Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-09-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Stabbing death unleashes fury of reactions against Golden Dawn

[02] Greek current account deficit down 97.6 pct in Jan-July

[03] BoG: Greek banks do not need approval to sell claims to third parties

[01] Stabbing death unleashes fury of reactions against Golden Dawn

According to police, the man admitted he belonged ideologically to the Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avghi) extreme-right party, whose main offices on Messoghion Avenue in Athens were searched by order of the prosecutor.

The young man who died, 34, belonged to the left ideologically and his family was well-known in the area, as his father had been a member of the Piraeus Metal Syndicate. He and the arrested man broke into a scuffle in a cafeteria in the area of Amfiali; as he was leaving on his motorcycle, he was attacked by a group of about 15 people in combat fatigues. A car crossed lanes, stopped, and its driver came out and stabbed the young man in the chest.

Before he died, the 34-year-old pointed out to motorcycle unit police (Dias) the man who had stabbed him.

Leftist groups have scheduled a protest rally at Zarden Square in Amfiali at 5:00 pm, while the Movement Against Racism and the Fascist Threat said the incident was a planned attack by Golden Dawn members, naming the young man as "Paul Fyssas, antifascist".

Golden Dawn party condemned the killing unequivocally and explicitly denied its involvement in the incident, saying that "those who are taking advantage of a tragic event to issue political statements, garner votes and divide Greek society are wretched and vile".

"Justice will perform its duty immediately and totally", government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou stated on Wednesday after the stabbing death of 34-year-old Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini by a supporter of extreme-right Chryssi Avghi (Golden Dawn) party and called on all the political powers to "put up a barricade against the vicious circle of tension and violence".

Kedikoglou also noted that "democracy needs stability, prudence and responsibility by all". The government, he said, was "the first government to condemn raw violence coming from Golden Dawn. We were the first to callthem neo-Nazis. Violence will not pass. The strategy of tension will not pass".

Parties reacted strongly on Wednesday over the stabbing, condemning for the most part the violence as coming from the Golden Dawn party.

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) said that the incident was "the apex of the criminal action of the extreme-right neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn in our country" and called for the exemplary punishment of the perpetrators, "without dangerous compromises".

The main opposition party, which held an emergency meeting on the incident, also asserted that "all destabilisation attempts will fail" and said the question that needed an answer was "who is arming the murderous hand of extreme-rightists". It also called on "all democracy-abiding citizens to attend the antifascist protest rally at Zarden/Nikis Square, P. Tsaldari street in Amfiali, this afternoon (Wednesday).

PASOK, in an announcement on Wednesday, called Chryssi Avghi "a criminal organisation".

The party urged that "issues regarding Greek citizens' lives should be resolved immediately. Chryssi Avghi must be seen as what it truly is: a criminal organisation directed against migrants' and Greek citizens' lives".

Independent Greeks (ANEL) proposed the establishment of "a patriotic democratic front against the black alliance" and warned that "as long as neo-Nazis, with the urgings of politicians and so-called journalists are planning to rise in ruling power like new allies of the coalition of Greece's creditors, they will keep revealing their real role".

Golden Dawn must be "institutionally asphyxiated", Democratic Left (DIMAR) party said in its announcement that called incidents involving Golden Dawn "expected". It also said the incident proved the importance of the party's initiative to bring the antiracist law in Parliament in the previous government, to deal with Golden Dawn among others.

"It was expected that the rhetoric of hate by Golden Dawn and the beatings and thuggery by its officers and members would soon lead to a political assassination climate," it said.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) called on Greeks, especially young people, to condemn the killing. "Golden Dawn's murderous and criminal activity aims to terrify workers and the youth. It has become emboldened by the multiple support supplied to it by the corrupt capitalist system and the large economic interests that have borne it and nourish it in order to attack those who are struggling and protesting and to attack the labour and popular movement".

[02] Greek current account deficit down 97.6 pct in Jan-July

The central bank, in a report, said that the current account deficit fell to 155 million euros in the seven-month period, from 6.4 billion euros in 2012, a decline of 97.6 pct. The central bank attributed this development to a significant reduction in the country's trade deficit and to a increase in the surpluses of current account transfers and services.

In July 2013, the current account balance showed a surplus of 2.7 billion euros, up by 2.2 billion year-on-year. This development is mainly due to an inflow of 1.5 billion euros - representing the first installment of the income on the Securities Markets Programme (SMP) portfolio accruing to the ECB, payable to Greece. At the same time, the trade deficit contracted, while the services surplus rose. By contrast, the income account deficit recorded an increase.

The trade deficit fell by 207 million euros, on account of a 164 million decrease in the net oil import bill. The trade deficit excluding oil and ships recorded a slight decline of 16.5 million, as a result of higher export receipts (up by 135 million or 11.7 percent) and a higher import bill (up by 118 million or 6.4 pct). Finally, net payments for purchases of ships also dropped by 27 million.

The surplus of the services balance increased by 257 million euros, exclusively owing to a significant rise in net travel receipts (up by 265 million) and a slight increase in net receipts from "other" services (up by 7 million). By contrast, net transport receipts dropped slightly. The rise in the surplus of the travel services balance is mainly attributable to a 258 million (or 12.3%) increase in travel spending by non-residents in Greece (also reflecting a 14.0% rise in non-resident travellers' arrivals, according to the Bank of Greece's border survey), while travel spending by residents abroad declined by 6.2 million (or 3.1%).

The income account deficit rose by 209 million euros, mainly as a result of higher net interest, dividend and profit payments.

Finally, the current transfers balance showed a 1.9 billion euros surplus in July 2013, against a 100 million deficit in July 2012.

In the January-July 2013 period, the current account deficit fell by 6.2 billion euros (or 97.6 pct) year-on-year, to 156 million. This development is attributable, primarily, to a significant decline in the trade deficit (down by 3.0 billion) and, secondarily, to increases in the current transfers and services surpluses (up by 2.4 billion and 774 million, respectively); the income account deficit also narrowed. The considerable improvement in the current transfers balance is chiefly attributable to these developments in July.

In more detail, the trade deficit shrank owing to respective declines in the net oil import bill by 2.2 billion (or 33.4 pct), in the trade deficit excluding oil and ships by 677 million (or 12.4 pct), and in net payments for purchases of ships by 134 million (or 18.0 pct). Receipts from exports of goods excluding oil and ships rose by 4.2 pct, while the corresponding import bill fell by 2.6 pct.

Travel spending in Greece by non-residents grew by 15.5 pct year-on-year. At the same time, travel spending by residents abroad fell by 7.4 pct. As a result, the travel balance showed a 4.6 billion euros surplus, compared with 3.8 billion in the same period of 2012.

The income account deficit fell by 106 million year-on-year, mainly owing to a decline in net interest payments on Greek government bonds held by non-residents (following the PSI).

Finally, the current transfers balance showed a surplus of 3.8 billion, up by 2.4 billion year-on-year.

[03] BoG: Greek banks do not need approval to sell claims to third parties

The report was submitted to Parliament in response to deputies' questions over the possibility foreign distress funds would buy Greek banks' bad loans.

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