Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 12-06-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] French President Hollande gives interview to Greek TV channel

[02] Ind. Greeks party leader insists on outright rejection of bailout terms

[03] Stocks soar 10.12 pct on Thurs.

[01] French President Hollande gives interview to Greek TV channel

He pointed out that "I shall not support this case", explaining that he, having set growth in the EU as a priority, will support the growth measures that will also have an impact in Greece "on condition, of course, that Greece itself will choose to stay in the eurozone and respect its commitments" since "observance of the commitments that have been taken does not mean staying in the same state."

"I invoked before my counterparts the European structural funds that have not been absorbed to be used for Greece's growth," Hollande added.

"I respect," he said, "the Greek people and the exercising of their sovereign right. I want Greece to stay in the eurozone but the Greeks must know that this necessitates a relation of trust."

Asked on the issue of renegotiating the memorandum, he replied that he does not desire to exercise pressures, nor to express threats, while on the support of Spanish banks, he mentioned that it did not take place "for us to handle better Greece's case later."

Also asked on the difference between the Nicolas Sarkozy presidency and his, Hollande said "we are already in another stage, since there is an important change regarding growth, an issue that will place the Europeans round a table."

Hollande spoke to the Mega TV station. www.amna.gr

[02] Ind. Greeks party leader insists on outright rejection of bailout terms

Kammenos ruled out any cooperation with the leaders of the two mainstream parties, New Democracy's Antonis Samaras and PASOK's Evangelos Venizelos, saying they were essentially "one and the same". He did not, however, rule out cooperation with the other parties opposed to the bailout austerity measures, including left-wing Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), provided that certain criteria were met.

Concerning SYRIZA, he noted that it had backed down on several issues and expressed hope that it SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras would not insist "on the extremist views of component members, such as that on national issues and Thrace". He expressed complete disagreement with SYRIZA's view on the taxation of ship owners, noting that if this happened they would simply switch national flag and many jobs in the country would be lost.

Kammenos set two conditions in order to cooperate in the formation of a coalition government: immediate rejection of the bailout and immediate submission and implementation of the nation's counter-proposal for exiting the crisis. He specified that if sufficient MPs from other parties were found that agreed with these two prerequisites, then he would work with them in order to form a government.amna

"There is no second plan outside the euro. We paid for the euro, it wasn't given to us," Kammenos stressed. He also claimed that, even if Greece's creditors stopped funding the country, there would be enough money to pay for pensions and salaries.

According to the Independent Greeks leader, rejection of the Memorandum would not result in Greece's ejection from the euro and noted that Greece was acting as a 'detonator' in the crisis, which was rapidly becoming a humanitarian crisis. He also rejected the dilemma 'euro or drachma' and said this did not exist, and underlined that there was no mechanism to kick Greece out of the euro area without its consent. At the same time, he did not rule out the departure of other, strong eurozone members from the common currency.

"People are being asked to choose whether we will be subject to British law or outside it," Kammenos said, and noted that Samaras was now saying the opposite of what he had said a year ago. amna

"The one who was blackmailed and shifted position was Samaras and he is using the same means to threaten the people today," Kammenos asserted, promising that there would be a full review of all scandal cases from 1974 until the present day and jail time for anyone found to have robbed the Greek people.

Finally, he attacked the governor of the Bank of Greece for refusing to turn over the Black Rock report in spite of an earlier promise to do so.www.amna.gr

[03] Stocks soar 10.12 pct on Thurs.

The Greek market ignored a negative trend in other European markets on worries over an escalation of a European debt crisis which was hitting Spain and Italy. Bank shares led the rally with the bank index rising 23.39 pct. The composite index of the market jumped 10.12 pct to end at 550.10 points, while turnover improved spectacularly to 81.495 million euros. The market's capitalisation rose by 1.9 billion euros to 22.240 billion euros.

All blue chip stocks ended higher with Alpha Bank (29.75 pct), Ellaktor (27.49 pct), National Bank (25.96 pct), Piraeus Bank (25.12 pct) and Eurobank (24.55 pct) scoring the biggest percentage gains of the day. The Big Cap index jumped 12.55 pct and the Mid Cap index ended 12.20 pct higher.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 116 to 25 with another 21 issues unchanged.

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