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Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-11-18Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM briefed on restructure of fire-stricken areasPrime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Inner Cabinet, which discussed the developmental plan for the areas that were devastated by widlfires in the summer of 2007.Economy and finance minister George Alogoskoufis, who briefed the Inner Cabinet, told reporters after the meeting that the plan provides for more than one billion euros, while another one billion euros has been already withdrawn for short-term measures already carried out. Alogoskoufis said that the target was to improve infrastructures and generate growth in those areas on the basis of their comparative advantages. The minister further said that the local residents' standard of living would also improve, adding that materialisation of the program will have been completed by end-2009 or early 2010. Interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, in turn, stressed that the government was consistent with its announcements, and that the plan for the resturcutre of the above areas would be completed before the end of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF covering the period 2007-2013), aimed at the areas' development on the basis of the conditions that have been formulated due to the natural disasters. Pavlopoulos also said that the plan would be put to deliberation at decentralized level, in other words at the side of the citizens and the societies and with the participation of the local governments. This, he added, was the substantial difference with the measures announced by main opposition PASOK, which he accused of creating additional bureaucratic structures with the plan it presented, which could cause hindrances, while they also did not have a budget. The plan that the New Democracy government was advancing was specific up to the very last detail and the very last euro, Pavlopoulos concluded. Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis [02] Author Theodor Kallifatides receives Swedish Academy awardGreek expatriate Theodor Kallifatides is the recipient of the Swedish Academy 2008 Singe Ekblad-Eldhs award which is accompanied by a money prize of 12,500 euros.Kallifatides was born in 1938 in Molai, Laconia Prefecture in Peloponnesus, southern Greece and studied acting in Athens. He moved to Sweden after serving his mandatory military service in Greece and studied philosophy in the University of Stockholm. He was the director of the literary magazine Bonniers Literara Magasin for four years. He published novels, poem collections, travel essays and theatre play scripts and screenplays, while he has also directed a big screen film. He has received significant international awards for many of his works and most of his novels have been translated into 13 languages. [03] Deputy Health Minister visits CairoCairo (ANA-MPA / N. Katsikas) -- Deputy Health and Social Solidarity Minister George Konstantopoulos, representing Greece at the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Health issues in Cairo, referred to the Greek initiatives on health issues highlighting the benefits stemming from the Mediterranean diet in preventing cardiovascular disease and contributing to longevity. His proposal for the establishment of epidemiological networks to monitor AIDS, hemorrhagic fever and zoonoses won the support of the 43 health ministers from the EU and Mediterranean countries participating in the conference. The deputy health minister also briefed participants on Greece's efforts as regards the anti-smoking campaign and supported the establishment of a Mediterranean health zone. Konstantopoulos visited the Greek Hospital in the Egyptian capital and met with the few remaining elderly Greeks at the Old People's Home operated by the ethnic Greek Community in Cairo, pledging the Greek State's support.[04] Banks warned with sanctionsDevelopment Minister Christos Folias on Tuesday said the ministry intended to impose sanctions against banks which maintained abusive terms in their contracts with consumers.Speaking to reporters, on the sidelines of an event organised by the Development ministry over the benefits of the EU Single Market for consumers, Folias said that the ministry was intervening where it was needed and stressed that that the ministry was intensively trying to control the market. The Greek minister also underlined that there would be no price increases in Public Power Corporation's bills next year beyond a fuel clause imposed by the ministry. The ministry's secretary-general Yiannis Economou, in his address, said the Greek market suffered from problems undermining competition and noted that the consumers' movement was still not strong enough. Caption: Development Minister Christos Folias leaves from the Maximos Mansion (government's headquarters) on Tuesday 18 November 2008.ANA-MPA/MARIA MAROYANNI Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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