Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-07-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM briefed on EU interior ministers' summit

[02] Beijing, Athens airports sign Olympic memo

[03] Furor over Siemens continues

[04] Papoulias receives CSU delegation

[01] PM briefed on EU interior ministers' summit

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Pavlopoulos said the EU ministerial discussion had focused on two crucial and timely issues for the country. The first item on the agenda was the organisation of civil defence at central EU level, noting that this proposal had been put forward by Greece about a year ago. He added that the EU ministers had decided that there would not be only one central body that would brief the member countries on the needs of the other member states, but that there would also be a central coordination of civil protection, chiefly regarding the means to be jointly forthcoming from the member states wherever necessary.

The second item on the agenda was the pact on immigration and asylum, which will be signed at the EU Summit in October, Pavlopoulos continued.

He said it was unfathomable for a general European policy on migration not to exist, given that the migration phenomenon has reached its present point.

Pavlopoulos said that Greece has put forward the issue as one of human rights and protection of the value of the human being and combating trafficking in persons, and also calls for condemnation of those countries that do not respect their obligations on illegal migration matters, adding that one of those countries is neighbouring Turkey which, despite the obligations it has assumed, was not fulfilling them.

The fundamental points of that pact were combating illegal migration, "not measures against the people seeking a better future, but measures against the people traffickers and the countries that are not meeting their obligations," Pavlopoulos said.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

[02] Beijing, Athens airports sign Olympic memo

Beijing's airport is now preparing to receive and see-off visitors for the 2008 Olympic Games - a feat that Athens airport performed successfully four years ago.

The agreement seals the cooperation between the two airports, with Athens pledging to assist in the optimal organisation of airport services at Beijing during the crucial period of the Games, and the Chinese side promising to improve air links between Beijing and Athens, while both have pledged to participate in international cooperation for developmental projects and exchange of know-how in management and technology.

The MoC was signed on Tuesday morning at Terminal 3 in Beijing Airport, in the presence of Greece's ambassador to China Michael Kambanis, members of the Beijing Olympics Organising Committee and other officials.

Caption: Firefighting engines shoot streams over water over the first China Air passenger jet to land at Athens' Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in a file photo dated Thursday, 29 November 2007. The flight linked the Greek capital with Beijing via a stop in the Gulf. ANA-MPA / STR

[03] Furor over Siemens continues

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos dismissed this position as a ruse, however, pointing out that fact-finding committees needed a long time to complete their work, whereas a cross-party committee is likely to have wrapped up by October or November this year.

"They talk about real transparency but they do not seek this in practice," Roussopoulos said, adding that the main opposition was currently refusing to take the steps for promoting transparency that were possible outside of a Constitutional revision.

He stressed that the government would go ahead and set up working groups on this issue and had alternative options if the two parties refused to participate in the proposed cross-party committee. The spokesman also repeated that the possibility of a Parliamentary fact-finding commission on the Siemens scandal remained open, while noting that its remit would be different from that of the proposed cross-party committee, since the latter was concerned with institutions in general and the former with a specific case.

A call for a fact-finding committee was also made the head of the main party in SYRIZA, the Coalition of the Left (Synaspismos) leader Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday, who also questioned the point of an investigation launched by the Special Audits Service into the affair.

"It seems the government and the prime minister take us for natives and are stringing us along. They are sending [the Special Audits Service] to look at Siemens' official accounts. What do they expect to find there? Is 'black' political money ever recorded in official accounts ledgers?" he asked.

He advised the government to instead send the audits service to look at the accounts of the ruling New Democracy and main opposition PASOK parties and said they should "finally go ahead with setting up a committee to look into the facts of the case instead of proposing cross-party committees that are a joke".

Earlier the same day, Tsipras had met the federation of employees in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. After the meeting, he called on the multinationals Rilken and Henkel to respect the rights of their workforce and to protect their health and safety, noting that there had been five industrial accidents in the sector during the past five years.

He noted that after Siemens and Deutsche Telekom, it was now the turn of these German multinationals to be exposed for their abuses as employers, such as dismissals, threats, violations of Greek and European health and safety at work laws and disregarding fundamental worker rights like the eight-hour day, five-day week and holidays.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos.

[04] Papoulias receives CSU delegation

In greeting the visiting German delegation, Papoulias emphasised the long-standing relations between modern Greece and Bavaria, going back, in fact, to crucial support by the then kingdom during the 1821 War of Independence.

Ramsauer referred to the very close professional and family relations Papoulias has with Germany.

"Greece is a country that continues the Olympic tradition," the Bavarian politician said.

Present at the meeting were Germany Economy and Technology Minister Michael Glos as well as the Greek ambassador to Germany and the German ambassador to Greece.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Papoulias.

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