Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 12-11-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] Venizelos: Greece has fulfilled its commitments

[02] The Tuesday edition of Athens' dailies

[03] Fire on ferry, crew and passengers safe

[04] Greek gov't unveils measures to support indebted households

[05] PM holds meeting on tourism

[01] Venizelos: Greece has fulfilled its commitments

"Greece has fulfilled in full its commitments with the decisions it took for the last package of very difficult measures," Venizelos said.

"Neither Greece nor the eurozone, the large majority of the member-states of the eurozone, can stand delays or vagueness. The problem is not Greek but purely European," the PASOK leader said and added that "we are in need, as a country, of a new starting point and I consider as certain that this will be shaped in the coming days assessing the factors of the negotiating and the conjuncture in Europe".amna

In parallel, he said that those who "here in Greece by profession are investing in the 'death ' of the country for their party or business benefits" will be proved wrong pitifully.

Venizelos concluded by saying that "the Greeks are suffering, they are anxious, they are protesting but they know deep down that this is the only feasible and safe course, the only way for us to gain the lost ground and make Greece self-sufficient again on firm foundations".

[02] The Tuesday edition of Athens' dailies

The Eurogroup meeting on Tuesday and the decisions on the Greek debt, the Legislative Acts announced by the government and the government's agreement with the banks for an auspicious settlement for the borrowers, dominated the headlines on Tuesday in Athens' newspapers.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Agreement for the next step".

AVGHI: "They passed the burden of the bankruptcy onto the citizens".

DIMOKRATIA: "How the salaries will return to the...state!".

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: "The working class goes to hell".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Agreement 'breather' for loans and credit cards"".

ESTIA: "Our lenders 80 years ago".

ETHNOS: "Disbursement of the 44 billion euros in two installments".

IMERISSIA: "Tranche 'arrives' on December 5."

KATHIMERINI: "Thriller up to the last moment".

NAFTEMPORIKI: "Four-year grace period for 200,000 borrowers".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Disobedience and action for the abolition of the memorandum and the reversal of the exploitation".

TA NEA: "Blackmail up to the last minute!".

VRADYNI: "All the changes in severance pay, overtime and marriage benefits".

6 DAYS: "Colony by law".

[03] Fire on ferry, crew and passengers safe

The fire was contained by the vessel's fire extinguishing system and the vessel docked in Patras without further problems.

The 113 passengers and 87-member crew are all safe.

The Crete-2 was carrying out the itinerary Venice-Igoumenitsa-Patras.

[04] Greek gov't unveils measures to support indebted households

The package of measures needs approval by the troika and the European Central Bank, Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister Costis Hatzidakis said on Monday. amna

Addressing a meeting with the presidency of Hellenic Banks Association, Hatzidakis said the changes –if approved by the country's creditors- would be implemented by early 2013. The measure will cover wage earners and pensioners with a family annual income of up to 25,000 euros and after suffering a 35 pct accumulated cut from January 1, 2010. During the grace period, the borrower will pay only the interest of the loan with a monthly payment of up to 30 pct of monthly income. The measure will cover the first house with an objective value of up to 180,000, or 200,000 euros for families with more than three children. The measure will also cover special social groups without income criteria, such as unemployed and handicapped people.amna

The package of measures also envisages a freezing of residence auctions by the end of 2013 and an amendment of an existing law on indebted households.

[05] PM holds meeting on tourism

Their talks focused on attracting new investments, creating jobs, increasing GDP through tourism and how to boost local societies and economies through a growing tourism sector.

They also discussed issues relating to the training and education of staff in the tourism trade, agreeing to establish close cooperation between SETE and the tourism ministry.

In statements after the meeting, Kefalogianni noted that Greek tourism can be the vanguard of economic recovery for Greece, stressing that the messages reaching the ministry were positive.amna

"Our outward-looking policy, the institutional reinforcement of the ministry and our reformist interventions will soon start to yield measurable results," she said.

"In this course, it is evident that the private sector and SETE can and should make the maximum contribution. We need their drive, their experience but also their desire to contribute at such a crucial time for the country," she added.amna

The minister noted that there was close cooperation with all tourism bodies and expressed optimism that 2013 will be a better year for the sector.

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