Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Pavlopoulos lashes out at past PASOK policies for local gov'ts

[02] Papandreou criticism of gov't on all levels; sharp gov't reaction

[01] Pavlopoulos lashes out at past PASOK policies for local gov'ts

Among others, Pavlopoulos charged that successive PASOK governments failed to prepare the country's regions for absorbing upcoming 4th Community Support Framework (CSF) funds, while withholding billions of euros in funding towards local government entities.

Speaking from Thessaloniki, he also said the government's intention to set a 42-percent margin for the election of mayors and prefects in the first round of voting will lead to campaign alliances based on common political positions and not on expediencies.

[02] Papandreou criticism of gov't on all levels; sharp gov't reaction

He also told party cadres active in local and regional government that the Karamanlis government is attempting to "level" the political scene via a perception of "all politicians are bad".

In terms of the ecomomy, he charged that the government is borrowing heavily and at a high interest rate in order to claim that it is cutting the high budget deficit.

In terms of the 'name issue', the former foreign minister in successive Simitis governments blamed the New Democracy government of 1990-93 as well as the current government, in power since March 2004, for the nagging problem with the neighboring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). He also said the government committed errors and did not exploit the possibilities it had. Conversely, he listed his father, late premier Andreas Papandreou, and the latter's successor, Costas Simitis, as PASOK leaders that managed the issue better, among others.

In terms of local government elections for next year, the PASOK leader said 80 percent of the party's candidates for mayoral and prefectural races will be decided at the regional level.

Gov't reaction

In a later reaction to Papandreou's comments, the government spokesman said that "every so often Mr. Papandreou portrays the messenger of morality. He is satisfied, however, only with words, as he 'forgets' to invite a long-time minister and high-ranking PASOK cadre and ask him what all of Greece is asking: 'Are the front-page allegations of bribery that appeared in major European newspapers true?"

Spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos' reference relates to recent articles in a pair of Paris dailies featuring claims by a former executive with a French defence contractor (Thales), namely, that a Greek minister accepted a nine-million-euro bribe to award a frigate modernization contract to the company in 2003.

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