Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-08-07

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] FinMin: 2011 'year of hard work'

[02] Wildfire near Lamia

[01] FinMin: 2011 'year of hard work'

In an interview with the financial newspaper Isotimia appearing on Saturday, Papaconstantinou said that the salary developments in the private sector were set out in the Collective Labor Agreement recent agreed between the social partners. "It is already known a new framework exists for regulation the regulation of labor relations, which is being advanced by the relevant ministry, and no abolition of the 13th and 14th salary (half-salary Easter and summer vacation bonuses and full-salary Christmas bonus) are foreseen in that framework," he said.

On speculation of a prospective government reshuffle, Papaconstantinou said that the formation of the governmental scheme that must carry out this immense project is the responsibility of the prime minister, and it is the premier who assesses the needs with respect to staffing the government and the performance of each individual minister in implementing government policy. He added that the smooth implementation of the policy set out in the Memorandum, but also of the overall policy of the government, is not the responsibility of only one minister but a collective effort for achieving the many and varied targets that have been set out for the country's overall progress.

Asked whether the Memorandum or the government's pre-elections program is the 'bible' for ruling PASOK, Papaconstantinou noted that "a more fair taxation system, putting the country's finances in order with major changes with respect to the budget and fiscal management, the opening of the closed-shop professions, reduction of bureaucracy, acceleration of the NSRF (National Strategic Reference Framework) investments, facilitation of entrepreneurship, the Kallikratis program, the creation of a viable social security system and a series of other policies that are contained in the Memorandum and which the government has already instituted and is materialising or have been planned with strict timetables for the coming period were all included in PASOK's pre-electoral commitments.

On the cooperation with the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) 'troika', Papaconstantinou said the cooperation itself was an unprecedented procedure not only for Greece but for the three participating organisations themselves because, although the EC, ECB and IMF have collaborated many times with such interventions in other countries, this is the first time that such a large loan agreement and such a wide-ranging program is being implemented and, indeed, in a eurozone country at that. "All these create many restrictions for everyone and have led to necessary decisions for everyone. However, a categorical evaluation of the program - positive or negative - is not easy, especially this early on. Besides, the program itself is a dynamic process, and the main 'shareholder' of the program is the Greek government," the finance minister added.

On the privatisations program, Papaconstantinou stressed that from here on and until the end of the year, there will be specialisation of the moves in some sectors, with priority on those sectors that have major structural problems, such as the Hellenic Rail Organization (OSE) for example, for which a restructuring plan is being prepared, but also in areas that have substantial prospects for regulation of the market and boosting state revenues, such as gaming.

Asked when the country will return to the international markets for borrowing, Papaconstantinou said that "we will not have a practical need for returning to the markets until the end of next year, and this gives us a margin of time to carry on with our program, to restore the credibility of and confidence in our economy to the degree possible and therefore to return to borrowing on the markets at a time when we will be able to secure better terms...consequently, there is no specific date at this time, everything will be done in due course".

[02] Wildfire near Lamia

The fire was currently burning on three fronts, and a strong team of firefighters were racing against time to contain the blaze to ravines so as to prevent it from spreading to populated areas.

One of the three fronts was approaching the first houses on the outskirts of Grammeni village, and the locals teamed up with firefighters in battling the flames, while firefighters from adjacent Evritania prefecture have rushed to the area to assist their colleagues from Fthiotis prefecture firefighters

Reinforcements have also been requested from other neighboring prefectures, while three water-dropping planes and a helicopter were assisting the effort.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article