For the first time in 60 years, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has failed to secure approval for his government’s 2021 budget.

A total of 29 lawmakers voted against the budget and 24 in favour, said Parliament Speaker Adamos Adamou. Anastasiades’s ruling center-right Disy party lacks a majority in parliament.

Shortly after the Parliament voted against the Budget, President Anastasiadis issued a written statement.

“I fully understand and respect the positions of the parties, which, either as a result of a different economic view, or individual views on policy areas, have taken a negative stance in approving the state budget,” Anastasiadis wrote.

“But what I do not understand is the negative vote of the Democratic Party, which is trying to blackmail the legally elected government and neutralize other independent institutions.”

“The current behaviour of the Democratic Party does not serve the presumed goal, nor the well-understood interests of our society, which under the unprecedented conditions we are experiencing today, has the absolute need to support the State.”

Cyprus ended its so-called golden passport program on Nov. 1, citing longstanding weaknesses and abuses.

The Cypriot parliament’s speaker Demetris Syllouris resigned in October, after an Al Jazeera report caught him on video offering to help a fictitious Chinese businessman with a criminal record attain citizenship. Jho Low, a Malaysian linked to the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, was among the beneficiaries of the program offering citizenship to foreign investors.

Opposition lawmakers had demanded that the state auditor office investigate all cases where Cyprus passports were issued under the program. The government declined to do so on advice from the country’s attorney general, who has already appointed a committee to examine the program.

Lawmakers approved stopgap legislation after the budget vote so that the government can make payments in January 2021 to avoid a shut down. Anastasiades’ administration can also resubmit the budget with changes for another vote at a later date.

Sourced By: Bloomberg/The Greek Herald

European Union member states will begin vaccinations against Covid-19 in 10 days, Germany said, as Europe tries to catch up with Britain and the United States after what some have criticized as a slow EU approval process for the jabs.

“In Germany we will start, if the approval comes as planned, on Dec. 27. The other countries in the EU want to be able to start and want to start from Dec. 27,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said before an online meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and executives from vaccine maker BioNTech.

As a member of the EU, Germany is obliged, by and large, to wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine. The EMA is expected to make an announcement on Dec. 21.

READ MORE: Greek PM vows COVID-19 vaccinations will be free for everyone
READ MORE: 42 percent of Greeks say they will get the Covid-19 jab, survey shows

A senior EU official said on Wednesday the bloc could give its final approval for the vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, on Dec. 23.

That will be weeks after Britain, which left the EU early this year, approved the shot on Dec. 3 for emergency use, followed by Canada on Dec. 9 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec. 11.

In Britain, around 140,000 people have already received the jabs, BioNTech Chief Medical Officer Oezlem Tuereci said at Thursday’s online event.

According to Spahn, the vaccine should become available to all 27 EU member states at the same time, regardless of their financial strength, thanks to negotiations led by the European Commission that he said were an “important signal of European solidarity”.

Merkel said Germany was looking forward to starting life-saving vaccinations, a day after the country reported 952 deaths related to the coronavirus, its highest daily number yet.

“If we look at how many people are dying of coronavirus now, we know how many people this [vaccine] can save,” she said.

BioNTech’s Tuereci said the “marathon” was not over yet for the vaccine maker.

“Our team here at BioNTech has been working through nights and weekends, has put off vacations. They will continue over Christmas to make sure delivery can happen quickly,” she said.

Sourced By: Reuters

Greek unemployment in July 2013 stood at 28 percent. The country was then still halfway through an eight-year recession that would claim a quarter of its economic growth. It still ranks as the worst contraction of any post-war developed economy.

Due to this dire situation, many Greek youth left Greece, looking for work opportunities abroad. One of them was Krystallia Sarantopoulou.

According to Al Jazeera, Sarantopoulou graduated from Thessaloniki’s Aristotelian University seven years ago with a degree in electrical and computer engineering.

“During the financial crisis it was impossible (to start a job as a new graduate),” she told the media outlet.

