Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-10-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Karamanlis confers with FinMin, Employment minister on social insurance dialogue

[02] PASOK leader on current situation in party

[03] Arsakeio opens school in Tirana

[04] Grevena to be Greece's first 'organic' prefecture

[01] PM Karamanlis confers with FinMin, Employment minister on social insurance dialogue

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Magginas described as a "positive development" the social partners' (trade unions and employer federations) acceptance of the government's invitation to take part in the dialogue.

He said the discussion focused on various topics aimed at better organisation of the dialogue.

Asked to comment on press reports that the reform in the social insurance sector will be modest and that decisions taken will enter into force as of 2017, affecting working people who were in 50 age bracket today, Magginas said that "the government has nothing to say on this" and "when the time comes, everything will be made public".

Alogoskoufis made no comments after the meeting.

[02] PASOK leader on current situation in party

Papandreou spoke of an equal and frank relationship with the mass media and the business interests, adding that "I never had any dealings with them. Perhaps this is why we are in this situation today. Perhaps this is why certain quarters would have preferred that I resign" from the party leadership.

The PASOK leader insisted that there is an effort to undermine himself and his party, defining 'undermine' as "saying one thing in the party organs and something else on television", "someone letting the others wage the battle for victory while he plans on capitalising on defeat", "speaking of platform or policy ambiguity while spearheading policy differentiations that do not respect the unanimity of the party organs and the majority of the policy decisions", and "not expressing one's view on something one considers a mistake in the belief that this mistake could be in one's own interests".

Papandreou further intimated that there were right-wing diversions in PASOK, stressing that "in reality, we are waging a dual-fronted struggle against a right-wing government and a right-wing perception on our own role as the main opposition party today, and the role of government tomorrow".

Replying to questions, Papandreou referred to 'a different PASOK' which would be a "force of responsibility and change" and which would be "close to the citizen and not deal with petty interests and posts". He said that the fundamental goal of the changes he expects to make in PASOK upon re-election to its leadership in the internal party elections of November 11 were re-establishment of the party, as well as consolidating the autonomy of the political system.

He said that a "new proclamation" and a new "contract with the people" were necessary, but also a "new model of governance".

Asked to comment on the lead he held over the two other contenders for the party leadership in recent opinion polls, he attributed this lead to the fact that the citizens "perceive that the issues we are called to solve, as PASOK, are not personal, but political and strategic ones", and described as a "big mistake" on the part of his "opponents" that "they want to pass a message that policy is a personal affair".

Papandreou further said that the crisis in PASOK was a "crisis of the entire political system", adding that "we will open up roads that will liberate the political parties from their dependencies".

PASOK, he continued, "will remain united so long as its unity is the means and precondition for the sweeping majority of the citizens to express themselves through it".

Asked if he would remain in PASOK in the event he was defeated in the party leadership election, Papandreou said that "I will remain true to the mandate that will be given to me by the party's members and friends, who on November 11 will decide on the future of all of us".

To a question on the fronts being opened up by the New Democracy (ND) government, Papandreou noted that "the government is obliged to remember always that it is "a government of a marginal majority and social minority". He said the government must also apologise to the Greek people "for the destruction it is leaving behind in its passage".

Papandreou added that he does not want to resemble prime minister and ND leader Costas Karamanlis, but, rather, to convince the people of how different, efficient and liberating for society" he himself is.

[03] Arsakeio opens school in Tirana

Also attending were Albanian Education Minister Genc Pollo, ruling New Democracy (ND) party Central Committee Secretary Lefteris Zagoritis, former Albanian prime minister Fatos Nano, a number of former Albanian foreign ministers and Greek ambassadors to Tirana, as well as the former rector of Athens University and current president of the Greek Foundation of Culture George Babiniotis.

In speeches at the opening of the new school, the two ministers said it would act as a bridge of friendship between Greece and Albania.

Earlier, Stylianidis and Pollo had a brief meeting at the Albanian education ministry and expressed their satisfaction at the good level of bilateral ties in the education sector. According to the Greek minister, this cooperation would continue and would be built up "into a model of international cooperation that will be an example for other Balkan states".

[04] Grevena to be Greece's first 'organic' prefecture

Already, 15 percent of the arrable land in Grevena was producing organic produce, making it the top such producer in Greece, in which the average was 2 percent, Folias said, noting that Grevena was also among the top "organic" producers at European level, too.

"The wager to render Grevena the greenest prefecture in Greece will definitely be won," Folias said, and called on all the local residents and leaders to help achieve that goal.

In recent years, he continued, a total of 428 projects with an overall budget of 605 million euro were "unfolding" in Grevena, laying the groundwork for "achieving much more in the wider area".

He said that, under the development ministry's Operational Programme "Competitiveness", 44 projects budgeted at 14.5 million euro were underway in Grevena in the sectors of tourism, commerce, processing-manufacturing and personnel training, with 250 business concerns receiving subsidies for investment plans estimated at more than 100 million euro.

Referring to the 100 million euro development plan for Northern and Central Pindos, he said the project was proceeding at a rapid pace and in a spirit of cooperation and solidairyt along four axes, which concern improvement of the fundamental infrastructures and quality of life, strengthening of the productive environment, projection and utilisation of the natural and cultural heritage, and upgrading the human dynamic.

Folias explained that the government endorsed "entrepreneurship with a social face and partnership responsibility", noting that among the top priorities was investment in organic farming and stockbreeding. He also noted that the government backed private initiatives, which he called "the DNA of the Greeks".

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