Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-03-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] Government spokesman denies falling out with Tsakalotos

[02] Parliament approves return of money to media owners from cancelled TV licensing auction

[03] Promotion before pension 'not an impropriety' Stathakis says regarding DESFA chief

[04] PPC source denies reports company will hire collecting agency to claim debts

[01] Government spokesman denies falling out with Tsakalotos

"After the failed 'Tsipras vs Tsakalotos' it seems that we are going on to the sequel: 'Tzanakopoulos vs Tsakalotos'. This won't sell many tickets either," Tzanakopoulos quipped.

He was replying to press reports claiming disagreements between members of the government and failure to support Tsakalotos, based on the spokesman's reference in a Wednesday interview regarding the figures for growth released by ELSTAT.

In the interview, when asked if the prime minister had been aware of the ELSTAT figures, Tzanakopoulos had replied that this was not possible, since "ELSTAT is an independent authority that releases its findings without discussing them with the Greek government." When reporters asked if the finance minister had been aware of the figures, Tzanakopoulos said he did not know and urged them to ask Tsakalotos in person.

[02] Parliament approves return of money to media owners from cancelled TV licensing auction

The amendment, submitted by State Minister Nikos Pappas, states that claimants do not have to provide a tax clearance to collect the amount paid but that may be withheld or offset automatically with overdue debts to the taxman of social security funds.

Amounts already withheld for overdue debts to the State will not be returned, the amendment says.

The tender was annulled by the Supreme Court in October 2016, which ruled that the law on which the auctioning of broadcasting licenses was based on violated an article of the constitution which stated that any licensing must be done by the country's independent regulator.

Opposition parties approved the amendment with the exception of Golden Dawn, with New Democracy describing it as "the last act" of Pappas' "personal Waterloo" and the Democratic Coalition saying the government is exposed.

[03] Promotion before pension 'not an impropriety' Stathakis says regarding DESFA chief

"My position is clear. On whether there is an issue of promotion before retirement and if this is appropriate...If the impropriety is the promotion before retirement, it is not an impropriety. You have found the wrong area to look for scandals," Stathakis said, replying to main opposition New Democracy.

According to the minister, promotion before retirement was standard practice in the public sector, where department heads were made directors or military officers rose in the ranks.

He noted that the issue concerning DESFA will be discussed in detail in Parliament but that it was entirely different from that relating to ADMIE. Despite laws deregulating salaries for senior management, it was the government's non-negotiable position that in organisations supervised by the ministries, such as ADMIE, the top salary for senior management cannot exceed that of the ministry general secretary, he added.

He noted that the government's response in ADMIE's case, where it had asked for the resignation of the executives involved, was the appropriate one.

This case was entirely unrelated to that of DESFA, he added, suggesting many of the claims made by ND MP Konstantinos Skrekas in a question on this issue tabled in Parliament were not accurate.

The issue was raised by several opposition MPs in Parliament's Production and Trade Committee, who seized the opportunity to question the minister, who attended for a discussion about the Public Power Corporation.

[04] PPC source denies reports company will hire collecting agency to claim debts

"We will not hire a collection agency to collect overdue debts to the company but we will hire an advisor to help the collection procedure," the source said, adding that the company will use the method of securitization to improve its liquidity, selling the securities to third parties.

Speaking earlier before the parliament's Production and Trade Committee, PPC chief executive Manolis Panagiotakis presented data on the company's unpaid bills and informed lawmakers that the company is planning to hire a company specializing in debt collection.

"The collection of overdue debts is a continuous struggle. We believe these policies facilitating payments have reached their limits. Therefore we decided to proceed with more decisive methods. We will hire a company which has more specialization in debt collection, with international experience, which has its own software that analyze the situation of every customer […] and we believe collectability may increase by more than 10 percent," he said.

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