Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] PASOK leader promises to 'entrench transparency'

[02] Greek economy to grow by 4% in Q1, FinMin

[03] KKE spokesman on pension fund reserves

[04] Polydoras to attend SEECP meeting in Croatia

[01] PASOK leader promises to 'entrench transparency'

He was speaking at a meeting of PASOK's Parliamentary Council, during which he accused ruling New Democracy (ND) of "daily demonstrating its views of the partisan-state as trophy" through examples such as the Greek pension fund investments and suspected kickbacks, the LARCO affair and the missing funds at the Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED).

He stressed that ND's views represented a "client politics" approach that looked after the interests of the traditional Right of the powers on its own side.

According to Papandreou, this view was now linked to a new generation of top-flight party cadres with experiences from the stock markets and profit-making funds of the United States, as well as Enron-type stock market fraud.

This "generation of greed" had become incorporated into ND and amounted to a combination that was disastrous for the country, he added.

PASOK's president predicted that ND would attempt to handle the affair in two ways: first it would attempt to cultivate a climate where blame was transferred back, to the period when PASOK was in power, and down, to lower-ranking members of the government. Secondly, it would make overtures toward PASOK by trying to appoint individuals affiliated with the main opposition party in management positions, thus trying to establish an "alibi of consensus" after the fact.

Caption: PASOK leader George Papandreou. ANA-MPA file photo.

[02] Greek economy to grow by 4% in Q1, FinMin

The Greek minister said the fiscal deficit ended 2006 at 2.6 pct of GDP without the use of a revised GDP, while using revised GDP figures the deficit fell to 2.1 pct. Alogoskoufis said budget revenues rose by 7.5 pct in the first two months of the year, exceeding a budget target for an annual growth rate of 5.5 pct.

Alogoskoufis forecast a growth rate of around 4.0 pct in the first quarter of 2007, as industrial production was up 3.2 pct, domestic demand remained strong and retail sales volume was up. Investment activity was also strong and exports rose 12.7 pct in the first two months of the year. Unemployment was steadily falling, the consumer price index fell to 2.7 pct in the first quarter of 2007 (down from 3.2 pct in the same period last year).

The minister, however, said there was no room for complacency.

"We still need several reforms and a long way to go. We must continue efforts towards fiscal consolidation to achieve balanced, or slightly surplus budgets," he said.

Alogoskoufis said Greece must achieve this goal by 2012, while talks were currently underway in the EU to achieve this goal earlier, by 2010. Greece has made enormous effort to achieve fiscal adjustment with minimum negative impact on living standard and employment in the country.

From Brussels, Eurostat on Thursday said the Greek economy grew by 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared with the same period in 2005,

The EU executive's statistics agency, in a report, said economic growth in the Eurozone was 3.3 pct and in the EU-25 3.5 pct, over the same period, while GDP growth in the US and Japan was 3.1 pct and 2.5 pct, respectively.

Latvia (11.7 pct). Estonia (11.2 pct) recorded the biggest GDP growth rates, while Portugal (1.7 pct), France (2.5 pct) and the Netherlands (2.7 pct) the lowest growth rates in the EU. Economic growth in Greece fell 0.4 pct in the fourth quarter 2006 from the third quarter of the year. GDP growth rose by 0.9 pct in the Eurozone, 0.6 pct in the US and 1.3 pct in Japan, over the same period.

Caption: FinMin George Alogoskoufis. ANA-MPA photo

[03] KKE spokesman on pension fund reserves

Skyllakos clarified that the investigation cannot be limited only to apportioning blame in the case of the TEADY fund mismanagement and in other pension funds as well, but it should also focus on the continuous looting of pension fund reserves taking place with the tolerance of all New Democracy and PASOK governments.

The KKE spokesman concluded that the entire system, operating as a "hothouse for mismanagement scandals", should also be put under the microscope, stressing that the damage suffered by pension funds has to be restored.

[04] Polydoras to attend SEECP meeting in Croatia

The topic to be discussed at the meeting is entitled "European Union standards and the rules of Law in Southeastern Europe", and will address important and specific issues concerning enforcement of laws and fighting corruption in member-states.

Caption: Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras. ANA-MPA file photo.

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