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Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-04-07Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Floridis stands firm in letter to PapandreouThe resigned coordinator of the main opposition PASOK party's parliamentary group on economy and finance issues, George Floridis, on Friday insisted on his positions regarding dismissals that prompted party leader George Papandreou to call for his resignation a day earlier, in a letter he sent to the PASOK president.Papandreou on Thursday evening called for and received Floridis' resignation following statements he made earlier in the day to an Athens radio station on labour relations and the social insurance system. PASOK Spokesman Nikos Athanassakis said Thursday that "the positions expressed by Mr. Floridis are his personal views, which create misinterpretations and do not reflect the positions of PASOK." In his letter to Papandreou released on Friday, Floridis inisisted on his positions, at the same time severely criticising the New Democracy (ND) government on its policies concerning the Greek economy and labour relations. Floridis claimed a "distortion" of his views "attempted by some sides", insinuating also on the part of PASOK cadres. He further said that PASOK "must not cease its effort to forge modern positions on how to ensure employment and the security of workers and unemployed, particularly the young people", adding his belief that the views he expressed during the radio interview were within the framework of PASOK's policy endeavours. Floridis stressed that PASOK must not be afraid of confronting the future and stipulating proposals that truly supported the working people in the face of "the old and new aristocracy of wealth, which is organising itself with the ND government as its vehicle", and accused the current government of "systematically attacking the working people and their fundamental rights". Photo: ANA/MPA ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved. [02] Vavylis re-sentenced to 7-year prison termConvicted felon Apostolos Vavylis, a shady protagonist in a trial-fixing and ecclesiastical influence-peddling case over the past two years stretching from Athens all the way to the Jerusalem Patriarchate, was re-sentenced by a court here on Friday to the same term imposed by a Venice court for drug smuggling, namely, seven years.Vavylis was flown to Athens on Thursday following his extradition from Italy. In a statement before the three-judge misdemeanor tribunal, Vavylis repeated his defence of transporting a small amount of heroin into Greece more than a decade ago in order to help local law enforcement authorities. Vavylis, a former aide of ousted former Jerusalem patriarch Irineos, has been accused of forgery, fraud, being an accomplice to fraud, appropriating objects of great value entrusted to him by the manager of foreign property, complicity to embezzle, stealing police documents, theft, forging a passport, harbouring a criminal, libel and perjury, among others. The charges concern his activities in Greece, Israel and Italy, while his "career" includes stints as a police informant, a law enforcement equipment sales rep and even impersonation of a monk. ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |