Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece will not undermine EU unity over sanctions against Russia, Tsipras says in Kiev

[02] IMF asks for lower tax-free threshold and pensions

[03] ND criticizes Alternate FinMin Chouliarakis for missing EWG

[04] Second review and dialogue on EU's future the focus of his talks in Brussels, Katrougalos says

[01] Greece will not undermine EU unity over sanctions against Russia, Tsipras says in Kiev

"Greece is a member-state of the European Union and, despite the fact that it has a particular economic interest in an immediate resolution of the crisis and the lifting of sanctions that have had an extremely painful effect on the Greek economy, nevertheless we will not fragment European unity," he said.

At the same time, Tsipras noted that the other side must have incentives to take steps and that channels of communication, dialogue and diplomacy must be kept open. While a hard stance might be necessary, by itself it would not be effective, he suggested, pointing to examples from the international experience where such tactics did not bring results. "In this sense, the Greek stance could be more useful than that of the other EU member-states," he added.

The Greek prime minister said his talks with Poroshenko were also an opportunity to brief Ukraine's president on developments concerning the Cyprus issue, since Ukraine holds the chair of the UN Security Council during this month, and relay a message from the European Commission reporting progress on the issue of visas for Ukrainian citizens.

Earlier in the press conference, Tsipras said that Greece's position called for respect of international law and support for the new prospects in relations between the west with Russia.

"We agreed on the need to observe the truce and chiefly on the implementation of the Minsk Agreement," he said, noting that this was a position steadily adopted by Greek diplomacy. He also noted Greece's support for all mediation efforts to end the crisis.

Asked about relations between the EU and Russia, Tsipras said the crisis in the Ukraine had affected these "as a whole" and stressed the need to mobilise the processes for a clear roadmap to overcome the crisis.

Tsipras is in Ukraine since Wednesday on a working visit, accompanied by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, Deputy Foreign Minister for Greeks Abroad Terens Quick and the head of the foreign ministry's international economic relations general secretariat Giorgios Tsipras.

[02] IMF asks for lower tax-free threshold and pensions

Rice reiterated that the fund does not ask for more austerity for Greece and that if creditors agree on a primary surplus higher that 1.5 percent of the GDP, it will only be sustainable for a few years.

[03] ND criticizes Alternate FinMin Chouliarakis for missing EWG

"While the second [program] review is at a crucial point after a year of delay and the country is at risk of missing its inclusion in [ECB's] quantitative easing, the government is concerned with other things. The relevant minister, Mr. Chouliarakis, instead of representing the country at the crucial meeting of the EuroWorking Group, chooses to vanish," the party said.

"Is it a case of indescribable irresponsibility or is there something else going on?" ND added, noting that the responsibility belongs to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Earlier, finance ministry sources said that Panagiotis Nikolaidis, advisor to Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis, will represent Greece at the EuroWorking Group (EWG) on Thursday instead of the minister, after consulting with EWG's President Thomas Wieser.

Chouliarakis will be giving a speech at the London School of Economics (LSE), the same sources said. The EWG will discuss developments in the implementation of the prior actions included in the second program review.

[04] Second review and dialogue on EU's future the focus of his talks in Brussels, Katrougalos says

He said that the Commission has undertaken an "important supportive role" and squarely blamed the IMF's "indecision" and "unreasonable demands" for the delay in concluding the review. If the negotiations were being conducted with the Europeans alone, Katrougalos suggested, the review would have concluded in December.

The Greek government's position is that it will not back down on "matters of principle" but Athens is aware that the negotiations cannot continue indefinitely, Katrougalos added, since the goal is for the country to quickly join the quantitative easing programme.

The minister said his meetings in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday were focused on the priorities of Greek diplomacy and the government's strategy in the dialogue on the future of Europe, launched ahead of the March 25 European Council in Rome to mark the 60th anniversary since the Rome Treaty founding the EU. Katrougalos said Greece is pushing for stronger social and democratic elements in the EU's economic governance.

They included a meeting with European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans on extending the short-stay visas for Turkish citizens visiting Greek islands and his participation in a European Parliament conference on the refugee and migration crisis. Katrougalos noted that a revision of the Dublin Treaty should ensure that the burden does not fall exclusively on countries of first reception.

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