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Evil never comes alone, says a Bulgarian proverb. At the end of the 3-day weekend (there is a religious holiday this Monday in Greece) the prestigious agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece, and one of the largest Greek businessmen and media tycoons announced that he stops publishing the two emblematic Greek newspapers - Ethnos and Imerisia.

One of the three most prestigious credit rating agencies Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece and rated it CCC from B. CCC bonds mean high risk of default payments and that the ability of the bond issuing party, i.e. the Greek state, to meet its financial commitments is highly dependent on favourable business, financial and economic conditions. In the event of adverse business, financial and economic conditions, as is the case of Greece at the moment, it is unlikely the state to meet its financial obligations under the securities issued.

The downgrading by Standard & Poor's comes just a day before the Greek state issues six-month bills to enter again the markets and a day before the extraordinary meeting of the Eurogroup, dedicated to the Greek debt. The agency clearly stated in its arguments that any involvement of private creditors in the so-called voluntary restructuring of the Greek foreign debt would be considered a credit event, i.e. insolvency and would be followed by a new downgrading. The Greek Finance Ministry responded immediately by saying that Standard & Poor's underestimated the discussion in the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the new rescue package for the troubled country.

It became clear Monday evening that the publisher of the media group Pegasus Georgios Bobolas has decided to close all editions. The decision of Bobolas is the result of the announced 48-hour strike in the same editions for the dismissal of a fellow journalist. Following the example of the right daily Elefteros tipos the publisher plans to resume publishing the two editions with a new and smaller team of journalists. The time period in which Bobolas will resume publishing Ethnos and Imerisia is not known yet. Georgios Bobolas holds a large stake in Greece's largest private broadcaster Mega.