2015
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Contents
Events
January
- January 3: Escaped convicted November 17 member, Christodoulos Xiros, is apprehended by police in Anavyssos.
- January 3: George Papandreou launches his new political party, the Movement of Democratic Socialists.
- January 5: The Athens Stock Exchange closes at 789.20 - a loss of 5.6% - amid rumours of a future Greek exit from the Eurozone.
- January 6: Michel resigns his position as head coach of Olympiakos FC.
- January 9: Cyprus Airways ceases operations after the EU rules they cannot receive any further state aid.
- January 13: The elder Paisios is canonised a saint by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
- January 24: Cash-strapped Niki Volou is officially relegated from the Super League for financial reasons by the league's disciplinary committee.
- January 25: The radical left-wing Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras wins the parliamentary elections with 36.34% of the vote, gaining 149 seats in the Hellenic Parliament.
- January 26: Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party reaches a deal with the conservative Independent Greeks of Panos Kammenos to form an anti-bailout coalition. Tsipras straightaway receives a mandate to form a government from President Karolos Papoulias and breaks tradition by taking a civil oath without the presence of Archbishop Ieronymos II.
- January 26: The official results of the parliamentary election are announced. SYRIZA: 36.34%, 149 seats; New Democracy: 27.81%, 76 seats; Golden Dawn: 6.28%, 17 seats; Potami: 6.05%, 17 seats; KKE: 5.47%, 15 seats; ANEL: 4.75%, 13 seats; PASOK: 4.68%, 13 seats
- January 26: A Greek F-16 fighter jet crashes at Los Llanos base in Albacete, Spain, during a NATO exercise. Both pilots are killed along with eight others.
- January 28: An earthquake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, strikes south of Crete.
- January 28: The Athens Stock Exchange General Index posts losses of 9.24%.
February
- February 2: PM Alexis Tsipras pays an official state visit to Cyprus where he meets President Nikos Anastasiades.
- February 3: The Athens Stock Market rallies as the General Index gains 11.27% to close at 840.57.
- February 5: "We did not even agree to disagree", says Yanis Varoufakis after a meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, contradicting his host. Varoufakis received no support from Wolfgang Schaeuble in the newly elected government's plan to win debt relief and end austerity policies.
- February 6: SYRIZA MP Zoi Konstantopoulou is elected President of the Parliament, after receiving the record number of 235 votes.
- February 12: Sergio Markarian is named head coach of the National Football Team of Greece.
- February 15: About 15,000 people gather in central Athens to support the newly elected government's push for a better deal on Greece's debt.
- February 17: Alexis Tsipras nominates Prokopis Pavlopoulos for the Greek presidency.
- February 18: Prokopis Pavlopoulos is elected President of the Hellenic Republic gathering 233 votes in the first ballot.
- February 20: Nikoletta Kyriakopoulou breaks the Greek indoor record for the pole vault, with 4.76m, in Stockholm, Sweden.
- February 20: Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement to extend Greece's financial rescue by four months, provided they approve reform proposals to be submitted by Greece with a deadline of February 23.
- February 24: Eurozone finance ministers approve reform proposals submitted by Greece in order to gain an extension of its bailout. The Athens Stock Exchange responds with gains of 9.81%.
- February 24: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades starts a four-day official state visit to Russia.
March
- March 13: Prokopis Pavlopoulos is sworn in as President of the Hellenic Republic.
- March 15: University student, Vangelis Yiakoumakis, who had gone missing since February 6, is found dead not far from his school.
- March 21: OFI Crete is forced to withdraw from Greece's top flight Superleague because of mounting debts.
- March 23: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in Germany. Both Tsipras and Merkel urge an end to German and Greek cultural stereotypes about "good and bad" eurozone members, saying such labels threaten European unity.
- March 27: Ratings agency Fitch downgrades the sovereign rating of Greece by three notches, from B to CCC, citing "extreme pressure on Greek government funding."
April
- April 2: Vicky Stamati, wife of the jailed former minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, escapes from Dromokaitio Psychiatric Hospital.
- April 3: Vicky Stamati surrenders to authorities just one day after her escape from Dromokaitio Psychiatric Hospital.
- April 5: Panathinaikos defeat Apollon Patra 68-53 to lift the Greek Basketball Cup for the 16th time.
- April 8: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wins pledges of closer cooperation from Russia at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
- April 15: An earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, strikes Cyprus, 18km SW of Paphos.
- April 15: Ratings agency S&P downgrades Greece's credit rating, saying it expects its debt and other financial commitments will be "unsustainable". S&P drops long and short-term sovereign credit ratings to CCC+/C from B-/B and says its outlook is negative.
- April 16: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes around 50 km (30 miles) off the eastern tip of the island of Crete.
