Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] BoG governor sees opportunity for necessary reforms

[02] Eurogroup decision positive, but road towards agreement is long, says Budget Office chief

[03] ND criticizes government for not informing public on Eurogroup decisions

[04] Director Nikos Koundouros passes away, aged 90

[05] French man charged with sexually abusing unaccompanied refugee boys hosted in his home

[01] BoG governor sees opportunity for necessary reforms

Addressing an event organized by the Federation of Hellenic Label Product Industries, the central banker said that structural competitiveness of the Greek economy improved in 2013-2014 (based on a series of indexes compiled by the OECD, World Bank and the World Economic Forum), but shows signs of a standstill or even slowdown lately. According to the Ease of Doing Business index of the World Bank, the country's position in the global list fell to 61st place, from 58th, among 190 countries. The World Economic Forum in its World Competitiveness Index said that Greece fell to the 86th place in 2016 from 81st in 2015, while according to the IMD's competitiveness performance table, Greece fell six positions to 56th among 61 countries. Stournaras underlined that the current situation was an opportunity to implement the necessary reforms as the first signs of economic recovery were visible, a change compared with the previous period when an unstable economic environment and shrinking domestic demand did not allow significant reforms made to show their real benefits to consumers, enterprises and markets.

[02] Eurogroup decision positive, but road towards agreement is long, says Budget Office chief

"The Eurogroup decision is positive, despite the fact that the delay and significant cost the economy was burdened with all these months could have been avoided," Liargovas told a parliamentary budget committee.

He warned the path towards the final deal is long and uncertain as it concerns resolving a "difficult equation" with five unknown factors: The exact content of the new measures, which will be revealed in the coming days, their value, the clauses to activate the so-called counter-measures, the decisions on the primary surpluses and the decisions on the debt.

"And as the time frame - along with the measures and counter-measures- reach 2020, we start to make out the outline of the era after the completion of the third memorandum or oversight," he told the committee, adding that the responsibility for the time and method of implementation is in the hands of the government.

[03] ND criticizes government for not informing public on Eurogroup decisions

"Serious questions are created by the fact that the relevant ministers [Euclid] Tsakalotos and [George] Chouliarakis have disappeared since last Monday and have not briefed on what exactly was discussed at the Eurogroup for Greece," a party source said.

"All people know is Maximos Mansion's propaganda which was published through a note even before the end of the meeting," it added.

[04] Director Nikos Koundouros passes away, aged 90

Born in Athens in December 1926, to a family originally hailing from Crete, Koundouros was counted among the most notable modern Greek directors, while his 1956 film "The Ogre of Athens" is considered by many to be the best Greek film of that decade.

He represented Greek cinema at a number of foreign film festivals in the 50s and 60s, winning the the Silver Bear for his film "Young Aprodites" in the 13th Berlin film festival, as well as top prize in the Thessaloniki Film Festival, in 1963. His work has been repeatedly broadcast on British and French television and there are copies of his films in many important film museums around the world.

[05] French man charged with sexually abusing unaccompanied refugee boys hosted in his home

Among others, he was accused of giving his victims narcotic drugs without their knowledge in order to put them to sleep before proceeding with the acts of sexual abuse.

The suspect appeared before a public prosecutor earlier on Wednesday, who formally read out the charges against him. According to sources in the prosecutors' office, the second charge of drugging his victims is especially serious because it involves minors and can carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The examining magistrate has now given him until Thursday to prepare his testimony and he will remain in custody until that time.

The case was uncovered following an investigation by the Thessaloniki police department for the protection of minors, following a complaint filed with the police by an NGO.

Everything started when the 52-year-old offered to put up unaccompanied minors, providing them with food and shelter, through an acquaintance working with a refugee and migrant hospitality centre in the Thessaloniki area. He subsequently hosted a succession of four teenage boys, aged between 14 and 17, in his home.

During that time, he also contacted a non-governmental welfare organisation involved in the support of children and young people, requesting legal aid regarding the residence status of the unaccompanied minors in his care and their right to stay in Greece.

When a child psychologist from the NGO contacted one of the refugee children, the boy revealed that he did not wish to return to the 52-year-old's home because he did not feel comfortable there. He confided that the suspect gave him pills, saying they were treatment for itching, that made him lethargic and sleepy. The older man apparently committed the lewd acts when the boy was drugged in this way, while similar claims have been made by the other three boys that stayed with him.

The organisation then notified the police, who conducted a raid on the French man's home on Tuesday and, in additional to the narcotic pills, also confiscated six hard disks and a digital data storage device that were sent to police labs for further investigation.

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