Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-06-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Karamanlis confers with foreign minister, FinMin, ahead of EU summit

[02] Main opposition leader foresees 'rout' for PM at EU budget negotiations in Brussels

[03] Gov't reiterates position on continuing Euro-Constitution ratification process

[01] PM Karamanlis confers with foreign minister, FinMin, ahead of EU summit

After the meeting, Molyviatis outlined to reporters the difficulties in the continuation of the ratification procedure for the Euro-Constitution, as wellas in the negotiations for the 25-member bloc's budget for the next five years.

"The budget is being reduced, and the countries seeking a share of it are increasing, due to the accession of the 10 new member states, which are poorer," Molyviatis said, noting that "the big problem is how we will seek to preserve our interests and positions, which is very difficult". He added the hope that the negotiations would be completed at the upcoming summit.

Alogoskoufis, in turn, pointed out the difficult political dimensions that have arisen due to the negative results of the recent referenda in France and the Netherlands on the Constitutional Treaty, which he said "influence the negotiation on the EU's fiscal prospects, given that the richer countries are not inclined to accept a Community budget larger than 1 percentage point of GDP, which would mean a substantial reduction vis-a-vis what was in effect to date".

[02] Main opposition leader foresees 'rout' for PM at EU budget negotiations in Brussels

He said the premier would depart from Brussels with much less than Greece might have hoped for, while accusing the government of not announcing its goals until the last minute, so that it could present any outcome as a success.

Papandreou said that the government was backing down from the full amount of funding from the EU that had been agreed on under the Simitis government after tough negotiations, thus jeopardising the future of the country. He said Greece was set to receive 28 billion euros from the new EU budget under agreements made when Simitis was premier, of which the final 3-4 billion euros were agreed during the last night of negotiations.

He also accused the government of recklessly abandoning the Helsinki agreement and of apathy and lack of initiative regarding Turkey's European course.

[03] Gov't reiterates position on continuing Euro-Constitution ratification process

The messages sent by French and Dutch voters through their rejection of the treaty should be seen as food for thought, he added.

The spokesman also fielded questions on apparent irregularities seen in the means and assets statements submitted by MPs from 1989-2002, saying that an investigation had revealed specific evidence that had been made public and that the procedure followed and any change in this was a matter for Parliament.

He also underlined the government's continuing determination for a full investigation of the events that led to massive losses for small-time investors on the Athens bourse in 2000, noting that a process was currently underway in the justice system.

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