Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-05-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] There is another way for Greece and for Europe, PM Tsipras says

[02] Moscovici says Eurogroup to recognize Greece's efforts in passing reforms

[01] There is another way for Greece and for Europe, PM Tsipras says

At the opening of a conference on primary healthcare, Tsipras said that Monday's Eurogroup is critical and underlined that "what is probably more important is the agenda of this meeting".

"I do not need to mention how important it is that this debate begins. Debt relief is necessary and can create a whole new climate in the Greek economy, to give a breather to the fiscal condition of the country and a signal that finally we left from the vicious circle and we are entering into a virtuous cycle," the prime minister said.

"This is the reason why the debt issue was a central negotiating objective of the government as opposed to the previous government which constantly talked about sustainable debt and was just asking for a certificate of sustainability, despite the fact that all analysts were claiming the opposite."

Every step forward for the Greek economy, whether it relates to the necessary debt relief, whether it relates to the positive results we have on performance of the economy, every positive step will be transformed into concrete policies for the rehabilitation of social justice and the support of the weaker, either directly or through the reconstruction and strengthening of the social state, said Tsipras

Moreover, he said that all necessary steps will be made in order to support the country, to turn the page, and build a future of fairness, social protection and justice.

[02] Moscovici says Eurogroup to recognize Greece's efforts in passing reforms

"The Commission really believes that, on reforms, a lot has been done. What was voted yesterday, the pension and income tax reforms are very important steps and are part of a package of very high importance, including the creation of the independent agency for revenues, the treatment of NPLs and the establishment of the privatization funds and all these were conditions on the MoU that we accepted last August," he told journalists.

"Today we should recognize today that this effort has been made - of course we have to check that this is legislated- but this represents a very strong number of measures," he added, noting that after these measures, Greece will be on its way to recover growth.

Moscovici also said the 19 finance ministers will discuss Greece's proposal for a contingency mechanism, adding that the proposal is in the right direction but could improve further.

"Then the Commission is bringing its expertise to the question which is mostly in the hands of the member-states. I hope that today we will set the framework for a global deal. We believe that's possible. A global deal needs to address the three blocks that are on the table, meaning reforms, we're there, the contingency mechanism, we're almost there, and the debt issue, we're starting the discussion. We'll see what will be the outcome of the discussion," he added.

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