online-casino-greece.com - Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union - Features

The Greek Presidency reaches the end, the journey continues

ekampaki — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 13:58:32 +0000

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After six months of intense work, 57 ministerial meetings and 67 political agreements (read the Greek Presidency Scoreboard here), the journey of the Greek Presidency reaches its end today and the website and twitter team feel the need to thank all the people behind the numbers: all of you who followed and read us, all of you who sent us your ideas, your comments and your wishes in the past months.

The team of 13 civil servants of the General Secretariat of Information & Communication, who worked, for the last nine months, for the Presidency's website and twitter account, would like to wholeheartedly thank the 250,000 visitors of online-casino-greece.com, the 13,000 followers of our twitter account and the 3,500 subscribers of our weekly newsletter, who joined us, during the last 181 days, on this memorable European journey.

The Greek Presidency website with 6,500 web pages and content available in four languages, recorded about 1.3 million page views and over 400,000 visits, with over 2,200 active users daily (more here).

Bidding farewell to you all, we would like to wish every success to the Italian Presidency, which takes over tomorrow and whose website we have already started to follow: italia2014.eu

Buon viaggio Italia!

The Presidency (EU)

The Greek Presidency in numbers

ekampaki — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:33:26 +0000

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With just 3 days to go until the end of the Greek semester, check out the figures that sum it up in terms of efficiency, economy and transparency.

Click here to view the infographic

The Presidency (EU)

‘...And Justice for All?’ Fixing Social Inequalities in the EU

ekampaki — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 07:27:09 +0000

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The European Union may be an economic giant with global clout but it has its own skeletons in the closet, particularly in the field of social justice and equality. Although inequalities had been declining, new challenges such as the current economic crisis and a demographic changes [ageing population] put a strain on Europe’s social foundations, posing a considerable threat to the social fabric.

When 1+1 equals 0

Social protection systems are designed to provide protection against the risks and needs associated with: unemployment, parental responsibilities, sickness and healthcare, invalidity, old age, housing, pensions and exclusion. All the above sectors are nowadays severely tested, with the risk of undermining the European society’s wellbeing. In particular:

Unemployment rates remain historically high, at 11% on average (2013), and 23.4% among the young. [10% of Europeans live in households where no one has a job]
the share of people at risk of poverty has risen to 25%
20% of the workforce still has a serious lack of skills [literacy/numeracy]. One out of four adults cannot make use of ICT.
Huge differences between national welfare systems [the best reduced the risk of poverty by 35%, the least effective by less than 15%]
Member States have increased the overall tax burden & social contributions.
12 million more women than men are living in poverty and one out of three childern are at risk of social exclusion.
Specific populations such as the Roma are especially challenged

The EU’s safety net

Looking out for the future, the European Union has set out the Europe 2020 Strategy. Social inclusion is one of the five main objectives of this policy framework, to be reached by 2020. In particular, the European perspective places strong emphasis on social inclusion through job creation and eventual economic prosperity.

EU targets for inclusive growth include:

75% of the 20-64 year-olds to be employed
40% of people in their thirties completing 3^rd level education
20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion

An important tool is the European platform against poverty, ensuring social and territorial cohesion. It aims at:

Delivering actions such as minimum income support, housing and access to basic banking accounts.
Financing social inclusion [20% of the European Social Fund to be earmarked for this].
Identifying what does and does not work in social policy innovations
Working in partnership with civil society.
Enhanced policy coordination among EU countries.

A Greek presidency initiative

A special conference titled Social Inequalities in Europe, scheduled for today, will present the results of research projects, which will hopefully point to specific policy directions (especially in the field of Research & Innovation), addressing the root of the problem. The event is co-organised by the Greek Ministry of Education, the European Commission [DG Research and Innovation] the Greek Centre for Social Research and the Panteion University of Political & Social Studies.

Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO)

Report on the Expenditure of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union

impadmin — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:41:12 +0000

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Organization Costs of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union

A total of € 50 million has been earmarked for costs related to the organization of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the course of fiscal years 2013 and 2014. The actual funds made available in the budget of the Office of the Hellenic Presidency reached €44.7 million. The budget covers all costs associated with the Office of the Hellenic Presidency, either in the form of directly accrued costs, or in the form of contributions to Presidency-related activities of other Ministries.

