DHAKA: Crisis-hit Greece on January 1 took over the six-month rotating EU presidency from Lithuania with a crucial European Parliament ballot looming and the bloc divided over delicate efforts to create a banking union.

In the European Parliament elections in May, euroskeptics and far-right parties are poised to score major gains that could harden the bloc’s political agenda for the next five years.

The country itself is scheduled to hold municipal elections on May 18 and 25, a process expected to bolster political forces opposed to the government’s austerity policies and the economic agreement with the country’s EU-IMF creditors.

In its fifth EU presidency since joining the bloc in 1981, Athens plans to host 14 ministerial meetings and another 120 related gatherings in the first six months of 2014.

The Greeks, who are still drawing EU-IMF loans to keep their economy running, have pledged to organise a ‘Spartan’ presidency.

The overall cost is calculated at 50 million euros, but the foreign ministry hopes to eventually return part of the money to state coffers.

BDST: 1916 HRS, JAN 01, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor