Greece: Pensions and Early Retirement Issues; αλλαγές στις πρόωρες συνταξιοδοτήσεις; 18% VAT; Rented Holiday Accommodation VAT Hike

18% VAT - Greece slaps 18% tax on tourists (The Australian) - "Tourists to Greek islands will be forced to pay an 18 per cent tax on hotel and restaurant bills so that Athens can raise money to appease Brussels. The plans were denounced as “catastrophic” by heads of tourism".

From Kathimerini -  Flat VAT rate must amount to 18 pct to avoid losses - Value-added tax on room rental on Aegean islands will quadruple- "one must also factor in the likely increase in tax dodging in the area of rented holiday accommodation, which will face a VAT hike from 6.5 to 18 percent. The rise will be even greater on the islands, as the current rate for rented holiday accommodation there is 4.55 percent".

Update Will an increase in the VAT rate really make a difference?

Mail Online

From Kathimerini - Προς αλλαγές στις πρόωρες συνταξιοδοτήσεις

BBC Report - Gabriel Sakellaridis said at a press conference in Athens that labour and pension issues are non negotiable. "We won't go beyond the limits of our red lines. It's clear that we cannot cut pensions."

Reuters -  "Greece defies euro zone on pension, labor reform"

Athens Voice - Ρωμανιάς: Επιμένουν σε μείωση συντάξεων οι δανειστές

Bloomberg -  Varoufakis Says Greece Ready to Take EU Impasse Down to the Wire - “Europe works in glacial ways and eventually does the right thing after trying all alternatives,” Varoufakis, 54, told BBC World on Thursday...“This cycle of debt deflation and insincerity has to end,” he said in the BBC interview. “We are prepared to go all the way down to the wire.”

Peter Spiegel @SpiegelPeter - At lunch speech in #Brussels, @yanisvaroufakis offers views on how to reach bailout deal. Sounds very similar to 3 months ago 7 May 2015

Varoufakis - "A Blueprint for Greece’s Recovery" (Project Syndicate)

Euronews -  "Athens re-hires laid off public workers as it seeks more cash help"

Yahoo/Reuters - Euro zone's position on Greek debt has not changed: Dijsselbloem

The Telegraph - Greece could use 'parallel currency' as desperation grows
"European Central Bank board member floats the idea of an "IOU" system to pay civil servants if country runs out of euros"

Greek News Agenda - In an announcement released simultaneously in Athens and Brussels, Juncker and Tsipras said that they "notably discussed the importance of reforms to modernise the pension system so that it is fair, fiscally sustainable and effective in averting old-age poverty."

Deutsche Welle -  "If Athens had hoped to drive a wedge between its international creditors, it failed miserably - perhaps even bringing them closer than they had been just 24 hours earlier.
As negotiators in Brussels continued their seemingly endless search for common ground on Wednesday, Greece's paymasters left no doubt that they are united in their cause".