- April 17: A powerful aftershock, measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale, is felt throughout Crete.
- April 20: The Golden Dawn trial commences at Korydallos.
- April 24: Cyprus President, Nikos Anastasiades, attends the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian massacre in Yerevan. Greece is represented by Hellenic Parliament speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou.
- April 25: The women’s water polo team of Olympiakos win their first ever Euro League title by beating holders Sabadell from Spain 10-9
May
- May 3: Two inmates are killed and 18 others are injured during a clash at Korydallos prison.
- May 4: A 27-year old Bulgarian national is arrested for the hideous murder of his 4-year old daughter, Anny Borisova, in Athens.
- May 9: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades is the lone leader of an EU country who attends the 70th anniversary celebrations of the victory against Nazi Germany, in Red Square, Moscow.
- May 11: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades meets Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, for the first time since the latter's election as president of the so-called TRNC.
- May 15: Inter-communal talks resume in Cyprus after an eight-month break.
- May 16: Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, abolishes the requirement that Greek Cypriots fill in a ‘visa’ form to cross to the breakaway north.
- May 17: Olympiakos fall to Real Madrid 78-59 in the final of the Euroleague.
- May 20: APOEL defeat AE Limassol 4-2 to lift the Cyprus Football Cup. The match was halted for 40 minutes when AEL fans threw debris on the pitch. Afterwards, the Larnaca fire department had to respond to ten calls as the same fans lit fires throughout the city.
- May 23: Olympiakos defeat Skoda Xanthi 3-1 to lift the Greek Football Cup.
- May 24: APOEL clinch their third consecutive Cypriot league title.
June
- June 3: Iraklis Thessaloniki mathematically clinches the second spot in the second-division play-offs, behind AEK, to secure its promotion back to the Super League after four years in lower divisions.
- June 5: Greece misses its €300 million payment to the International Monetary Fund and announces that it will instead bundle all four of its June payments together at the end of the month. The Athens Stock Exchange responds with a 5% plunge in values.
- June 9: An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale strikes near Chalkida.
- June 10: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets in Brussels with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for negotiations on new bailout funds.
- June 11: Greece's state broadcaster ERT goes back on air, two years after being closed down under austerity measures.
- June 11: The Athens Stock Exchange posts gains of 8.16% as an agreement between Greece and her lenders seems imminent.
- June 12: Stocks in the National Bank of Greece fall almost 10%, while Piraeus Bank falls more than 11.5% on the Athens Stock Exchange, following a fresh blow to Greece's debt negotiations. The Athens Stock Exchange closes nearly 6% lower.
- June 14: Fofi Gennimata is elected as the new leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.
- June 14: Olympiakos sweep the championship series against Panathinaikos with a 93-74 victory, to clinch their 11th basketball title.
- June 14: Negotiations between Greece and the International Monetary Fund fall apart in less than an hour, with both sides blaming the other.
- June 15: Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades visits Israel and meets with President Reuven Rivlin and PM Benjamin Netanyahu. He is the first head of state to visit Israel since Mr Rivlin's election to the Israeli presidency.
- June 22: The Athens Stock Exchange posts gains of 9.00% in response to fresh proposals submitted by the Greek government to its lenders.
- June 27: PM Alexis Tsipras calls for a referendum on the bailout deal proposed by the EU lenders.
- June 28: As thousands of Greeks queue up to withdraw their money from ATMs, the European Central Bank announces it will not increase emergency funding to Greek banks. PM Alexis Tsipras responds by calling a bank holiday of unspecified duration.
- June 30: Greece misses the deadline for a €1.5bn payment to the International Monetary Fund.
July
- July 4: Kostas Filippidis breaks the Greek men's record for the pole vault with 5.91m. Nicole Kyriakopoulou breaks the women's record with 4.83m.
- July 5: Greeks overwhelmingly reject the final bailout deal offered by the EU lenders in a referendum. 61.3% cast "no" ballots, confounding the pollsters who had predicted a close vote. New Democracy leader, Antonis Samaras, who had led an all-out campaign for a "yes" vote, resigns after pressure from his own party.
- July 11: PM Alexis Tsipras' bailout plan, which includes several new austerity measures, passes the Hellenic Parliament with 251 votes.
- July 13: Greece reaches an agreement with the EU over a third bailout deal, after a 17-hour session.
- July 16: The terms of the third bailout deal are approved in the Hellenic Parliament by 229 to 64. 38 SYRIZA MPs bolt the party line.
- July 17: Forest fires break out in Attica, Euboea, Laconia and other places in Greece.
- July 18: PM Alexis Tsipras reshuffles his Cabinet.
