Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] PASOK briefed on Nimetz proposal

[02] Tour of new Acropolis Museum

[03] Gov't on Commission report

[01] PASOK briefed on Nimetz proposal

The meeting, held at the Greek Parliament, was also attended by former PASOK foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos.

Conveying PASOK's positions in statements after the briefing, Pangalos said these had not changed significantly as a result of the briefing by Bakoyannis.

"We have our positions, which arose yesterday at our political council and we are sticking with these," Pangalos stressed.

Regarding the briefing, the high-ranking PASOK MP added that the foreign minister had supplied plenty of information for the party to use in order to formulate its position, while the Nimetz proposal in itself was a brief document without very much detail, presented more for discussion than as a final form of any agreement to be reached.

He also noted that the foreign minister had referred to important "counter-proposals or modifications" to be suggested by Athens. "I don't know how she will describe them herself," he added.

Asked to comment on the stance the government intends to adopt in upcoming negotiations over the name issue and whether it was backing down from a threat to veto FYROM's entry into NATO in the event that negotiations failed, Pangalos stressed that Athens should make sure that it retained all its negotiating advantages during the course of the ongoing talks. "This is in the interests of the country," he stressed.

Turning to the latest developments concerning Kosovo, Pangalos described them as "most unfortunate". He pointed out that the Serb enclaves in Kosovo, where Serbs from other areas had been transferred after what he called acts of ethnic cleansing by the Albanian majority in the province, had a shared border with Serbia.

"The information we have is that, at this moment, an effort is underway to station a NATO force to control the border, or whatever one calls it. We consider that this would be a most unfavourable development for the smooth course of relations of communities in the region and we consider that Greece, which participates in NATO, and due to coincidence our forces in Kosovo are stationed in this region, should undertake a strong and effective initiative so that the border between the part of Kosovo inhabited by the Serbs, in other words the Mitrovica region, and the rest of Serbia remain open," he said.

Caption: Greek FM Dora Bakoyannis (R) and main opposition PASOK party leader George Papandreou shake hands in Athens on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. ANA-MPA / ANTONIS DOUKAS.

[02] Tour of new Acropolis Museum

Sioufas, who was offered a guided tour of the museum by Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis, was accompanied by members of the parliament's standing committee on cultural and educational affairs.

The parliament president stated that he was "overwhelmed" by the new museum, stressing that it "constitutes a reference point for culture worldwide". He also thanked the archaeological academic community and all those, Greeks and foreign scholars, who contributed to the realisation of the endeavour.

Liapis stated that the museum is modern, functional and secure, and that the transfer of antiquities from the old museum will be completed in roughly a month. He added that the formal inauguration of the museum will take place in early autumn.

Liapis described the new museum as a "national wager" for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles.

Caption: A Parliament delegation, led by Parliament president Dimitris Sioufas, looks down into an excavated archaeological site now located in an atrium of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. ANA-MPA / K. LAMBROPOULOU.

[03] Gov't on Commission report

After the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, Alogoskoufis said the assessment by the European Commission is absolutely consistent with government assessments on the course of the Greek economy.

"The progress recorded in the past few years in the areas of fiscal deficit reduction, economic growth and unemployment reduction is being acknowledged," he said.

The European Commission underlined the need to press on with government priorities, namely, full implementation of the state budget and planned tax reforms, as well as adoption of measures against tax evasion and high-profile social security reforms.

Caption: Greek Economy Minister George Alogoskoufis speaks to reporters outside the premier's Maximos Mansion office on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. ANA-MPA / ALEXANDROS BELTES

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