Distribution of expenditures for the organization of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Interim Report 30/5/2014)

Expenditure Category	Amount (in million Euros)
Funds transferred to other Ministries in 2013	3.4
Disbursements by the Office of the Hellenic Presidency in 2013	3.4
Funds transferred to other Ministries in 2014	2.8
Disbursements by the Office of the Hellenic Presidency in 2014	4.4
Total	14

Costs include official travel and secondment of staff to Brussels for the duration of the Greek Presidency, accommodation and hosting of visiting delegations in Athens, organization of cultural events, remuneration of temporary staff on fixed contracts, interpretation, accreditation, rent of premises/offices, postage fees, telecommunication, transportation expenses, publications and printing, office supplies and IT related expenditures.

Sponsorship Programme of the Greek Presidency

A part of costs is covered through the sponsorship programme of the Greek Presidency, in which 25 companies participate. It is estimated that the total value of the sponsorship programme, exclusively in the form of goods and services, will eventually reach € 2.5 million.
By the end of the Greek Presidency, a total of 160 events will have been organized in Greece, most of them in Athens, while visiting delegations are expected to generate 12,500 overnight stays. This, combined with additional cultural events organized by Greek diplomatic missions abroad, is expected to have a positive impact on Greek tourism and Greece’s image across the world.
A final, detailed financial overview will be presented following the conclusion of the Greek Presidency semester.

The Presidency (EU)

First World War: Europe looks into its past through Europeana

ekampaki — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 10:02:51 +0000

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Europe commemorates this year the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918) – a watershed in the continent’s history that ushered it into what Eric Hobsbawm has termed “the short twentieth century”. This was a war that tore Europe apart, as no European nation was left untouched. But it was the ordinary men and women who were affected the most.

To give voice to their stories and make them accessible to a wider public, the project Europeana 1914-1918 has been put together as an online resource that opens up hidden stories of the First World War and shows the tragedy that shaped Europe from different sides of the conflict. In this sense, it is the most important pan-European collection of original First World War source material. (Europeana 1914-1918 is an offshoot of Europeana the multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitized items from museums, libraries, archives and audiovisual collections across Europe.)

The project has yielded so far 400,000 rare documents digitised by 10 state libraries and two other partners in Europe, 660 hours of unique film material contributed by 21 film archives and 5,500 film-related documents, digitised by audiovisual archives, as well as 90,000 personal papers and memorabilia of some 7,000 people involved in the war, held by their families and digitised at special events in 12 countries.

As part of the project, the European public is invited to share their private memorabilia from the First World War on the web. This could include photographs, letters, diaries, short films, audio recordings, objects as well as family stories that will then be digitised professionally and added to the online archive, along with corresponding descriptions.

To get people acquainted with the project, Europeana is organizing roadshows across Europe, in collaboration with Oxford University and local partners. So far, roadshows have been held in 12 countries, while in 2014 roadshows will be held in five more countries. However, independently of the roadshows, anyone can upload digitised images and information directly to the dedicated Europeana 1914-18 website.

In Greece, the main partners of the project are the Public Central Library of Veria, the National Library of Greece and Future Library. A press conference is taking place on 10 June, while collection dates have been scheduled as follows: Athens (20-21 June), Thessaloniki – Veria – Serres – Chania (27-28 June).

So, if you have material and family memorabilia from World War One, this is an opportunity to share them online with the rest of European citizens. Go ahead and contribute to building a common European Identity!

Education, Youth, Culture & Sport (EYCS)

The Med in the Red

ekampaki — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 09:08:31 +0000

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Vulnerability to climate change varies widely across regions. All EU countries are exposed to climate change, but some regions are more at risk than others, with the Mediterranean basin being one of them.

Thirsty for more

Climate change is expected to cause significant changes in rainfall patterns, as well as in the quality and availability of water resources. In Europe, the Mediterranean area is becoming drier, making it even more vulnerable to drought and wildfires. Meanwhile, Northern Europe is getting significantly wetter, and winter floods could become common.

In the hot spot

The Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperature might see an increase of about 2°C in the next decades (2041-2070) on the land. Moreover, the warming might be even higher (up to 3°C), especially in North-eastern Europe and the Alpine region during winter and in Southern Europe during summer.

What’s happening?

