Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-02-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece can be in European vanguard, PM Karamanlis tells event on EU Constitution

[02] Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 17th congress opens with speech by party leader Papariga

[03] Greece working for closer ties between EU, Serbia-Montenegro

[04] Australian visitors to Greece rose by 40 percent in 2004

[01] Greece can be in European vanguard, PM Karamanlis tells event on EU Constitution

"The European constitution may not constitute the great leap towards European completion and may not give a solution to all the problems. However, it will constitute a historic step to the road of the common European future and the connecting link which the European institutions need so as to operate without shocks and with the greatest possible effectiveness. The constitutional treaty will contribute to the elevation of the European citizen as a member of a general whole and will strengthen the society of active citizens," Karamanlis said, noting that the European constitution would respect the fundamental rights of people.

The prime minister further noted that the European constitution will "strengthen cooperation on security and defence" and stated that Greece will ratify the treaty of the European constitution very soon in Parliament, "sooner than many other countries."

Karamanlis also stressed the importance for all the citizens to participate in the dialogue on the European constitution as "it concerns their present and future."

[02] Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 17th congress opens with speech by party leader Papariga

Before Papariga's address outlining the proposals of the party's Central Committee, delegates viewed a short video on the party's history and action and a recorded message from honorary KKE President Harilaos Florakis, who stressed that socialism was essential and anything but over.

In her speech, the KKE leader stressed the need to make the party stronger in order to help resist a "typhoon of reactionary reforms and restructurement" targeting the popular masses.

She once again reiterated that the two main parties essentially had the same core policies, which were to introduce rapid "capitalist" reforms, and she ruled out cooperation with the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (Synaspismos) in spite of the party's avowed "turn to the left" in its last congress.

"What is being judged are not [Synaspismos'] proclamations but [its] programme positions, which move down the 'Euro-highway' of the four freedoms of Maastricht and the corresponding capitalist restructuring," she said.

Papariga also referred to the Aegean, saying that Turkey's dispute of the existing regime was being backed by the United States and the European Union and predicting that the problems with Ankara would intensify.

She also outlined goals, priorities and areas of action for giving KKE a stronger role and profile in society, especially among the working classes and youth movements.

[03] Greece working for closer ties between EU, Serbia-Montenegro

"Greece is working to advance European association for Serbia-Montenegro, and its future entry into the European family...Ours is the first EU country to have devised an integrated national action plan for reconstruction of the Balkans," Sioufas told a conference in Athens on cooperation between the two countries.

Outlining the government's Balkan policy, the minister said a bill was in the pipeline to set up an international university in the northern port city of Thessaloniki; incentives were available for the creation of cargo transit centres; and a natural gas pipeline to Austria through the Balkans was being urged.

Greece's investment level in Serbia-Montenegro is high with about 150 joint enterprises in operation, and 80 purely Greek companies with a staff of around 18,000, according to data from the Greek embassy in Belgrade.

Three major Athens-quoted banks are active in Serbia - National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank and EFG Eurobank Ergasias. Alpha Bank recently purchased Serbia's Jubanka.

[04] Australian visitors to Greece rose by 40 percent in 2004

According to ABS, the total number of Australians who travelled abroad in 2004 rose by one million people, or 30 percent, over 2003.

More specifically, more than 4.4 million Australians travelled abroad last year, with themost popular destinations being Indonesia, Thailand, Malaisia and India, which were hit the day after Christmas 2004 by a massive earthquake and an ensuing killer tsunami.

A spokesman for the Australian travel agents said that despite the horrendous destruction caused by the tsunami in several tourist destinations in the above countries, Australian tourists continue to prefer those destinations.

Indeed, tourism to Thailand has already started to bounce back, according to the director of Flight Centre.

Of the total 4.4 million Australian tourists that travelled abroad in 2004, more than 2 million left the country for holidays while 1.1 million left to visit relatives in other countries.

There was also a 10 percent increase in the number of foreign tourists visiting Australia in 2004, which reached 5.2 million.

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