Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] Molyviatis reiterates Greek support for the Balkans' EU prospects

[02] PM urges 'united front' against corruption

[03] Government on promoting standardization

[04] PASOK leader slams government farm policy

[05] Cultural Capitals Symposium opens at Zappion

[01] Molyviatis reiterates Greek support for the Balkans' EU prospects

"All the countries of the region, without exception, must and have a right to progress toward accession, each at its own pace and in its own time, depending on the speed that they fulfill the criteria required," the minister said.

Regarding the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), meanwhile, Molyviatis said the interim agreement of 1995 made a specific reference to the name with which Greece's neighbour could join the EU.

Molyviatis expressed satisfaction with the "constructive discussion" that took place during the SEECP meeting and said there had been a serious effort by the countries in the region to "set aside a past of friction, tension and crisis" and to set their sights on a European future of stability, peace and progress.

The Greek minister praised a report on Kosovo submitted by special UN envoy Kai Eide to the UN Security Council, of which Greece is currently a non-permanent member, saying it was a "thorough and balanced analysis, that does not attempt to conceal the black spots of the situation".

He also reiterated Greece's desire for a viable solution in Kosovo, that will "respect international legality, as this is guaranteed by the United Nations Charter, and be compatible with European values and criteria, while also being the result of dialogue and active involvement of all the interested sides and promoting regional stability".

Molyviatis also stressed the importance of good neighbourly relations, "which are the basis for building up and reinforcing the European prospects of countries in the region" and emphasised efforts to develop infrastructure for energy and transport.

Earlier, diplomatic sources said that Greece did not anticipate any new proposal from UN mediator for the name issue Matthew Nimetz in the near future, following the rejection of his last proposal by Greece.

They also clarified that government references to the possibility of a referendum regarding the dispute with FYROM over its use of the name 'Macedonia' actually concerned whether Greece will ratify FYROM's EU entry, if and when it completed accession negotiations with the EU.

"As long as Skopje uses the name FYROM there is no problem, even if they wish to join the EU under that name," foreign ministry officials said. At the same time, they did not rule out the possibilities of more countries recognising FYROM as 'Macedonia' on a bilateral level.

With respect to Turkey, they said that the start of accession negotiations would not automatically solve all the problems, or airspace violations above the Aegean, overnight but had laid the foundations for overturning a climate of conflict, so that defence spending could be drastically cut.

The same sources said that the biggest weakness of Greek aims was actually the reluctance of other EU member-states to give Turkey full EU membership, noting that this made it difficult to change the climate in the neighbouring country.

[02] PM urges 'united front' against corruption

"No one can be spared in this battle. The challenge is shared by all citizens and all political forces in the country" Karamanlis said in answer to a question put by the former leader of the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology party Nikos Constantopoulos.

He said the government was in a "constant and head-on collision with phenomena of corruption, graft and greed" in response to Constantopoulos' criticism that the government had done nothing to curb the problems.

Karamanlis also pointed to new laws passed by the government for assigning public works contracts and the revised 'main shareholder' law for discouraging the media from influencing the assignment of public-sector contracts, predicting that tough negotiations now underway with the European Commission in order for the law to be accepted would soon reach their conclusion.

The premier said that the problems and situations created in the past could not be changed from one day to the next but stressed that the government "has made a start".

Constantopoulos countered by saying that the government appeared to have "come to terms" with the corrupt centres that it had earlier condemned, naming a series of areas where he considered graft to be rampant, and stressed that the general public saw both graft and corruption to be undiminished.

In his rejoinder, Karamanlis stressed that the government would never come to terms with graft "because this is removed from our political view of things" and that it would neither tire nor give up in its clash with corruption.

"Our tolerance for phenomena of corruption is nil. This is the path that we are following and will follow until the end, whatever the price," he added.

[03] Government on promoting standardization

Commenting on the World Day of Standardisation, the Greek minister stressed that the Greek Standardization Organisation was currently in a phase of restructuring and review of its policy aimed to become the main pole of attracting interested sectors and agencies. The Organisation is expected to present its new regulations by the end of the year.

This year's World Day of Standardization is dedicated to safety.

[04] PASOK leader slams government farm policy

"It cultivated false hopes and is unable to handle even the simple issues. It has no vision for the farming community and, worst of all, it makes farmers feel they have no way out," he said.

Papandreou said the government was failing to adequately prepare for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and had not even managed to make use of the funds secured by PASOK for farmers up until the year 2013.

"The second message I want to convey is that there is another path for the country's development," Papandreou added, stressing that rural regions would be the "spearhead" of this developmental course and that Thrace would soon be Greece's border with the EU once Bulgaria joined the Community.

PASOK's leader also visited Komotini's industrial zone, where he again criticised the government for its failure to include any of the area's industrial concerns into measures for penalty interest settlement or its new development law.

Papandreou was briefed on the industrial zone's problems by the president of the Rodopi Labour Centre, who noted that 36 out of 96 factories that were recently operating in the area had closed, while another 20 were working at lower capacity, leading to the loss of 1,580 jobs and a jump in the area's unemployment from 7 per cent in 2004 to 18 per cent at present.

The main opposition leader also made a stop at the municipality of Filyra, where there is a high percentage of Moslems in the population.

He noted that Thrace could become a meeting point for cooperation by the peoples in the wider region, especially in view of the future entry of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU and the start of EU accession talks with Turkey.

Responding to Papandreou's statements from Athens, meanwhile, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said that PASOK "led Greek farmers down the road of insecurity and non-existent prospects" when in government, after which it abandoned them to fend for themselves.

"Now, as the opposition, PASOK's president proposes 'another path' without telling them anything about where this begins, the route or where it finally leads to. Greek farmers have had bitter experience with marches into the unknown and roads that lead nowhere. The least they deserve is basic respect," Roussopoulos added.

[05] Cultural Capitals Symposium opens at Zappion

It is entitled "20 years of European Cultural Capitals" and seeks to upgrade the institution of cultural capitals and create a global cultural capitals network. The symposium will end next Sunday.

The start of the meeting was also addressed by Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni, who stressed the role of cultural capitals in bridging the cultural gap between society's elite and popular culture.

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