Big multinational pharmaceutical companies are engineering artificial shortages of drugs in Greece by arbitrarily adopting "ceilings" for drugs sold per pharmacy and demanding personal data on customers and patients, the Pharmaceutical Developmental Institute of Greece (FANIE) asserted on Wednesday.

The Greek budget showed a primary surplus of 1.506 billion euros in the January-May period this year, from a surplus of 707 million euros in the corresponding period in 2014 and a budget target for a primary surplus of 556 million euros.

The negotiating thriller in Brussels is reaching its peak today, with Alexis Tsipras attempting to "seal" a deal and being confronted with both the reactions of lenders as well as those of the party base and the Parliamentary Group of SYRIZA.