Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-05-07

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

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

CONTENTS

[01] Karamanlis meets with Cyprus' Christofias, Russian Dep. PM Ivanov on Mon.

[02] FinMin: Policy vindicated by expected EU decision

[01] Karamanlis meets with Cyprus' Christofias, Russian Dep. PM Ivanov on Mon.

At roughly 12.30 p.m. the premier was set to be briefed by Tourism Development Minister Fani Palli-Petralia.

Over the weekend, the prime minister visited the Ancient Agora in downtown Athens accompanied by Culture Minister George Voulgarakis.

Speaking afterwards, Karamanlis emphasised that several antiquities related to the wider Acropolis region that have been repatriated to Greece over the recent period are now on display in the Stoa (arcade) of Attalus at the Agora.

"Day after day, the serious and methodical efforts aimed at claiming and repatriating elements of our cultural heritage, that are in foreign museums or in private collections, is producing and will continue to produce tangible results," the prime minister said.

"And, of course, reunification of the Parthenon Marbles remains the great goal. I am confident that the new Acropolis Museum, work for whose completion is now going at a speedy pace, will add new and very strong arguments to this effort," he added.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Karamanlis.

[02] FinMin: Policy vindicated by expected EU decision

"In a climate of danger-mongering and scandal-mongering; in a climate of mudslinging against individuals, everything is at risk of becoming inert. It is not only that the bonds market has been vilified, but nearly all relations with banks have been vilified as well," he said, noting that the bonds affair "functioned cumulatively in the main opposition party's strategy of scandal-mongering on everything, vilifying everything and its attempt to spread conspiracy scenarios on all the governmental initiatives".

Alogoskoufis said that former employment minister Savvas Tsitiouridis, who was recently forced to resign over the bonds affair, had been a "victim of very unfortunate circumstances", adding that "the problem arose because the (social insurance) funds have no specialised experience in their administrative boards".

"This is a long-standing matter," he explained.

The minister further said that the Greek government's imminent exit from the excessive deficit procedure was a "vindication" of the policy implemented by the government, and noted that Greece found itself in this "misadventure" due to the choices of the preceding PASOK governments.

He added, however, that there was still a "very long road ahead" to reach the point of "balanced budgets, which is our obligation", but also in order to introduce structural reforms that will place the Greek economy on a much more competitive footing, to everyone's benefit.

Alogoskoufis' comments were carried in an interview published in the Sunday edition of the daily "Vima".

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Alogoskoufis.

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