Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] Tackling trafficking is a priority for EU Parliament, EU Commissioner Avramopoulos says

[02] The construction of East Med pipeline is significant for Greece, FM sec gen for Int'Economic Relations Tsipras tells ANA

[03] Justice ministry considering changing law on decongestion of prisons to exclude some crimes

[04] Trolley busses to hold five-hour work stoppage on Wednesday

[01] Tackling trafficking is a priority for EU Parliament, EU Commissioner Avramopoulos says

It is a crime that takes advantage of the vulnerability and exploits the desperation of people in need of protection and support, he said.

Trafficking is a priority for us, as reflected both in the European Agendas for Migration and of Security, he underlined and added: "We have developed a coherent and coordinated, legal and policy framework to address trafficking in human beings. The Anti-trafficking Directive and the 2012-2016 EU Strategy has been our main instruments to develop, coordinate and implement our policy framework priorities. Having delivered on the vast majority of actions envisaged in the Strategy, we don't feel that our job is done: quite the opposite. We cannot accept that, irrespectively of origin, there are still, and unfortunately more, children, women, vulnerable people trafficked, abused and exploited. These are victims of the immoral and inhuman profit-making face of our societies."

Moreover, he said: "Now, that the 2012-2016 Strategy has come to an end, the time has come to step up our efforts and continue delivering more intensively and in a more focused way. To this end, the support and contribution of this House is of outmost importance. The migration crisis and transnational security threats render people more vulnerable to criminal networks and exploitation."

For that purpose, that is why more needs to be done:

- to target the organised criminal networks and follow the money throughout the trafficking chain, - to focus more on the prevention, better identification and protection of victims,

- to further strengthen the coordination at EU level and

- to ensure more coherence in the external and internal dimensions of our anti-trafficking policy.

Criminal networks target and exploit the most vulnerable ones: recent data indicate that the vast majority of victims are female and children.

The most widespread form of exploitation is sexual exploitation with mainly women and young girls as victims.

That is why, the anti-trafficking Directive has a strong gender-specific dimension, and that is why we have also commissioned a study on the Gender Dimensions of Trafficking in Human Beings.

It is also of major importance to increase our cooperation with third countries and further streamline our anti-trafficking priorities in the external dimension of our policies, Avramopoulos stressed.

[02] The construction of East Med pipeline is significant for Greece, FM sec gen for Int'Economic Relations Tsipras tells ANA

More specifically, he focused on the geopolitical and economic value of the largest underwater pipeline that will transport natural gas from Israel to Europe, adding that Greece can turn into an important energy hub in the EU.

He placed even greater importance to the geopolitical upgrading of our country in southeastern Europe, noting that the EastMed project will ensure greater security in the region. He also gave emphasis on the fact that the pipeline is planned to pass through the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus and Greece.

Tsipras stressed the importance of concluding the study although it is an expensive project estimated at 6-7 billion euros.

[03] Justice ministry considering changing law on decongestion of prisons to exclude some crimes

The minister defended the law created by his predecessor, Nikos Paraskevopoulos, saying that "it will continue to exist", however he is examining excluding some crimes.

"For us, decongesting prisons is not an end in itself, rather the means to achieve better living conditions and the possibility for actions. Right now we are trying to introduce second opportunity schools in all correctional facilities because prisons should be a place of reformation and recovery of values," he said.

On his side, Karagounis spoke against the law, noting the examples of prisoners who were released early by using the law only to commit crimes again

[04] Trolley busses to hold five-hour work stoppage on Wednesday

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