greek islands

[piglet]

Greece should consider selling some of its uninhabited islands to cut its debt, according to political allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Josef Schlarmann and Frank Schaeffler told Germany's Bild daily that the Greek state should sell stakes in all its assets to raise more cash.

Greek PM George Papandreou is due to meet Mrs Merkel in Berlin later this week for talks about the crisis.

Mr Papandreou has already announced a strict austerity programme.

'Affordable' islands

"Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks - and the Acropolis too!" says the headline in the Bild newspaper.

map

It sounds like the sort of daydream induced by too much ouzo, but the idea comes from two senior politicians in Europe's biggest economy.

Mr Schlarmann is a senior member of Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats and Mr Schaeffler is an MP for the Free Democrats - the junior partner in the centre-right coalition.

Both confirmed to the BBC that they wanted to start a debate about what Greece could do to help itself and bolster the battered euro.

Those who face insolvency, Mr Schlarmann said, must sell everything they have to pay their creditors.

He advised Mrs Merkel not to promise any financial aid when she met Mr Papandreou in Berlin.

According to a poll published on Thursday, 84% of Germans think that the EU should not help Greece out of its debt crisis.

It is true that dotted in the blue waters of the Aegean are some of the country's most valuable assets - about 6,000 islands, of which only 227 are inhabited. Many of them are privately owned by the world's super-rich.

According to a specialised real-estate website, Greek islands evoke images of sunglass-sporting shipping magnates sipping champagne on enormous yachts, but cost as little as $2m (£1.3m).

Relatively affordable, the website says - unless, of course, you're a Greek.


oooooooooooo anyone wamt to buy an island........lol just found it on the bbc news
piglet

[Chas]

Do you reckon, if we all clubbed together, we could afford the white one?



Dunno if it comes with vacant possession, though .... could we also afford to bribe that boy to get off it?

[piglet]

Do you reckon, if we all clubbed together, we could afford the white one?



Dunno if it comes with vacant possession, though .... could we also afford to bribe that boy to get off it?

here is me 50p and dont worry about the boy i will chase him off for free....................... will have to build high rise flast as well so as noone else
uses our view and fence it off........lol wonder if i come with a private beach front

[Vic and Linda]

Only if we can tow it into Mastihari Bay!! I need my "home comforts"!!

[piglet]

yea right infront of the tp so not far to walk in the heat................hehehehehe

[Chas]

Only if we can tow it into Mastihari Bay!! I need my "home comforts"!!

Shouldn't be too much of a problem .... if Cap'n Yannis tows it up to Mandraki, we could hitch it behind the Rodos-Kos Dolphin.

[Ian K]

I'm sure the good people of this forum are far too classy and cultured to read the Daily Star, but they had a story about this in today's edition (my son has to have it in the house it for work reasons - honest) which although I'm sure it was at least partly fabricated, was quite funny.
It confirms the words of Josef Schlarman as described by Piglet above but goes on to describe how Greeks are so angry they have been protesting in the streets and boycotting German products.
The article, which is accompanied by a photo of Hitler with the caption "during ze war ve got them for nothing" goes on to quote Greek pensioner Sarandi Pitsas who says among other things, "when we were carving beautiful statues like the Venus de Milo, they were living in caves and growling like dogs".

Just make sure they aren't doing the same in caves on Greek islands some time soon hey Sarandi.

[Vic and Linda]

Ian!!!

Thank you for breaking the ice on this forum. We(Vic and Linda) have up to now kept a low profile, after all, moderators should appear to be moderate. We are quite incensed at the German Press for their insensitive and, quite frankly, racist views about the Greek economy. They were quite happy to accept 90 billion euro to facilitate their re-unification, but appear to denegrate the Greeks in general now they are in fiscal difficulty. I read an article today where 84% of Germans feel that the Greeks should adopt the German work ethic. How many Germans work from dawn until the last customer goes home? How many Germans have two or three jobs just to make ends meet? When will the Germans pay the estimated 70 billion euro in war reparations to Greece?


Whilst I'm on my "High Horse"


When will the current Lord Elgin return the "Elgin" Marbles to their rightful owners?

[Ian K]

Oh no, what have I started?

[usoli]

This will be my only comment.

From the local paper 27.02.10

'In the region of 600 families, mainly from Kos, Rhodes and Karpathos have been waiting for nearly 600 million Euros of compensation from the German Government since 1995 for damage to properties and loss of life caused during the German Occupation of the Dodecanese Islands in the Second World War.'

The delay is also down to lack of action on the part of the Greek Government, however, the words pot, kettle and black spring readily to mind.

Daphne/Usoli

[Ed & Georgia]

600 million Euros, between 600 families? 1 million per family ! If the Germans ever pay up that would be a huge boost to the local economy?!

[usoli]

600 million Euros, between 600 families? 1 million per family ! If the Germans ever pay up that would be a huge boost to the local economy?!

Whoops - it should read 60 million Euros. 600 Million to the Dodecanese only would indeed be a windfall!!

Daphne/Usoli

[Vic and Linda]

A 100,000 Euro per family is not to be sniffed at.

[katialmira]

hi,just found this site on "netmums"
Always been a dream of mine to go to greece...this all just seems to good to be true...don't know where to post this,but does any one know if this "paradise2 is child friendly?(6,15 year old)thank you

[Ed & Georgia]

hi,just found this site on "netmums"
Always been a dream of mine to go to greece...this all just seems to good to be true...don't know where to post this,but does any one know if this "paradise2 is child friendly?(6,15 year old)thank you

Most definitely - YES. We have been taking our children to Greece since they were in the womb (now 11 & 16), and I can say without hesitation that Mastihari is probably the most child-friendly Greek village (as oppposed to holiday resort) that we have stayed in.