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Thursday, 21 November 2024
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Athens News Agency: News in English, 12-02-13Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Heated vote alters correlation of powers in Greek parliamentAMNA--Sunday's heated vote in parliament on the new Memorandum, that ratifies an agreement reached with the troika for a 130 billlion euros second EU/IMF bailout loan to Greece and a package of introduces a package of heavy austerity measures accompanying it, has radically altered the correlation of political powers in the 300-member unicameral House, with the two mainstream parties, the former rulling PASOK party and its predecessor in the government New Democracy (ND) having fallen to 131 MPs from 160 elected in the 2009 general elections for PASOK, and to 62 MPs for ND from 91 in the 2009 elections.PASOK and ND, together with Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), are the three parties backing the interim government of prime minister Lucas Papademos that was formed to pass through the new loan agreement and the PSI bond swaps deal that will reduce Greece's debt by half. The two mainstream parties lost several MPs who either resigned their posts or declared themselves Independents in the process leading to Sunday's vote,, while PASOK expelled 22 MPs and ND expelled 21 MPs who voted against the bill on Sunday, while LAOS -- whose leader George Karatzaferis announced on Friday, just two days before the critical vote that his party will vote against the austerity measures but will not withdraw his four ministers from the coalition Cabinet -- expelled two of the ministers who defied the party line and voted in favour. The Independents in the House now number 63, making them the second largest grouping in the Greek parliament The new parliamentary blueprint on Monday morning is PASOK with 131 seats, ND with 62 seats, LAOS with 14 seats, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) with 21 seats, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA parliamentary alliance) with 9 seats, and 63 Independents [02] Athens Stock Exchange opening: SurgeAMNA--Equity prices were rising at the opening of trade on Monday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with the basic share price index up 5.04 percent, standing at 837.51 points at 11:00 am, and turnover at 22.415 million euros.Individual sector indices were moving mostly upward, with the biggest gains in Banks, up 10.69 percent; Health, up 6.77 percent and Financial Services, up 6.56 percent. The only losses were in Commerce, down 1.71 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was up 6.18 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was up 3.96 percent, and the FTSE/ASE-80 small cap index was up 1.66 percent. amna Of the stocks traded, 73 were up, 4 were down, and 9 were unchanged. [03] PASOK spokesman on clashes, vote resultAMNA--PASOK party spokesman Panos Beglitis condemned early Monday the clashes in downtown Athens and called on the political world to isolate these phenomena.Answering to a press question on whether Citizen Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis should resign, Beglitis was firm: "Of course not". Referring to the result of the voting process in parliament on the new bailout loan he called it "a positive message". amna To a question whether the country should proceed with general elections following the expulsion of last Sunday of PASOK MPs that voted against the draft law and due to the fact that PASOK has lost its parliamentary majority, Beglitis said that the conditions for general elections have already been set out adequately and in detail. amna On PASOK's course from now on, the party spokesman said that together with the New Democracy deputies that support Papademos' interim government, the national effort must continue and intensify in a very difficult period in order for the country to exit from the crisis. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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