Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-06-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek FinMin announces dialogue over the country's pension system

[02] Greek govt agrees to fully disconnect community subsidies from farm production

[03] New envoys of Cyprus, Bosnia, Benin and Madagascar present credentials

[04] Dario Fo and Franka Rame to appear at Herod Atticus Odeon in Athens

[01] Greek FinMin announces dialogue over the country's pension system

Speaking to reporters, after an inner cabinet meeting, Alogoskoufis stressed that a discussion in Parliament on Monday highlighted a wider problem in the country's pension system and noted that a previous government's legislation, aimed at resolving the problem, had great weaknesses since it rolled over the cost of funding the country's Social Security Institution (IKA) to the public sector and the state budget.

"This is an issue that must be dealt with a long-term dialogue, as the government has said again in the past. No one can deny a dialogue over the pension system, the problem is there and a dialogue must proceed calmly to find out what it needs and what needs to be done to deal with this big problem for the country," the Greek minister said.

Commenting on a draft amendment tabled by ND deputy Miltiades Evert and supported by PASOK, the main opposition political party, Alogoskoufis said the government has approved draft legislation currently under discussion in parliament, and stressed that the government's plan would resolve a pension problem in the banking sector without burdening IKA or the public sector since Greek banks would pay the cost.

He also emphasised that dialogue on pension reforms had to begin straight away in order to a future crisis, presenting figures that showed the total deficit of the country's social insurance system set to soar from 4.1 per cent GDP in 2005 to 8.3 per cent of GDP in 2030 and 13.8 per cent of GDP in 2050.

Underlining that the system could not be converted from the present redistributive one to a fully-funded system, he also stressed the problems under the existing system, where a worker was paid a normal wage for the 35 years of his working life and then received around 80 per cent of that amount for another 20 years as a pensioner.

The minister emphasised, however, that the government would respect pledges not to raise the age of retirement or lower pensions and that the envisaged dialogue had a horizon long past the present government's term.

"Beginning dialogue is one thing and changing the status quo is another," Alogoskoufis stressed.

[02] Greek govt agrees to fully disconnect community subsidies from farm production

Speaking to reporters, after the meeting, Agricultural Development and Foods Minister Evangelos Basiakos said the inner cabinet accepted his recommendations. "We agreed to fully disconnect community subsidies from all farm products, excluding seeds, to ensure more community funds in the coming years".

The Greek minister stressed there would be a withholding rate of up to 10 percent for each farm product, aimed to strengthen Greek farming competitiveness and secure the farm sector's future.

The inner cabinet decided a full disconnection for olive oil, with community subsidy to be based on average production in the period 1999-2003, while for all other farm and livestock production, community subsidy will be based on a three-year average.

Community subsidy for tobacco will be fully disconnected, while cotton production will continue a partial connection system, totalling 35 percent.

Basiakos said the government decision was supported by the vast majority of farmers' unions and political parties. The Greek minister stressed that similar decisions were taken by other EU member-states, ensuring a common policy and the country's negotiating position when the European Union would discuss Common Agricultural Policy issues again in the future.

[03] New envoys of Cyprus, Bosnia, Benin and Madagascar present credentials

Papoulias received ambassadors Giorgos Georgis of Cyprus; Milovan Blagojevic of Bosnia-Herzegovina; Edgar-Yves Monnou of Benin and Auguste Richard Paraina of Madagascar.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valinakis and the presidential office's general secretary, amb. C. Georgiou, attended the ceremonies.

[04] Dario Fo and Franka Rame to appear at Herod Atticus Odeon in Athens

In a press conference held in Athens on Tuesday, the two artists said the performance sought to provide information about the use of masks as a tool of ancient theatre.

The worldwide premiere of the production is taking place under the aegis of the Athens municipality. Dario Fo will be on the stage alone, reciting the texts in ancient Greek, while Franka Rame will play the role of prompter - a role that she claims has been deeply misunderstood.

On stage to assist with them to assist with translation will be Stavros Papastavrou.

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