Athens News Agency: News in English, 12-02-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] Alternate Foreign Minister resigns over bailout conditions

[01] Alternate Foreign Minister resigns over bailout conditions

"As minister responsible for European issues, having served in the last 25 years in many European positions of responsibility and steadfastly believing in Greece's place in Europe, I feel disappointed and proved wrong by the double-talk and obsession displayed by the European Union in response to the crisis and the choices that it is attempting to impose on the Parliament and the Greek people via the troika," she said.

According to Xenoyiannakopoulou, the troika and the institutions this represented had failed to learn the lessons from the implementation of the first Memorandum and were seeking to impose measures that would greatly increase the recession and lead society even further into despair.amna

She stressed that the new loan agreement and PSI reduction of debt were a real hope for recovery but only if this process were accompanied by policies to tackle the recession and help the economy recover, underlining that the effort to boost competitiveness could not be solely based on cutting wages and dismantling labour relations.

"The 'Balkanisation' of Greek society cannot be set as a condition and goal of the new programme..." Xenoyiannakopoulou underlined, concluding that she could not put her signature to "measures that abolish collective negotiations and labour rights".

Moreover, two PASOK MPs on Friday announced their intention not to vote the new loan agreement.

In a letter addressed to PASOK leader George Papandreou, parliament president Filippos Petsalnikos, MP Ioannis Miheloyiannakis, elected in Iraklion on the island of Crete, outlined the points with which he disagrees underlining that above all are his “conscience, the salvation of the Greek state, the Greek people, democracy and the party”.

He called on PASOK to “support the principles and ideology it stands for namely, a dignified Greece and a fair society.” He clarified that the 28,000 people who voted for him “demand to continue fighting in parliament for our salvation”. amna

PASOK MP Cetin Mandaci who is elected in Xanthi also expressed his intention not to vote the new loan agreement.

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