Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-09-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM: Victory lies in the hands of ND voters

[02] Papariga: youth vote for KKE

[01] PM: Victory lies in the hands of ND voters

"The citizens must know the truth, they must know everything. There is no room for evasiveness or "rounding" things. There are no pleasant recipes. There are no easy solutions available," Karamanlis noted, to add that the promises being made by main opposition PASOK were "fake".

According to the premier, the programme outlined by PASOK would cost some 20 billion euros and involve massing borrowing at huge cost, which would have to be paid by future generations. He also challenged PASOK leader George Papandreou to clarify his position regarding the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, making it clear whether PASOK intended to respect international agreements, as well as PASOK's plans for privatised Olympic Airways, Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) and debt-ridden railway operator OSE.

Karamanlis accused Papandreou of failing to address the real dilemmas of the economic crisis and the measures that needed to be taken, cloaking his intentions with pleasant-sounding phrases and "sacrificing everything on the altar of the party".

"He cannot continue talking about everything and not saying anything," Karamanlis pointed out, stressing that ND had a plan for exiting the crisis and was proud to have resisted populism, envisaging and carving out the road to Europe while PASOK was "busy looking for the 'third' way".

The premier referred at length to the significant improvements to economic indices achieved by ND since 2004, especially the reduction in unemployment from 11.3 percent to 7 percent in May 2008, saying that the impact of the economic crisis would have been much worse for Greece if this had not been done. He went on to point to major public works projects now underway that would end the relative isolation of northwestern Greece and Epirus, such as the Egnatia Highway, Agrinion bypass and others.

At anothe point in his speech, Karamanlis said that ND had "embraced" the ethnic Greek minority of Albania, or North Epirotes, speeding up procedures for them to acquire Greek nationality and reducing their mandatory national service from 12 months to three.

Underlining that victory lay in the hands of ND's supporters, he urged voters not to "give away their votes," and for everyone to be present at the October 4 elections in order to ensure that ND emerged victorious

[02] Papariga: youth vote for KKE

"You must vote with your head held high, not looking down with your backs against the wall as New Democracy and PASOK want," she stressed.

"The first vote of young people must be genuinely revolutionary, against the trend and in mass for KKE. Young people must not vote for the parties that plutocracy alternates in trusting," KKE's leader underlined.

According to Papariga, the results of the October 4 vote would not bring about the revolution but determine the ability of the popular and youth movements for resist and counter-attack. Unlike the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), her party did not harbour illusions of gaining power in the present system.

"We ask young people and the popular classes to support us and we are ready for the counter-attack on October 5. We have no headaches and existential problems about our profile, we do not harbour dreams of co-governmental or governmental 'suits'. We will be in the opposition, but what counts is whether the two main parties on October 5 will tremble because KKE is high and in the third position, a fact that will have great importance for the vigour and determination of the popular movement," she said.

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