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Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-09-25
CONTENTS
[01] PM meets defence minister; zero corruption policy reaffirmed
[01] PM meets defence minister; zero corruption policy reaffirmed
The government's policy is uniform and collective, and when the
government and the prime minister say "zero tolerance to corruption" it
is only reasonable that it applies to the entire government,
indiscriminately, national defence minister Evangelos Meimarakis said
Monday in reply to press questions, after a meeting with prime minister
Costas Karamanlis.
Replying to other questions, Meimarakis said that there was no
"backstabbing" among government members.
Asked to comment on a slander lawsuit lodged by deputy development
minister Yannis Papathanasiou against main opposition PASOK MP and
former minister Kimon Koulouris earlier in the day, Meimarakis said it
was only natural to take recourse in justice to defend one's honour
when one's honour and reputation were offended and the public dialogue
exceeded the limits.
He said that political dialogue and activity "will bring us out of the
unwholesome climate of the past days", adding that there was a climate
of concern which, however, was reversible and was not heavy for the
government.
Meimarakis said that the government's volition for zero tolerance to
corruption and aggressive tackling of the phenomenon was firm, adding
that there was no issue of "offsetting" but, rather, a comparison of
the policies and measures that have been taken by the current
government against corruption (vis-a-vis the preceding government), and
whether the proper "antibodies" have been created in the citizens so
that they could also contribute in combatting the problem.
Up until two-and-a-half years ago (when ND assumed the government), the
citizens considered it in vain to lodge complaints of corruption
phenomena, according to data from recent opinion polls, the minister
said, whereas now, due to the policy applied by the present government,
they perceived that the volition exists for zero tolerance and for
sending all such cases to justice.
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