Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-07

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] European social model needs redefining, FinMin says

[02] Russian foreign minister meets Papandreou

[03] Gov't insists it 'followed the rules' in phone-tap affair

[04] Greece, Spain seek closer business relations

[01] European social model needs redefining, FinMin says

Speaking to reporters, after a meeting with John Monks, secretary general of the European Confederation of Labour Unions, and representatives of Greece's two largest trade unions GSEE and ADEDY, Alogoskoufis said his discussions with Monks covered the challenges facing the European economy and Greek policies aimed to reducing fiscal deficits and promoting economic reforms.

Monks said the Confederation's message was that unions acknowledged the problems but stressed that unions were not the problem but part of the answer to the problem. He stressed that problems could be resolved without undermining Europe's social model and that a solution was to work all together with the people. Monks said the best example of a consensus between social partners were Skandinavian countries.

ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.

[02] Russian foreign minister meets Papandreou

Talks between the two men centred on international affairs, such as developments in Kosovo, the Middle East following the victory of militant Hamas in the Palestinian elections, energy issues and Iran's nuclear programme.

According to Papandreou, who was recently also elected president of the Socialist International, they also discussed the Cyprus issue and the role that Russia might play within the international community and the United Nations for a solution to the Cyprus problem that was in accordance with UN resolutions.

Papandreou also noted the excellent bilateral relations between Greece and Russia and said that Lavrov had expressed a desire for close cooperation with him within the Socialist International "in order to further coordinate our actions".

ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.

[03] Gov't insists it 'followed the rules' in phone-tap affair

"The government from the first referred the case to justice. There are no other institutional ways for the state to operate," he stressed.

The spokesman also corrected a statement he made during Monday's briefing, in which he claimed that Parliamentary rules would not allow a Parliamentary probe to run parallel to the judicial investigation.

Roussopoulos clarified that this was incorrect and that there was no legal obstacle to simultaneous investigations by Parliament and the justice system, but the government's position remained in favour of first completing the judicial investigation, so that justice should be allowed to do its work undistracted and without obstacles.

The case was assigned to an examining magistrate last Friday, after an 11-month preliminary investigation headed by a public prosecutor failed to trace those responsible for the illegal wire-taps and a public prosecutor pressed charges against persons unknown.

Regarding the start of an inquiry launched on Monday into the death of a Vodafone executive - initially attributed to suicide - shortly after the phone taps were discovered in the mobile phone provider's systems, the spokesman confirmed that the company's managing director George Koronias had informed the authorities of the man's death at the time and that police authorities had carried out an in-depth investigation.

Asked to comment on an announcement released by Greece's independent telecoms privacy authority, which claimed that 500 or more telephones had been monitored in the first half of 2004, the spokesman simply noted that this had been a legal procedure.

"If the government judges that there are gaps in our legal framework (regarding wire-tapping), the government will look into the issue in order to strengthen the framework," he said.

Responding to criticism that justice had delayed starting the investigation from main opposition PASOK members, meanwhile, Roussopoulos merely noted that "there is no such thing as 'a la carte' justice in the way that PASOK means it".

He also accused PASOK of double standards on this issue and criticised PASOK leader George Papandreou for not calling members that attacked judicial officials to order.

The government last week revealed that some 100 mobile phones, including those of the prime minister and five members of cabinet, had been illegally tapped for nearly a year before the surveillance was discovered. In a press conference held after a front-page article that appeared in the Athens daily 'Ta Nea' last Thursday, it said that a subsequent 11-month investigation had failed to trace the culprits responsible.

According to Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis, the 'ghost' software monitoring the phones was actually a legal but very costly 'lowphone interception' programme developed by Ericsson that had not, however, been purchased by Vodafone and had been activated without the knowledge of either Vodafone or Ericsson.

The government later released the names of 46 individuals whose phones had been tapped, out of the roughly 100 phones that Voulgarakis had said were known to have been monitored.

ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.

[04] Greece, Spain seek closer business relations

Speaking to reporters, after a meeting with visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Greek minister stressed that "Spain is a close parnter of our country in the energy sector and other commercial sectors".

Moratinos, leading a business delegation, said that 15 Spanish enterprises briefed the Greek minister over the problems and difficulties facing in the Greek market. He added that the Spanish government recommended to Spanish enterprises to invest in the Greek market. "Spain's advantages can benefit both countries in sectors such as energy, tourism, insurance, high technology and banks," Moratinos said. He expressed his confidence that "more Greek investments could be made in Spain importing more Greek products in the country".

ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article