Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] PASOK, GSEE see labour rights threatened

[02] Commission report on Greek economy positive, PM told

[03] British, US companies interested in Kozani saffron

[01] PASOK, GSEE see labour rights threatened

, referring to the collapse of talks between trade unions and employers on Thursday for a nationwide collective labour agreement.

"This undermining of collective negotiations destroys social cohesion and unity and the country's ability to go forward and face the new developments," he added.

Greece cannot be one of those countries that will depend on development through cheap labour, PASOK's leader noted.

"There is another way, which is to invest in people, on protecting social rights and adapting to the new conditions with the labour movement, with the labour movement in the lead. It is a completely different approach and it is this approach the government is attacking," he said.

Papandreou did not hesitate to link the current stressful climate in labour relations with an assault against Polyzogopoulos some two weeks earlier, saying that the motives of the unidentified assailants were clearly political.

Commenting on the positions of the Union of Greek Industry (SEB) during Thursday's labour talks, he said that PASOK was chiefly concerned with protecting the right to collective negotiations, which were a fundamental democratic right.

Polyzogopoulos said the stance of employers was a threat to both worker and pensioner incomes and the fundamental democratic right to collective expression and negotiation, equating the present situation in Greece with the attack on the British trade union movement under Margaret Thatcher, with bank clerks taking the place of miners.

"SEB yesterday appeared to be fully in-step with the orders of (Finance Minister George) Alogoskoufis, fully in step with a direction that it obeys," he said, noting that developments left workers in the private sector unable to organise to defend their rights.

Roussopoulos: PASOK divided by internal problems

Responding to Papandreou's attack, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said he was reminded of past criticism levelled against former PASOK premier Costas Simitis by members of his own party.

He claimed that PASOK was divided between what should be done and the need to make speeches for communications reasons, in order to deal with its internal party problems.

Regarding the outcome of the labour talks between GSEE and SEB, Roussopoulos said that the government would not interfere in the negotiations between the social partners.

He also noted that the government had given the highest wage increases possible in the public sector, at a time when things were difficult but hopeful for the economy.

"The government's decisions have helped correct the economy's problems. When the economy as a whole prospers, then the citizens also prosper," Roussopoulos concluded.

Concerning a European Commission report on Greece, the spokesman said the government had focused on fixing the problems, especially the large deficit, and this is now recognised by the EU.

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[02] Commission report on Greek economy positive, PM told

Replying to press questions after the meeting on the prospect of general elections, following a call for early elections on Thursday by main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou, Alogoskoufis said that "the government is at the half-way point of its term in office, it is implementing its reforms programme with great success and a programme that will bring the country out of the economic problems of the past", adding that "the opposition has its own reasons for creating diversions".

Alogoskoufis also said that the draft of EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia's report on the Greek economy that was made public was "positive", as it did not call for the introduction of additional measures, and only for the implementation of the budget.

The report is slated to be discussed next week by the European Commission (at its weekly meeting), and after that by the Council of Ministers.

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[03] British, US companies interested in Kozani saffron

Within that framework, members of the Cooperative will meet with representatives of the two countries in March in Athens, on the sidelines of a conference being organised on March 11 under the aegis of the Western Macedonia regional authority.

Patsiouras also said that the Greek crocus has surged in popularity in Turkey, Denmark and Sweden, following contracts signed by the Cooperative with companies in those countries. The contracts provide for the exclusive distribution of Kozani crocus in the companies' respective national markets, with emphasis on major supermarket chains and specialty food shops.

The agreements for the Danish and Swedish markets provide for the absorption of one ton of Kozani saffron annually, and 200 kilos annually for the Turkish market.

According to Patsiouras, one stremma of crocus plants yields an average 800 grams of saffron, with the total annual production in Kozani estimated at 6-8 tons.

The crocus is one of 15 agricultural products that the European Commission decided, in October 2005, to promote on markets of non-EU countries, in the framework of a programme to boost the competitiveness EU quality products.

