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Greek PM Antonis Samaras will meet Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker, who arrived in Athens today. Samaras is seeking Juncker’s support on austerity measures and reforms adopted by the government as well as a delay in Greek aid repayments ahead of meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande at the end of the week.
A friend in Athens? – Ta Nea
The political crisis comes to an end. The social-liberal coalition of Prime Minister Victor Ponta has lost its showdown with President Traian Băsescu, after the Constitutional Court decided that the July 29 referendum on the president’s impeachment was invalid. Băsescu should resume his duties on August 24.
Finished! – Adevărul
A Department of Justice bill formally puts de facto unions - regardless of the sex of spouses - and weddings on an equal footing.
Gay marriage becomes legally standarised – Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Basque minority socialist government called for snap polls because it will not be able to rally a majority for the 2013 budget in the regional Parliament. These will be the first regional elections in the Basque country since ETA announced a permanent ceasefire, on October 20 last year.
The Basque Country will vote without ETA on October 21 – El Periódico de Catalunya
Guy Spitaels, a former president of the Socialist Party and a major figure in Belgian politics until the late 1990s, died on August 21, aged 80. "Belgium has lost a political giant today," writes Le Soir, two weeks after the death of another Socialist Party leader, Michel Daerden.
‘I leave without any illusions, bitterness or fear’ – Le Soir
Electronics firms Sharp cuts 10,000 jobs worldwide, Nokia wants to reduce staff in Austria and, according to German media, Siemens is going to lay off staff. Since 2008, large listed companies have slashed 4.4 million jobs worldwide, a large proportion of which have been in Europe (144,000 of the 350,000 redundancies in 2012).
Europe is a world champion in redundancy – Wirtschaftsblatt
The government is facing a huge shortfall in its public finances this autumn after tax revenues plunged and spending on social security payouts, such as unemployment benefits, spiked. Despite mounting pressure UK Chancellor George Osborne said that he would not change his policy and use further borrowing to fund growth.
Tax slump threatens to set off new wave of cuts – The Times
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