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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-02-23Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM, ministers meet with civil servants' repsPrime Minister Costas Karamanlis met on Monday with the board of ADEDY, the civil servants' union, in the presence of Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Economy and Finance Minister Yiannis Papathanassiou. After the meeting, ADEDY President Spyros Papaspyrou stated that a request was made to the prime minister for a comprehensive, well-targeted and focused policy that will guarantee, protect and preserve social cohesion by boosting employment and the purchasing power of workers while strengthening the social security and pension system. "A political programme is necessary to prevent any problems from becoming permanent," the president of ADEDY stated, adding that a strike mobilisation has been called for Wednesday. He also underlined that such forms of protest will become more frequent to ensure that the economic burden will not be laid exclusively on wage earners, the unemployed and pensioners while those responsible for the crisis remain unaffected. Interior Minister Pavlopoulos said that ADEDY will have an active participation in the establishment of an institutional framework to ensure public administration productivity, efforts to reduce red tape and to increase transparency. Referring to ailing pension funds, Economy and Finance Minister Papathanassiou stated that the government is doing everything to help, and added that the issue will be discussed in detail in next Tuesday's meeting with ADEDY.[02] FM begins visit to WashingtonWASHINGTON (ANA-MPA / Ô. Ellis) - Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis on Monday began a three-day visit to Washington, her first since US President Barack Obama was sworn into office.Bakoyannis arrived in the US capital on Sunday and on Monday was scheduled to speak at one of Washington's most venerable think-tanks, the Brookings Institution. The Greek foreign minister is also scheduled to meet the Greek-American former US senator Paul Sarbanes and attend a reception given in her honour by Greece's ambassador to United States, Alexandros Mallias. On Tuesday, Bakoyannis is scheduled to meet the chairman and members of the US Commission for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), also known as the Helsinki Commission, in her capacity as head of the Greek chairmanshiop of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for 2009. The minister's other engagements on the same day include a meeting with the chairman and members of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, while she will be received at the White House by Obama's national security adviser, Gen. James Jones. On Wednesday, Bakoyannis is to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for talks expected to focus on bilateral relations, OSCE issues, the situation in the Middle East and the Caucasus, developments in the Balkans, relations with Turkey and the Cyprus issue. Toward the end of the week, the Greek foreign minister will visit New York for roughly two days. Caption: A file photo dated Tuesday, 26 September 2006, speaks with then US Senator Hillary Clinton during their meeting in Washington, D.C. ANA-MPA / ANTONIS DOUKAS. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |