Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-05-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek-Turkish talks in Athens

[02] List of tax-dodging doctors published

[03] Bomb explosion near Korydallos prison

[04] ND on Erdogan's visit

[05] Greece will repay its loans

[06] Actions on Tourism promotion

[07] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] Greek-Turkish talks in Athens

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan arrives in Athens on an official two-day visit on Friday, accompanied by 10 ministers of his government who will participate with their Greek counterparts in the first meeting of the recently-formed Greece-Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, and by a large delegation of Turkish entrepreneurs who will take part in a Greek-Turkish investment forum. Vice President of the government Theodoros Pangalos will receive Erdogan at Athens' 'Eleftherios Venizelos' International Airport.

Erdogan leaves for the return flight to Turkey in the early afternoon on Saturday.

[02] List of tax-dodging doctors published

The finance ministry also published a list of the annual profits declared by 150 healthcare professionals under investigation in the plush Athens district of Kolonaki and other areas (using only initials) - including a dentist with total declared annual profits of 300 euros, a heart surgeon that declared profits of only 8,125 euros over the entire year and a high-profile surgeon that declared 11,605 euros - less than the tax-free allowance for wage earners and pensioners.

Added to the announcement were further lists of healthcare professionals and clinics for whom fines had already been decided and the declared incomes and bank deposits of 12 orthopedic surgeons under investigation for the DePuy scandal.

The confirmed tax violations included failure to give receipts, failure to record patients in the patients' book, not issuing despatch orders and refusing to present accounts books.

The cases involve all manner of healthcare professionals, while for many the investigation is still ongoing and fines have not yet been decided. For 36 of the doctors under investigation, additional evidence has arisen and information has been requested from financial institutions, such as the opening of their bank accounts and an investigation of orders to transfer money abroad.

The finance ministry stressed that in all cases it will follow legal procedures and impose all administrative remedies, including the closure of the practices involved.

[03] Bomb explosion near Korydallos prison

Earlier, at 21:50 an unidentified caller warned the newspaper "Eleftherotypia" and the "ALTER" television channel, of the explosion and giving a time limit of about 25-27 minutes.

Police sealed off the area and no injuries occurred, despite the fact that the location has a great deal of traffic.

The bomb, according to intial evidence collected by police, had been placed in a garbage can next to the wall of the old prison for women that no longer operates.

The explosion was heard over a great distance, but only material damage has been caused. Anti-terrorist squad officers and bomb disposal experts rushed to the scene to carry out investigations.

According to initial police reports, a woman, who was in her apartment at the time of the explosion, was injured in the legs by shards of glass from breaking windows.

The explosion also caused a great deal of material damage to surrounding shops and apartment buildings.

[04] ND on Erdogan's visit

"Bilateral contacts are positive between two neighboring peoples who want better relations and closer cooperation," ND spokesman Panos Panagiotopoulos commented on Thursday.

Regardless of the goodwill on behalf of the Turkish people "fertile and undisturbed cooperation can only exist if no unilateral claims are made against Greece and when the casus belli is lifted," Panagiotopoulos stressed.

[05] Greece will repay its loans

Droutsas, who participated in the International Seminar in Vienna on the European Perspective of the Western Balkans on Wednesday as a main speaker, stressed that Greece would have avoided many things if the EU had intervened in a more effective way in the previous months, something that Athens had already pointed out earlier.

As Droutsas said, with the measures that the Greek government had taken then there was the hope that Greece would regain its reliability and that the international markets would react more positively. "Unfortunately, however, due to the developments the markets did not react in the way that all hoped and Greece reached this situation, making economic support necessary."

[06] Actions on Tourism promotion

An advertising campaign was decided that will bear the message "You in Greece" and which shall accompany the printed material and the videos that will travel to all the corners of the world.

The aim of the coordinated action, that will be completed next week, is to avert the further cancellation of reservations, Greece to appeal to the potential visitor, to the visitor who is already considering Greece as a destination for his holidays and to stress that Greece remains safe and hospitable.

Relevant initiatives in this framework will include press conferences in main market cities, the production of informative material that will be sent regularly to overseas offices of the Greek Tourist Organisation (EOT), the website and to all journalists involved.

A press kit will also be created for reporters working for Greek and foreign media that will contain a dvd with speches and statements by the prime minister and the Culture and Tourism minister and statistical information on Greece.

[07] Athens Newspaper Headlines

The government's battle against tax evasion and the list of major tax evaders released Thursday, the skyrocketing unemployment rate and Turkish Prime Minister's Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Greece, dominated the headlines on Friday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Finance Ministry released the names of over 150 well-known doctors in tax evasion crackdown".

APOGEVMATINI: "Government abandons former New Democracy government's policy on Greek-Turkish relations".

AVGHI: "Family men the new unemployed - The new unemployment wave now affects the productive ages".

AVRIANI: "Former Public Order Minister Christos Markoyannakis preannounced '30 Richter' quake if the parliamentary fact-finding commission on the Siemens slush funds does not function objectively".

ELEFTHEROS: "The Turks celebrate Erdogan's 'landing' - Erdogan's visit to Greece in the midst of the Greece's bankruptcy is a boon for them".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "New Turkish provocations in the Aegean a few hours before Erdogan's arrival in Athens".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "Surgeons specialising in...tax evasion - Finance Ministry lists of tax evading doctors-".

ESTIA: "The recovery will be quicker if the state's intervention is restricted".

ETHNOS: "The 'poor' doctors of Kolonaki (one of the most expensive districts and commercial centres in Athens) - The first tax evasion list brought to light".

IMERISSIA: "Major agreement with Cosco - Greece becomes China's gateway to EU".

KATHIMERINI: "20,000 tourists' reservations were cancelled after the murder of the 3 bank employees during a demonstration in downtown Athens".

LOGOS: "Unemployment jumps to 12.1 percent (in February) - The highest percentage in the last six years and.....the worst is yet to come".

NAFTEMPORIKI: "Tax Bureaus accelerate auctions and bank deposits' seizure".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Communist Party of Greece nationwide rally on Saturday".

TA NEA: "Black lists for 'white blouses' (doctors)".

TO VIMA: "Tax evading doctors humiliated - The first lists released".

VRADYNI: "Skyrocketing of unemployment - Young unemployed have reached 32 percent".

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