Forced to seek her fortunes abroad, Sarantopoulou accepted an entry-level job in The Netherlands. The pay was basic but she felt at home. Walking into the Dutch company cafeteria, she recognised many fellow graduates from the Aristotelian University mess hall.

Still, she wanted to return to Greece and diligently kept an eye peeled for opportunities. This year, during the coronavirus pandemic, one finally surfaced.

“Last Easter, a colleague of mine called and said Pfizer is going to invest in a software hub in Thessaloniki. I said, ‘Really? It’s too good to be true’,” Sarantopoulou says.

She is among the first wave of new hires at Pfizer’s Greek hub in Thessaloniki.

The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has already received over 3,500 applications for the 200 spots that are open at its digital hub in Thessaloniki. A substantial portion of the applicants, representing twenty percent, are from Greeks living abroad.

“We have people coming from the US, the Netherlands, Germany – all Greeks who went away and are coming back,” Nico Gariboldi, the site manager in Thessaloniki, told Al Jazeera.

Gariboldi says Pfizer chose Greece for a number of reasons: Political stability under the conservative New Democracy government, the biggest concentration of universities in southeast Europe and the city’s incubators and startups.

Those pull factors are no accident but part of a range of initiatives the Greek government has announced to competitively place Greece for the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” merging the digital, biological and physical worlds. 

READ MORE: Microsoft plans $1 billion data center venture in Greece.

These other initiatives include a deal between Microsoft and Greece in October, agreeing to build three data centres in the greater Athens area – enormous server parks that form the backbone of the internet and cloud computing services. 

Volkswagen Group and Greece also signed a memorandum of understanding in November to establish a groundbreaking mobility system on the Mediterranean island of Astypalea. The six-year plan includes a massive replacement of carbon-run vehicles on the island with electric and hybrid cars and trucks.

All these new groundbreaking announcements are set to see even more Greek youth repatriate to their homeland.

READ MORE: Greek island of Astypalea goes electric with Volkswagen transport deal.

Turkey’s President Erdogan said on Wednesday that US sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of Russian defense systems were an attack on Ankara’s sovereign rights aimed at deterring its defense industry, a move which he said was bound to fail.

On Monday, Washington imposed the sanctions targeting NATO member Turkey’s Defense Industry Directorate (SSB), its chief Ismail Demir and three other employees over its acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.

READ MORE: US imposes sanctions on Turkey over purchase of Russian missile system.

In his first public comments on the move, Erdogan said that problems stemming from the sanctions would be overcome and vowed to ramp up efforts towards an independent defence industry, while criticising Washington for sanctioning a NATO ally.

“What kind of alliance is this? What kind of partnership is this? This decision is an open hostile attack against our country’s sovereign rights,” Erdogan said in a televised address.

“The real goal is to block the advances our country started in the defence industry recently and to once again render us absolutely dependent on them,” he added. “Surely there will be problems, but each problem will push open a door for us for a solution.”

Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and to NATO’s broader defence systems. Turkey rejects this and says S-400s will not be integrated into NATO. On Wednesday, Erdogan repeated that the US concerns had no technical basis.

READ MORE: Greece to boost military with 18 French Rafale jets in 2021.

He added that Ankara still produced close to 1,000 parts for the F-35 jets, despite being removed from the program over the S-400 purchase. Turkey had also been due to buy more than 100 F-35 jets.

Ending his remarks, Erdogan unveiled footage of Turkey’s new domestic missile defence system, HISAR-A+, which he said had been delayed due to an embargo on a part Turkey was importing. He did not say which country Turkey was importing from.

“Thank God Turkey has long left behind the period of being stuck by such sanctions,” he said.

In response to these comments, Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, said on Wednesday at the second Southeast Europe & East Med conference, that Washington’s decision to impose sanctions on Turkey was “necessary” as a means of underscoring that Ankara has “crossed the line,” not only with its acquisition of the S-400, but also with its behavior in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Dendias added his belief that the sanctions imposed by the United States, coupled with warnings issued at last week’s European Council meeting, may lead to what he described as a “period of calm” that would allow exploratory talks to recommence.

READ MORE: EU Summit: Leaders strike deal on landmark budget, virus recovery fund.