According to the Commission, the EU will provide 50 percent of the funding for the products promotion programme. Thus, the EU will cover 775,000 euros of the 1.55 million euros budget, which covers three years.

The Cooperative, established in 1971, has the exclusive responsibility of collection, selection, processing, packaging and distribution of the region's entire crocus production, and has made great improvement in its organisation of promoting the product in recent years.

Chios mastiche and Kozani saffron are the two Greek products among the 15 European farm products included in the European Commission's programme to promote the Unionâs farm products in third countries, as part of efforts to improve competitiveness of European quality products.

The European Commission announced late October that it had approved measures to provide information on, and to promote, agricultural products in third countries. Member states submitted 25 promotion and information programmes to the Commission for examination. For the first time new member states also participated. The 15 programmes approved are targeted for the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, China, and Switzerland. The products covered are wine, dairy products, meat, flowers and juices.

"Improving the competitiveness of EU quality products on markets outside the EU is a major challenge. By investing in promotion and information campaigns for our agricultural products outside the EU, the European Union is showing its determination to take up this challenge", Commissioner Fischer Boel, responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, said at the time.

The EU can fund, in whole or in part, measures in third countries that provide information on, or promote, agricultural products and food products. These measures can be public relations, promotional or publicity measures, in particular highlighting the advantages of EU products, especially in terms of quality, hygiene, food safety, nutrition, labelling, animal welfare or environment-friendliness. These measures can amongst others also cover participation at events and fairs, information campaigns on the Community system of protected designations of origin (PDOs), protected geographical indications (PGIs) and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSGs) and of organic farming. Also possible are information campaigns on the EU system of quality wines produced in specified regions (QWPSR) and studies of new markets.

The Organic Red Saffron, produced by the renowned Kozani Saffron Compulsory Cooperative, in Northern Greece, is a certified organic product that is distinguished for its excellent quality which places it in the Coupe Class, the top quality of Saffron in the world. Saffron, made from the dried stigmas of the crocus flower, is the world's most expensive spice.

The saffron produced by the cooperative has been awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.

Greek red saffron or 'Krokos Kozanis', is considered to be one of the best saffrons in the world. The stigmata is extracted by hand from the freshly harvested flowers and then laid out to dry. Once dried they are irregular, deep orange threads. It takes about 50,000 stigmata of Crocus Sativus Linneaus to make 100g of red saffron.

Saffron cultivation is believed to date back to prehistoric Greece.

The excavations in Knossos, Crete, brought to light some frescoes where saffron is depicted. The most famous of these frescoes is the "saffron gatherer", depicting a monkey among the yellow saffron flowers.

Etymologically, the word crocus has its origin from the Greek word "croci" which means weft, the thread used for weaving on a loom.

Mythologically, according to Ovid, the plant took its name from the youth Crocus, who after witnessing in despair the death of fair Smilax was transformed into this flower.

Known since antiquity, saffron it was one of the most desired and expensive spices of ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans for its aroma, color and aphrodisiac properties.

It was quite popular among the Phoenician traders, who carried it wherever they traveled. The ancient Assyrians used saffron for medical purposes.

Hippocrates and other Greek doctors of his time, like Dioskourides and Galinos mention crocus as a drug or a therapeutical herb.

From the writings of Homer, who calls dawn "crocus veil", Aeschylus, Pindar, and others, it is known that the crocus was considered a rare pharmaceutical plant of ancient Greece with unique properties. It is referred to throughout ancient history and in the course of many medical writings of the classical Greek and Roman times all the way to the Middle Ages.

Another saffron use in ancient Greece was that of perfumery.

The history of red saffron in modern Greece starts in the 17th century when traders from Kozani, Macedonia, brought the red saffron from Austria.

For 300 years, Greek red saffron is systematically cultivated under the warmth of the Greek sun, in the rich soil of a unique area in Kozani, in western Macedonia.

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