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A BOOBY-TRAPPED car exploded outside the Bank of Greece in central Athens early this morning without injuring anyone, hours before Greece was due to return to the debt markets after a four-year absence.
The vehicle, a stolen Nissan packed with 75 kilograms (165 pounds) of explosives, blew up around 2.55am as it was parked on the pavement facing the central bank building.
Internet news website Zougla and the Efymerida ton Syndakton newspaper were informed of the planned attack by telephone one hour beforehand.
The blast came on the day Greece was due to sell bonds on the international markets for the first time since 2010 and hours before German Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to arrive in Athens.
As head of Europe’s largest economy she played a key role in ensuring Greece did not crash out of the eurozone at the height of the debt crisis two years ago.
Athens found itself frozen out of debt markets in 2010 after it revealed its public accounts had been falsified, and was forced to seek a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid defaulting.
The government announced on Wednesday that it would sell five-year bonds, with one of the banks running the deal saying Greece was expected to sell bonds worth at least 500 million euros ($690 million).
The last issue of five-year bonds four years ago had an interest rate of 6.1 percent, but experts believe that Greece might pay investors a rate of return as low as 5.0 percent this time.
Athens’ move was welcomed by the IMF, which along with the European Union and the European Central Bank has provided monetary support for the troubled economy.
In return for the bailout funds, Greece has had to institute a host of deeply unpopular reforms including streamlining its bloated public sector, moves that have sparked regular strikes and protests in a country suffering a sixth straight year of recession and with a staggering 28-percent unemployment rate.
The announcement of the return to debt markets came on the same day that protesters launched the first anti-austerity strike of 2014, following five general strikes the previous year.
The strike shut ferry services to the country’s world-famous islands, disrupted air travel and closed pharmacies and government offices.
The so-called “troika” of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF first bailed out Greece in 2010 with a programme worth 110 billion euros.
When that failed to stabilise the economy, they agreed a much tougher second rescue in 2012 worth 130 billion euros, plus a private-sector debt write-off of more than 100 billion euros.
The government of centre-right Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is currently in talks with the creditors over the latest instalment of the bailout, with loan payments worth some €8.5 billion pending.
According to reports, the creditors are pushing for additional civil-service layoffs and changes to a 1982 law on strikes to reduce their frequency.
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Athens enters the financial markets with a bang.!
About time.
Fair play… Should have been done here too seeing as protesting is absolutely useless.
So you think bomb’s should be set of in our streets? Idiot…we had enough of that carry on for 30 years on this Island.
In Northern Ireland you mean. The rest of the island didnt suffer any in comparison to up here.
Jamesy, I think you’ll find that Northern Ireland is on this island (nobody mentioned whose island it is). Or do you think that Northern Ireland is a separate island? Do we need to take a ferry to cross over to Northern Ireland? And, as far as I know, one person’s experience of a bomb exploding in Monaghan or Dublin is the same as another person’s experience of a bomb exploding in Omagh or Belfast – i.e. abject horror and psychological trauma at the very least. Or do you place a lesser value on casualties down south compared to those up north?
What sort of a cowardly animal would place a bomb in a car?
Bombing out the banks
And not even one banker dead.. what a waste of a good bomb!!!!!!
Can these lads not see this helps nothing ! Far from the empire they once were
When was the Greek state an empire?
Approximately 2,500 – 3,000 years ago when they had colonies stretching from Gibraltar to the Caspian Sea. There are still Greek speakers living today in Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey and Italy, albeit in dialects that are not mutually intelligible with modern Greek as spoken in Greece proper. The cities of Marseilles, Sevastopol, Trabzon, etc. were founded by the Greeks. Also, approximately 2,300 years ago we had Alexander the Great who built an empire that stretched from the Adriatic to Pakistan in which a multitude of cities were built in his name, such as Alexandria in Egypt, Alexandria in Afghanistan, Alexandria in Pakistan, and Iskanderiya in Iraq.
The Greek nation is less than 200 years old.
Jeremy, I think you’re confusing the word “nation” with the word “state”. The Greek nation has been in existence for thousands of years, sometimes under petty kingdom rule (Sparta, Athens, Macedonia, etc.), sometimes under the rule of foreign powers (Rome, Ottomans, etc.) and at other times as a unified independent state (Kingdom of Greece, Hellenic Republic, etc.). Greece’s current independence is less than 200 years old, but the nation is far older. You’re actually quite typical of a lot of Irish people when it comes to terminology – you use words in the wrong context and mix meanings up. Tell me this: without consulting a dictionary, can you tell me the difference between “ethnicity”, “race”, “nationality”, “citizenship”, “aboriginal”, “indigenous”?
By the way, just in case I’m misconstrued, that “You’re actually quite typical of a lot of Irish people” comment was not meant as an insult. I apologise if it came across the wrong way.
There are quite a few sick people commenting here which is understandable when you consider the number of Shinners who are attracted to the Journal.
Streamlining its bloated public sector. Why didn’t we do that?
We did.
The cost of governing was reduced including a reduction of 30,000 in staff numbers.
The majority of those 30,000 were temporary contracts that weren’t renewed, natural attrition, and people retiring early.
Correct Pierce. Nobody who was permanent was let go as the job for life still exists. I can only speak for county council staff but a few need firing as some are useless. They know they can get away with doing the minimum. These people will never stretch themselves or go out of their way to help. A lot of council workers become unemployable after being with the council any length of time.
When they wore awesome togas I can assume Jeremy :)
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