Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-09-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] PASOK leader arrives in New York

[01] PASOK leader arrives in New York

The PASOK leader is also sheduled to hold several meetings with foreign dignitaries during his stay in New York.

Speaking during a televised debate with Prime Minister and ruling New Democracy (ND) party leader Costas Karamanlis on Tuesday evening and ahead of the October 4 general elections, Papandreou placed voters before the dilemma of whether the six-year Karamanlis tenure will continue or whether there shall be a change in course.

"If you want to continue the course of the six-year governance by New Democracy, vote for Mr. Karamanlis," he said and added that a different course "is not easy but it is feasible" and called for the confidence and the Parliamentary majority vote of the Greek people.

Papandreou stressed that the country "is experiencing crucial moments and noted that two different options exist for Greece. The one is the continuation of the policy of decline, untransparency, the serving of clientele interests that places burdens on the average Greek family and the other is to have a government with determination and strength that will go ahead with the necessary changes and give hope to citizens and the country."

The PASOK leader further said that with ND's policy, "Greece fell 40 points in competitiveness" and recalled a statement by former economy minister George Alogoskoufis who had said before the international crisis broke out that "we reached the bottom."

Referring to the two mainstream parties' philosophy, he said that ND considers the social state "as a tip for the family and promotes the compression of salaries and benefits."

He added that the other "invests in the country's human potential, provides security and confidence for the citizen and defends the rights of working people, while subsidising the contributions of young people to find work."

Papandreou also said that, if elected prime minister, he would request a meeting of party leaders with the President of the Republic to discuss transparency issues and put an end to "the squandering" of the Greek people's money.

Turning to environmental issues, the PASOK leader focused on green development to enable the country to move to a different production basis with a different technology and for new jobs to be created.

On the question of national issues, Papandreou said that he "backed" Karamanlis on the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), setting a national red line and will be moving along it as prime minister.

The PASOK leader expressed disagreement with the government's handling of issues concerning Greek-Turkish relations, saying that Karamanlis lost historic opportunities to have the neighbouring country's stance towards Greece evaluated and he did this twice.

Papandreou further stressed that he considers Turkey's stance unacceptable with continuous violations of national airspace, pointing out that he will not tolerate this stance as prime minister.

Regarding the issue of Cyprus, Papandreou underlined that the Annan plan "is dead" and added that he will struggle with Cyprus President Demetris Christofias for a solution that will be based on UN resolutions and the acquis communautaire.

Papandreou also said that "we have a 100-day plan to enable the Greek economy to get moving again."

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