Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-11-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Papandreou addresses 3rd EU-Africa Summit

[02] New social contract

[01] PM Papandreou addresses 3rd EU-Africa Summit

"Whatever we do must be done with justice. And this is not understood by our peoples today when banks are being saved but the peoples are those who pay the price, when profits are being privatised while damages are being socialised, when the rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer," Papandreou said.

"Our common message must be sustainable growth" adding that growth should be "green". What is needed, he said, is a better life for all, social justice and struggle against poverty and inequalities.

"We must safeguard, for future generations, our natural resources, we must humanise globalisation," the Greek premier noted.

"It would be a hypocricy if we spoke af a democratic governance on a national level," Papandreou also said, adding that this is being shown by the current economic crisis in which "decisions surpass today our countries and there are others who decide."

"Henceforth, democracy must become global," he added.

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[02] New social contract

Samaras strongly criticised the government, comparing it with the example of Ireland, and accused it of not negotiating enough the terms of the memorandum with the troika and called for an altered economic policy mix.

The new social contract proposed by the ND leader concerns the entrepreneurs through the implementation of radical tax reforms, reduction of tax indexes, gradual reduction of VAT and social insurance contributions and adoption of tax incentives to attract new investments, including a well-targeted investment law and less red-tape.

As regards wage earners, Samaras suggested measures to prevent the closing of businesses thus combating unemployment and the creation of a shield against mass layoffs.

He maintained that mass layoffs in the greater public sector will not reduce the deficit due to increased payments of unemployment benefits, reduced taxation revenues and consumer turnover.

Samarasā new social contract with entrepreneurs and workers would focus on the immediate economic recovery and long-term development.

The ND leader also referred to the European Commission's report and maintained that the governmentās predictions were wrong once again as regards the state deficit. Samaras underlined that according to the European Commission report, the 2012 deficit will be above 7.5 pct of the GDP which means that the governmentās economic policy will lead to a deficit increase instead of a reduction two years after the implementation of the memorandum and despite the sacrifices made by the Greek people.

Samaras made a comparison with Ireland maintaining that the case of Ireland is a reflection of what the Greek government did not dare or did not want to do, adding that Irelandās negotiation has benefited Greece.

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