Athens News Agency: News in English, 12-01-31

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

CONTENTS

[01] Labour ministry, troika to resume talks on Tuesday

[02] Papandreou in Israel

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] Labour ministry, troika to resume talks on Tuesday

The demands made by the troika were discussed during Sunday's meeting between Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the leaders of the three political parties supporting the government.

Labour Minister George Koutroumanis will be in charge of conveying the positions of the Greek side, which wants to preserve the 13th and 14th bonus wages as well as the minimum wage in the private sector. This is also the view agreed by the 'social partners' - the main employer and trade union organisations in the country - and the political parties.

The labour ministry's general secretary Anna Stratinaki and other staff had meetings with an expert delegation representing the troika on Sunday and Monday, with the labour ministry presenting projections concerning the cost of labour up to 2015 and estimates that a 10 percent reduction in social insurance contributions will have the same beneficial impact on competitiveness as the wage reductions sought by the troika without the negative impact on tax revenues.

The talks are also expected to cover a number of other issues, such as a reduction in supplementary pensions and changes in various labour regulations for those in banks and public utilities that troika experts consider increase the cost of labour.

[02] Papandreou in Israel

Papandreou will also hold meetings with Israel's state and political leadership, as well as with Palestinian Authority officials.

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

The EU Summit in Brussels and Germany's retraction of its demand for the appointment of a budget commissioner in Greece, the Troika's (European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund) demand for layoffs in the public sector and Alpha Bank's announcement that the agreement for its merger with Eurobank is facing difficulties, mostly dominated the headlines in Athens' newspapers on Tuesday.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Anticyclone from Siberia covers Greece".

AVGHI: "They (our European partners) are punishing us for their own failure".

AVRIANI: "PASOK MPs collecting signatures to get rid of George Papandreou (PASOK leader)".

DIMOKRATIA: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel playing with fire".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Reversals in public sector with thousands of layoffs".

ESTIA: "Greece of creativity undermined by the misery of merchants ".

ETHNOS: "Germany pressures for the new loan".

IMERISSIA: "Alpha Bank's deal with Eurobank in the air!".

KATHIMERINI: "Five days deadline for the agreement".

NAFTEMPORIKI: "Germany takes back the proposal for a fiscal commissioner in Greece".

NIKI: "100 billion euros 'hidden' debt".

LOGOS: "Troika demands 10,000 layoffs in public sector in order to give the new loan...".

RIZOSPASTIS: "20 percent new cutbacks in salaries".

TA NEA: "The nein 'killed' the commissioner".

VRADYNI: "The changes in the public sector on civil servants' retirement".

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