Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-02-21

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM to raise Balkan affairs at NATO and EU leaders meeting in Brussels

[02] All preparations for new financial crimes unit in motion, finance ministry reports

[03] Church proceeds with internal corruption probe; handful of measures approved

[04] Greece and Bulgaria to cooperate in improving road and rail networks linking two countries

[01] PM to raise Balkan affairs at NATO and EU leaders meeting in Brussels

Alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros announced that the premier will be departing for Brussels on Monday afternoon. He clarified that Karamanlis was on a very tight schedule and will not be meeting with any of the other foreign leaders during his visit, pointing out that such contacts were usually made on the sidelines of official meetings.

Antonaros was unable to confirm whether the premier would also raise the matter of the dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) over its adopted name of 'Macedonia', noting only that it was among Balkan issues.

[02] All preparations for new financial crimes unit in motion, finance ministry reports

The new outfit - named the Special Inspections Service - was one of the government's pre-election pledges and is designed to be a more modern, flexible and upgraded version of its predecessor that will be more effective in clamping down on major incidents of fraud, smuggling and large-scale tax evasion, particularly new types of illegal transactions and scams using electronic media, the Internet and new technologies.

The new service is to acquire an Internal Inspections department to promote transparency, a department specialising in e-commerce and electronic crimes and operational headquarters to look into major cases involving subsidy and grant fraud, money-laundering and illegal banking and stock market transactions.

[03] Church proceeds with internal corruption probe; handful of measures approved

Among others, the spokesman said a recently established Holy Synod committee of Metropolitans will probe the same-day press reports alleging that Metropolitan of Attica Panteleimon controls an off-shore company that manages money of at least 18 bank accounts in his name.

Panteleimon has already been suspended from duties at his archdiocese (which covers much the prefecture surrounding the greater Athens area) for six months.

[04] Greece and Bulgaria to cooperate in improving road and rail networks linking two countries

The meeting was held at the Promachonas railroad station and was attended by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Nikos Tsiartsionis and Deputy Finance Minister Adam Regouzas as well.

By signing the protocol, the two sides have agreed the following:

To begin immediate operation of a luxury train between Thessaloniki and Sofia, with a running time of 5h30m down from a current 7h40m.

To upgrade the rail network between Thessaloniki and Sofia by 2011 with the objective of having trains complete the journey in 3h30m.

To link by rail Bulgaria's port of Lom on the Danube with the port of Thessaloniki by 2013, in order to facilitate transport to central Europe.

To complete the construction of a highway linking Thessaloniki with Sofia by 2013 - a priority within the context of the Intra-European Transport Networks.

To implement specific administrative measures in order to reduce waiting times at the borders.

To increase the number of staff at Greek customs at Promachonas in order to cut down on delays.

To open a new border crossing in June 2005.

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