn must act with cognisance of the danger and with a sense of responsibility.

The predominant goal now is to protect public health but that does not mean that the economy can be left to its own devices.

In the midst of a long and difficult struggle our society appears to have comprehended that composure, maturity, and discipline are its best allies.

At a time when Europe is being racked by a pandemic and multi-nationals are announcing the suspension of part of their activity it cannot afford to leave millions of workers to their own devices.

In her first statement as president Sakellaropoulou spoke of 'the difficult but not unsolvable equation' of both guarding the borders and fulfilling one’s humanitarian duty defenceless and desperate people.

There will be EU relief on various levels and most importantly the suspension of the 3.5 percent primary surplus target which Greece had agreed upon with creditors long before the pandemic.

'The enemy is the virus and now we have to do our utmost to protect our people and to protect our economies,' said Ursula von der Leyen.

We are still at the beginning of an extremely difficult uphill struggle which we are obliged to fight until the end under extremely adverse circumstances.

Infectious Diseases expert Professor Sotiris Tsiodras said that there were 21 new cases since in the 24 hours since 16 March. The source of infection for 51 cases is undetermined, he added.

'Our country, Europe, and the entire planet is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis the consequences of which right now we are unable to predict or even imagine,' said President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The government is scurrying to swiftly address the economic emergency with an initial framework of compensation for businesses which are being battered by the expected extended lockdown.

We cannot afford to have more people doing just as they please and that means that the state must use all the legal means in its arsenal to make it perfectly clear that such behaviour will not be tolerated.

A sense of measure is what is needed in these critical hours and that objective can only be achieved if everyone participates. No system can survive if society loses its sense of measure.

Epidemiologists and other specialists in the public health system have issued clear guidelines on how to handle the virus, a number of which depend on everyone’s cooperation.

Composure in dealing with COVID-19 must not give way to panic and recklessness must not undermine the requisite sense of individual responsibility, which entails assiduously tending to personal hygiene and religiously enforcing the guidelines o

Moscow is now a major player in the region and its influence is inversely proportional to that of other strong players such as the US and the EU.

Over 20 of the current 31 cases were infected on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land combined with a visit to Egypt. The first confirmed case from that trip was a 66-year-old man currently in an isolated intensive care area in the University Hospital of Rio

The reinforcements and equipment το guard the Greek-Turkish borders are welcome and are the product of the cognisance of the fact that this is not a problem between Greece and Turkey but rather between the EU and Turkey.

As one saw with successive efforts to enforce the smoking ban those who acted with defiance did not target unjust laws which often create a social backlash but rather laws that they simply did not like.

'Indeed, these are extraordinary circumstances. And we have just been to the border area and have seen how tense and how difficult the situation is. The Greek authorities are facing a very difficult task in containing the situation.,' said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The parliamentary committee conducting the preliminary criminal inquiry is invested with the powers of an investigating magistrate and it must seek in every direction all information related to this shadowy affair.

Greece is aising to the highest level the measures to guard the country’s eastern land and sea borders by security forces and the Greek armed forces to fend off illegal entry into the country.

Everyone bears the personal responsibility to protect themselves, their family and friends, their fellow citizens, and public health in general.

The appearance of the coronavirus will be a difficult test for the state’s infrastructure and for the professionalism and readiness of state functionaries and officials.

 The testimony of protected witnesses in the parliamentary probe of Dimitris Papangelopoulos’ alleged meddling in the Novartis investigation shed light on the apparent ulterior motives in one of the darkest affairs since the fall of the junta

The authorities moved to send over 500 riot police reinforcements to the islands to deal with the protests, prompting more clashes as islanders tried to prevent the arrival of the ferries.

As much as one may attribute France’s posture to economic diplomacy or French gentility, one cannot ignore the fact that the pro-investment profile that the government is cultivating provides a strong incentive to foreign investors .

Democracy must defend itself against those who attempted to exploit its institutions to serve their own ends in a manner that violates the constitution.

The median taxation and insurance contributions rose from 19.3 percent in 2009, to 19.7 percent in 2014, and to 27.9 percent in 2018.

Erdogan has established an authoritarian regime which as all such regimes is afraid of its own shadow and the political system remains deeply divided.