Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-06-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] EU leaders fail to clinch long-term 2007-2013 budget deal at EU summit

[02] Nana Mouskouri live in concert at Komotini on Saturday night

[01] EU leaders fail to clinch long-term 2007-2013 budget deal at EU summit

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, speaking at a press conference he gave at the close of the summit well after midnight, said that the climate prevailing in consultations was unfavourable and complicated and said that Greece voted for a compromise proposal tabled by the Luxembourg EU presidency.

Karamanlis said that no agreement was reached and that not a new summit was decided during the Luxembourg presidency which ends at the end of the month. He said that Greece, after coordinated efforts and tough negotiations, had succeeded "to guarantee funds exceeding 20 billion euros."

Referring to the ratification process of the European Constitution, the premier underlined that during the summit it was decided to have the process going on after a period of reflection, because, as he said, there was an overall assessment that there cannot be a continuation as if nothing had happened after the French and Dutch referendums.

The maintenance of the deadline of November 2006 for the completion of the ratification of the Constitution is not feasible, Karamanlis underlined.

The Greek priime minister said that five countries opposed the proposed budget and these were Finland, Spain, The Netherlands, Britain and Sweden, noting that there was no common point in their disagreement. Karamanlis noted that the compromise was at 1.06 per cent of the Union's GDP, saying that a great majority of the member-states supported the current Common Agricultural Policy and that it was too late to predict any changes to it.

He concluded by saying that Greece had no problem in obtaining funds and underlined that the country's objecticve was for the discussion to reopen to achieve desired results.

The failure was due to deep and serious differences over Britain's EU rebate and French farm subsidies which eventually dashed a compromise deal. Britain rejected a number of proposals to cap its annual refund from EU coffers and the country insisted that any reduction must be connected to a pledge to reform the Common Agricultural Policy. The outcome now threatens the bloc with financial paralysis.

[02] Nana Mouskouri live in concert at Komotini on Saturday night

In a press conference earlier in the week, Deputy Foreign Minister Evripides Stylianides said that, through this concert, the government was launching a campaign to highlight Greece's contribution toward eradicating poverty.

He said the government's goal was to build Greece's image as an "international humanitarian power" and make sure that Greece's efforts for the eradication of absolute poverty and hunger, the first of the UN Millenium targets, was not overlooked.

Mouskouri expressed "pride and gratitude" that she had been called to serve the developmental work of the foreign ministry in her country, noting that Greece had been on the 'dark side' of the globe when she had begun her career 40 years earlier and had been the one seeking aid from developed countries, instead of being the one donating aid.

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