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Thursday, 21 November 2024
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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-03-30Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] President Pavlopoulos pays official visit to CyprusANA/MPA---President of Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who is paying a two-day official visit to Cyprus, his first abroad after the assumption of his post, will have an in-depth discussion with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on the latest developments on Cyprus issue ahead of the possibility of the restart of the negotiations. Pavlopoulos is accompanied by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias.Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kassoulides welcomed Pavlopoulos at Larnaca airport on Monday. The official welcome ceremony will be held at the presidential mansion by president Anastasiades. The two presidents will make statements to the press after their meeting. Later, the Greek president will meet with Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos and in the afternoon he will visit the parliament to meet with parliament president Yannakis Omirou. Pavlopoulos will address the parliament late in the afternoon. Later, he will meet the party leaders and in the evening he will attend an official dinner hosted in his honour at the presidential mansion. [02] ND leader: SYRIZA leads the country to a new memorandumANA/MPA---New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras made an overall criticism over the government actions in the past two months addressing the first official meeting of his party's political council on Friday. "ND's priority is the real economy and the citizen's every day life" he underlined and estimated that "SYRIZA government leads the country to a new memorandum." The meeting focused on the political situation with particular emphasis on the economic difficulties that the country faces, the liquidity problem and the suffocation in the economy. The first two months of SYRIZA's governance were negative primary for the economy and secondly for the social issues as education and security, migration and violence in Athens. The extension of the loan agreement was also touched for which ND asks to come to parliament not only for discussion but also for ratification claiming that otherwise the parliament is being downgraded and that the agreement has no democratic legality. ND estimates that the government avoids to bring the agreement in parliament in order to avoid problems within SYRIZA. New Democracy has clarified that will vote the extension of the loan agreement for which it has stated that it is a mirror of the extension that ND government had voted in December 2014. Of course, ND asks the list of reforms that the government will submit for approval to the Eurogroup to be discussed in parliament. ND spokesman Costas Karagounis referring to the reforms list said "we can't take a position if we do not see the measures." ND's political council will convene on a regular basis every two weeks except if extraordinary events occur. The next meeting has been scheduled to take place next week due to the developments expected in the next Eurogroup. On Monday, Samaras will pay a visit to Skouries in Halkidiki.[03] Labour issues still the main disagreement at Brussels Group, Alternate FinMin saysANA/MPA---Labour issues remain the main point of disagreement at the Brussels Group, according to Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas."We say 'no' to the mass layoffs, there is no disagreement as far as it regards pensions and VAT," Mardas on Monday said in statements to ANT1 TV. "Is there a reason to cause a rupture for two or three reasons? This is a basic issue at the Brussels Group and among the senior officials," he added. Referring to the content of the reform list, Mardas urged against any rush on the ENFIA (Uniform Real Estate Ownership Tax) issue, adding that Greece's proposals are quantitative and equivalent measures of 5 billion euros have been submitted and, according to sources, have been approved. On the VAT, he said there will not be an overall increase, saying that "it is one of the four measures that are still open." However, he ruled out a horizontal increase in VAT on medicine, hotels and food. Regarding the special tax on heating oil and diesel, he said that the government's position is to "return to a settlement that is similar to the one of the past, so that there is a difference between the heating oil and diesel. That means that the heating oil will be around 60 cents per litre and diesel will be reduced to the lowest levels." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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