Extreme weather conditions pose a direct risk to human health, the integrity of ecosystems and the economy, in ways which undermine our physical and economic sustainability. Existing problems of desertification in the Mediterranean are being exacerbated while water scarcity substantially increases the risks associated with food production. Moreover, coastal areas are directly threatened by rising sea levels, forcing humans and animals to abandon them. For instance, it is estimated that warming of 1.5⁰ C-2.5⁰ C beyond today's levels could put as many as 20-30% of plant and animal species at increased risk of extinction.

Earth observation & climate change: The big picture

Europe is one of the world’s leading players in the advancement of Earth Observation (EO) technologies and related environmental applications. European remote sensing satellites cover all of the Earth's climatic zones, while European ground-based, air-based and ocean-based monitoring devices serve users by providing high quality observation data in areas as diverse as urban planning, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, disaster and disease control and humanitarian relief.

Adapt or perish: #EU2030

EU2030 is the framework which sets out the European Union’s goals for a competitive, secure and sustainable economic and energy system by the year 2030. It was presented in January 2014, and it aims at fostering a low-carbon economy. Its main points include:

· Reducing EU domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels.

· Increasing the share of renewable energy to at least 27% of the EU's energy consumption

· Continued improvements in energy efficiency

· Reforming EU’s emissions trading system

To this end, the International Conference Adaptation Strategies to Global Environmental Change in the Mediterranean City and the Role of Global Earth Observations, taking place in Athens on 9-11 June, aims to explore the growing potential of GEO and exploit climate information transfer from science to stakeholder application in order to develop suitable adaptation measures at national and regional levels. It will focus on the benefits of both short and long-term adaptation planning to cities in Mediterranean-climate regions while highlighting case studies of successful implementation strategies.

Did you know?

The Mediterranean climate is a particular variety of subtropical climate.
Med climate prevails in much of California (USA) as well as in parts of Australia, South Africa, Central Asia, and Chile.
Mediterranean ecosystems could be among the most impacted by global change drivers.

[Sources: European Commission, CMCC, Greenpeace]

Environment (ENVI)

Starry nights full of theatre and music!

ekampaki — Fri, 30 May 2014 09:57:53 +0000

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As summer sets in and the Greek Presidency draws to a close, it’s time for the Athens and Epidaurus Festival (aka Greek Festival). This ‘jewel in the crown’ of the cultural season in Greece, with a history of almost 60 years, begins on 1 June running through mid-August. Its aim is to present contemporary artists from around the globe and acquaint the audience with both innovative and pervasive trends of modern artistic creation.

The festival began its journey as the Epidaurus Festival in 1954 which expanded to include an Athens component a year later, known as the Athens Festival. The programme featured theatre, dance, opera and music performances, held at the Roman Herod Atticus Odeon, at the foothill of the Acropolis as well as ancient drama performances or opera productions at the Epidaurus theatre, unique for its accoustics. In the 1950s Greece, the festival brought with it an aura of cosmopolitanism, extricating the country from excessive introspection and opening new vistas for cultural creativity.

Since the mid-50s, the two iconic venues welcomed on their stage scores of world-renowned artists, individual performers and ensembles, making world-class art accessible to the post-war Greek society. Legends such as Dimitris Mitropoulos, Maria Callas, Mstislav Rostropovich, Luciano Pavarotti, Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hadjidakis in music; Dimitris Rondiris, Karolos Koun, Giorgio Strehler, Peter Hall in theatre; Georges Balanchine and Pina Bausch, Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, Martha Graham, Alicia Alonso and Maya Plisetskaya in ballet; ensembles like the Noh Theatre, the Bunraku Puppet Theatre, the Peking Opera, and the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre are just some of the names that featured on the Festival’s programme, over the years.

It may have been that the festival has displayed, over the course of its history, an equivocal attitude towards cultural preferences, oscillating between cosmopolitanism and introversion, adjusting to the prevailing mood of Greek society at the time. More recently, the state of affairs has changed again with the decision to systematically open up the Festival to cutting-edge international productions, and to promote young Greek artists, to spread events across the entire city by adding new venues every year, seeking out new, varied audiences.

This year’s programme includes, apart from a host of concerts and musical events, 27 domestic drama productions, of the Greek and international repertoire (twenty-three in Athens, three at the Epidaurus theatre and one in Little Theatre at Epidaurus), many of which are signed by young, emerging directors. Another five foreign productions characteristic of current aesthetic trends. In addition, the theatre production of “The woman of Zante” will be presented, in collaboration with the Diazoma A ssociation, to ancient theatres across the country.

