Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-01-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Gov't sets â¬5000 wage ceiling for CEO's and presidents of public utilities

[02] Minister to attend World Travel and Tourism meeting in US

[01] Gov't sets â¬5000 wage ceiling for CEO's and presidents of public utilities

Current budgetary policy calls for wage increases not exceeding 3 per cent.

The main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) said on Wednesday that the government was hurting workers at the state corporations it was seeking to overhaul.

Alogoskoufis said that a ministerial committee for DEKO that met at the finance ministry on Wednesday with Alogoskoufis in the chair had decided to activate articles governing DEKO contained in a law that was passed in 2005. He also clarified that any minister wishing to implement the wage ceiling for CEO's and company presidents would be free to do so from Thursday.

Alogoskoufis said that the committee's decision marked the culmination of a major effort to reform and restrain the public sector, stressing that this would put a brake on public-sector waste and ensure that DEKO had obligations as well as rights.

The minister said the law required public utilities to produce a Charter of their obligations towards the public within six months, which would be subject to the ministerial committee's approval and would then be used to judge their future performance.

Each ministry, meanwhile, will have to compile a list of the DEKO that it supervises and collect figures for their earnings and costs, state grants, investments, loans, debts and staffing. This information will then be used to create a database for public utilities and other state enterprises.

Main opposition says workers paying for plight of state firms

The main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) said on Wednesday that the government was hurting workers at the state corporations it was seeking to overhaul.

"Yet again, the government has burdened the responsibility for the condition of state corporations solely on the shoulders of workers, with no reference whatsoever to the social nature of the firms and ensuring the public interest," PASOK's economics spokeswoman, Vasso Papandreou, said.

"Faithful to his austerity policy for workers and pensioners, the finance minister has announced the procedure for hikes in tariffs set by the firms along with cuts in workers' income," Papandreou charged in a statement.

Responding to statements earlier in the day by Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis, she also charged that the finances of state corporations had worsened since the ruling New Democracy party took office in 2004.

[02] Minister to attend World Travel and Tourism meeting in US

The meeting will be followed by a press conference at which will be announced the holding of the 6th World Tourism Congress in the U.S. capital from April 10-12.

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