- July 20: Banks in Greece open for the first time in three weeks. Bank customers are allowed to make a single withdrawal of €420 a week, instead of just €60 in daily withdrawals. However, restrictions on cash transfers abroad remain in place.
- July 20: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirms that Greece has cleared overdue debt repayments of €2.05bn and is no longer in arrears.
- July 23: A second package of measures, required by the EU for the third bailout, is approved in the Hellenic Parliament by 230 to 63. 31 SYRIZA MPs vote against the measures.
August
- August 3: The Athens Stock Exchange ends its first session in five weeks with losses of 16.23%.
- August 14: The Hellenic Parliament approves the terms of an €85 billion bailout. The vote was 222 - 64 with 11 abstentions.
- August 20: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announces he is resigning and calls an early election.
- August 21: Panagiotis Lafazanis leads 25 MPs out of SYRIZA to form the Popular Unity party, dedicated to the "abolition of all memoranda".
- August 27: Supreme Court justice Vasiliki Thanou is named caretaker Prime Minister. She becomes the first woman to hold that post in Greece.
September
- September 7: The National Football Team draws 0-0 in Bucharest against Romania and equalises a negative record of 11 straight matches without a victory.
- September 9: There is no clear winner in a televised debate of the leaders of the major parties that will take part in the upcoming national elections.
- September 12: Greece defeat Belgium 75-54 to advance to the quarterfinals of EuroBasket 2015.
- September 14: The second televised debate of the leaders of the major parties takes place.
- September 20: Alexis Tsipras' SYRIZA party wins the second parliamentary elections of the year with 35.47% of the vote, gaining 145 seats in the Hellenic Parliament.
- September 21: Alexis Tsipras is once again sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece, heading a coalition of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks.
October
- October 3: The newly-elected members of the Hellenic Parliament are sworn in.
- October 8: The National Football Team lose 1-3 in Belfast against N. Ireland and set a negative record of 12 straight matches without a victory.
- October 11: Greece snap their record 12 game win-less streak with a 4-3 victory over Hungary.
- October 26: The Greek Ministry for Culture announces the discovery of an undisturbed tomb of an ancient warrior, buried with a hoard of treasure.
November
- November 2: Panathinaikos FC announce the dismissal of coach Yiannis Anastasiou.
- November 12: Thousands of Greek workers take to the streets to protest proposed austerity measures.
- November 13: PM Alexis Tsipras sends his condolences to French President Hollande over the Paris terrorist attacks.
- November 17: A powerful earthquake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, strikes Lefkada moving the island 36cm to the south.
- November 21: The derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos is called off, 30 minutes after the scheduled kick-off, following violent scenes with flares being thrown onto the pitch and fans battling police outside the stadium.
- November 25: PM Alexis Tsipras visits Israel and has talks with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
December
- December 3: The EU border agency Frontex said that it will deploy additional guards at Greece’s border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) where migrants have been stranded for more than a week.
- December 4: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
- December 6: The proposed 2016 budget passes in the Hellenic Parliament with 153 votes.
- December 6: Riots take place in Athens on the anniversary of the killing of 15-year old Alexis Grigoropoulos.
- December 22: The Hellenic Parliament unanimously recognises a "Palestinian state" as Palestinian Authority chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, visits Athens.
- December 22: The Hellenic Parliament passes by 194 to 55 (with 51 abstentions) legislation that grants gay couples full marriage rights.
- December 25: Cyprus president Nikos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci make a joint television appearance to wish Cypriots happy holidays. Both leaders speak in both Greek and Turkish.
Deaths
January
- January 8: Yiannis Papantoniou, footballer.
- January 9: Roy Tarpley, basketball player.
- January 24: Demis Roussos, singer.
February
- February 18: Andreas Garyfallos, water polo player.
- February 24: Babis Drosos, footballer
March
- March 6: Vasilis Magginas, politician
April
- April 9: Loukas Louka, Cypriot politician and minister.
- April 20: Zoe Zagoraiou, singer - partner of her husband Spyros Zagoraios
- April 28: Yiannis Komianidis, footballer
May
- May 28: Bruno Pesaola, former coach of Panathinaikos FC.
August
- August 3: Nikos Tsachiridis, actor
- August 6: Kostas Virvos, songwriter
- August 22: Dimitris Paridis, footballer
September
- September 2: Jack Nikolaidis, basketball player
- September 7: Voula Zoumboulaki, actress
- September 13: Takis Chrysanidis, footballer (Apollon Kalamaria FC)
- September 24: Theodoros Theofiloyiannakos, member of Junta which rules Greece from 1967 - 1974.
October
- October 20: Makis Dendrinos, basketball player and coach
November
- November 4: Kostas Tsakonas, comedy actor
December
- December 24: Danos Lygizos, actor, TV presenter