One month after a powerful quake devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, hundreds of thousands of people still need shelter and sanitation, and an appeal for $1 billion to assist survivors is only 10% funded, hampering efforts to tackle the humanitarian crisis, a United Nations official said Monday.
The first clear signs of recovery in the banking system and its return to healthy organic profitability have emerged from the results for 2022, which will be the first profitable year after the last recapitalization of Greece’s lenders.
Greek rail workers went on strike for a sixth day on Monday to protest over safety conditions following a train crash last week that killed 57 people.
Greece intends to submit a request for additional loans from the Recovery Fund totaling 5 billion euros, in the context of REPowerEU (which concerns energy transition projects), probably by March 15.
Last Tuesday’s deadly rail crash was a major test for the government’s crisis management capabilities, even though it has spent most of its nearly four years in power responding to such crises, from the coronavirus pandemic to major wildfires.
Saudi Arabia said Monday it deposited $5 billion into the Turkish central bank, likely helping Ankara firm up its long-weakening currency, the lira, after last month’s massive earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and northern Syria.
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) accepts a proposal for the party’s Istanbul and Ankara mayors to serve as vice presidents if the opposition wins the May presidential election, a senior CHP official told Reuters on Monday.
Recovery crews in northern Greece cleared the final sections of wreckage from a deadly train collision from the tracks on Monday, as protests and political fallout from the country’s worst ever rail disaster continued.
Almost a week after Greece’s deadly rail crash, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Monday she discussed with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “further technical support that the EU can provide to Greece to modernize its railways and improve their safety.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has written to Supreme Court Prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos to ensure that an investigation into last week’s deadly rail collision is given the highest priority.