Check the Festival’s full programme for more details and … don’t forget to make arrangements for your night out in a local wine-bar or tavern, after whichever event you choose to attend!

The Presidency (EU)

@gr2014eu: The most followed EU Presidency account!

ekampaki — Thu, 29 May 2014 13:20:02 +0000

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As the Greek Presidency enters the final month of its mandate, levels of public involvement via social media networks give us a reason to celebrate: the Presidency’s Twitter account has met with exceptional success, as @gr2014eu is the most followed EU Presidency account thus far, with almost 12,500 followers.

The account was launched on 15 November, 2013 and had attained 5,000 followers by the beginning of the Greek semester. By 26 February, numbers had doubled, reaching the landmark figure of 10,000 followers, while it continues to attract new followers daily, even as the Greek semester enters its final month.

Followers aside, additional statistical data highlight the account’s remarkable reach: 97% of our tweets are retweeted, with an average of 7 retweets per tweet, and 75% of our tweets favourited (3 times per tweet), while the #gr2014eu hashtag has repeatedly become Top hashtag of the Week.

These statistics convey a very hopeful message not just for the Greek Presidency, but for public interest and involvement in European Union affairs in general: in times of growing euroscepticism, an EU institutional account has managed to extend its reach and engage a larger audience, thus generating a much needed interest in the institutional reality of the European Union.

Since the account’s launch, we have posted almost 2,500 tweets. Our aim is to run an account that manages to be equally informative, reliable, interesting and appealing. For this reason, we consistently try to provide our audience with more than just dry news on the Presidency’s activities: we seek to give our audience a feeling of virtually being there, with extensive use of multimedia. Furthermore, we try to link Presidency issues with a glimpse of real-life EU and real-life Greece in particular; we try to showcase the environment in which we as Europeans live and work, and the ways in which the EU affects our everyday realities.

No part of this success however would have been possible had we not built on the work of our predecessors and learnt from their experience; and thus we wish our Italian counterparts who’ll pick up from where we leave off our very best for a better, stronger and even more successful performance.

As we draw to a close, the Twitter team thanks its social media friends and looks forward to an equally productive final month: After all, together we sail further!

The Presidency (EU)

Presidency visual identity wins European prize!

mvaroucha — Tue, 27 May 2014 08:18:49 +0000

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Greek Presidency’s visual identity designed by Beetroot Design Group won a bronze in the category “Brand implementation” of European Design Awards as announced at a ceremony in Cologne on 24 May.

The ED-Awards are annual awards presented to European designers for outstanding work in the communication field and is a joint initiative of design magazines from across Europe, endorsed by the International Council of Communication Design.

“Aiming to focus on achievable and incisive goals and not extravagant political decisions the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU commissioned us to create an identity, which relates to their political agenda” Beetroot explains, adding that: “Our proposed logo resembled a sailboat in full sail, formed from the initials of the European Union suggesting that EU citizens are sailing together towards a common future.”

"The almost archetypical forms of the identity convey visually the goals of the Greek Presidency, while also maintaining a sincere and optimistic communication style," Beetroot designers suggest.

Read more about the logo and watch the video here

The Presidency (EU)

The European Banking Union explained

pmastroperrou — Wed, 21 May 2014 10:13:53 +0000

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The recent financial crisis demonstrated the need for better regulation and supervision of the EU financial sector, particularly in the euro area.

The crisis in the euro area and differing national responses to it highlighted the inter-dependency between banks and national governments. Moreover, different national solutions led to fragmentation of the single market in financial services, which in turn contributed to disruptions in lending to the real economy.

EU leaders therefore agreed that the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) needed to be strengthened further and that part of that effort would involve the creation of an integrated financial framework, later renamed the banking union.

For this reason, the Greek Presidency highlighted as one of its key priorities to successfully complete the negotiations with the European Parliament to reach a political agreement on the last decisive step towards the completion of this ambitious project, the Regulation on the Single Resolution Mechanism.

After long and arduous negotiations, the Greek Presidency, representing the Council, has managed to reach a historic agreement for the conclusion of this important dossier.

This landmark legislation comes to complement the Single Supervisory Mechanism, as well as the new European rules on capital requirements of European banks, and two other legislative initiatives, the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive.

What is the banking union?

Does this affect the lives of EU citizens or is it just about saving the banks?

What is the purpose of the banking union?

What does it involve?

Economic & Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)