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Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-04-01
CONTENTS
[01] PM visits Manpower Employment Organisation
[02] ND: Gov't must boost employment
[03] Debate on tax bill extended
[01] PM visits Manpower Employment Organisation
Prime Minister George Papandreou, during a visit on Wednesday to the
state's Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED), said that in a period
of economic crisis it is of major importance to stand at the citizen's
side, adding that his government is doing so by subsidising labour and
the social security contributions, and also with new programmes to
boost women's entrepreneurship especially in new sectors such as green
growth, thus also supporting social cohesion.
Labour and Social security Minister Andreas Loverdos, who accompanied
Papandreou on his visit to the OAED branch in the working class
district of Peristeri, said that the government is subsidising 120,000
job positions which will open up next week.
[02] ND: Gov't must boost employment
Main opposition New Democracy spokesman Panos Panagiotopoulos on
Wednesday said that a visit by Prime Minister George Papandreou to
Greece's unemployment agency OAED was simply a communications ploy so
that he could be seen caring about jobs on television, while the
measures he announced for battling unemployment would bring no
practical result.
"After five and a half months of having done nothing to promote
employment, to protect jobs and to fight unemployment, he is today and
purely for television consumption implementing the new communications
plan of visiting OAED," the spokesman told reporters.
"If the government wants to carry out effective measures to promote
employment and strike at unemployment there is the proposal by [ND
Leader Antonis Samaras] to give developmental relief to small and
middle-sized businesses and thus protect jobs and boost employment," he
stressed.
[03] Debate on tax bill extended
Debate on the draft tax bill continued before the appropriate
Parliamentary committee on Wednesday, with Finance Minister George
Papaconstantinou agreeing to incorporate several changes proposed by
MPs, as well as representatives of organisations, and promising to
present the changes in their final form to the committee on the
Thursday after Easter.
The government has decided not to push the bill through as urgent -
which would have meant holding a vote in the committee on the same day
so that the draft bill would go before the Parliament plenum the week
after Easter.
The committee stage is now set to continue on April 8 and debate on the
draft bill by the full Parliament will begin on April 13 and be
completed in five sessions, with a final vote on April 15.
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