Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] Profit-making companies must pay social dividend PM says

[02] President receives children from Care Centres

[01] Profit-making companies must pay social dividend PM says

A share of the large profits companies enjoy should be returned to those helping to create it, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told Parliament on Monday during an off-the-agenda debate on youth unemployment, an initiative of the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) party.

"Increasing the social dividend is the state's responsibility, but also the responsibility of all those companies that have large profits," he said.

He noted that while the opposition parties discuss the issue of unemployment, they at the same time react "to every change, every reform that is aimed at increasing employment opportunities."

"Unemployment requires a strong, social conscience on everyone's part: political parties, trade unions and businesses," he said.

He called on everyone to submit proposals, stressing that the government is ready to adopt "any feasible form of action."

Referring to recent labour actions and strikes, Karamanlis said that "extreme actions do not provide solutions."

He referred to the Irish example, where government, parties and trade unions "made the major decision to look forward and unite forces," achieving a significant increase in income and a reduction in unemployment.

Solutions require foresight, combining views and political bravery, he said.

Reducing unemployment can only be achieved through education, development and jobs, Karamanlis said.

To this end, the government aims for a modern and open educational system, in step with European Union developments and the international community; a greater utilisation of new technologies; encouragement of new investments and capitalisation upon the country's competitive advantages.

As for reducing unemployment, the government aims at personally reaching out to each unemployed individual, subsidising companies who hire unemployed individuals, encouraging entrepreneurship through subsidies and implementing special programmes for young adults and women.

Referring to his administration's achievements to date on this issue, Karamanlis said that the country's unemployment rate fell from 11.3% in the first quarter of 2004 to 9.7% in the third quarter of 2005.

He also noted that the labour force grew to over 4,380,000 employees, the largest ever recorded in the country.

However, "neither I nor any member of this administration can be satisfied as long as the unemployment rate remains at such levels. A problem such as this one, so complex and complicated, so painful for citizens, demands great effort. It demands an even faster pace in what we've already started. We all have responsibilities, we all have obligations; first and foremost the government, but also the political forces in their entirety; businesses and trade unions. The challenges concern everyone," he said.

Karamanlis also noted that "sectors with high profits have the capacity and the responsibility for new investments; they have the ability and responsibility to create new jobs. This is how they can prove their social responsibility, their corporate responsibility, in practice."

Synaspispos leader

Coalition party leader Alekos Alavanos accused the government of implementing "authoritarian logic and practices" during the off-the-agenda Parliamentary debate held at the initiative of his Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (Synaspismos) party.

Alavanos also criticised Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis for appearing in Parliament "for the first time in 2006 when important issues had appeared over the past two months, such as bird flu, civil mobilisation and phone-tapping, and he did not come to give a reply."

Referring to the issue of unemployment in particular, Alavanos said that in many parts of the country, such as in Macedonia, the situation is tragic.

"According to European Union statistics, Western Macedonia is the third region in unemployed young people. Guadeloupe and Martinique alone pass Greece. In Greece, compared to the eurozone, the percentage of unemployed young people reaches 18.8 percent. A percentage, however, that is far greater since an unemployed person is not registered for an hour's work. Unemployment is far greater and has struck all homes," the Coalition party leader said.

PASOK leader

The government is "increasing the insecurity of the citizen and is using it to schedule policies serving the few and powerful," main opposition PASOK party leader George Papandreou said during theoff-the-agenda Parliamentary debate on unemployment.

Referring to the phone-tapping issue, Papandreou accused Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis of "covering up the truth for 11 months" and expressed his disagreement with "the easy and dangerous path of refusal of changes and of an ostrich policy."

Papandreou also spoke of "the one-way course of the New Democracy party" which constitutes "acceptance of the plans of multinationals, of stock exchange capital and of the absolute rules of the market."

The PASOK party leader further pointed out that "this philosophy says that we must lose rights, become a country of cheap labour, the working man must lose his voice and his confidence and the family must be burdened with the cost. That's why high unemployment suits rightwingers because it becomes a lever of pressure for the working man in relation to the reserve army of the unemployed. The one-way path of ND is an easy but dangerous path."

Papandreou went on to say "have you increased low unemployment benefits? Have you utilised funds from the Comunity Support Framework? Have you started new programmes?", adding that "after two years (in power) you are repeating the same programmes which had begun when PASOK was in power."

Lastly, the PASOK party leader concluded that for the government "the countdown has begun and the Greek people are beginning to realise the truth."

KKE leader

Speaking during theoff-the-agenda Parliamentary debate on unemployment Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary General Aleka Papariga criticised government policies on labour issues and predicted that unemployment will increase continuously with the "anti-popular plan being promoted by the New Democracy party".

Papariga called for measures of protection for the unemployed and criticised both the main opposition PASOK party and the Coalition for "the anti-popular policies they are defending".

"The radical reversal of the present situation is necessary for the abolition of unemployment and nothing substantive can be done for as long as the logic of profit and not of human needs prevails. And this radical reversal is up to the popular movement," she said.

Commenting on the address by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, Papariga said "the prime minister was clear in his policy since, in essence, he did not promise the abolition of unemployment but more enterpreneurship and foreign investments."

Papariga concluded by saying that "real social calm can be secured by the working people. All the rest is the silence of the graveyard."

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

[02] President receives children from Care Centres

The president discussed with the children their problems.

Present at the meeting was Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos who praised the president's initiative, which, he said, shows Papoulias' "social sensitivity which is known to all Greeks."

Pavlopoulos announced that the interior ministry "is re-examining the existing provisions, with the purpose of making them more effective." That is, he explained, "for there to be a gradual, but real creation of jobs for individuals who were brought up in foundations."

President Papoulias also thanked Olympic Games medallists, who, following his invitation, visited the Presidential Mansion to speak with the children.

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

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