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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-01-01Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] President Papoulias exchanges best wishes with political leadersANA-MPA - President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias appeared optimistic over the course of the Greek economy, speaking to reporters after the meeting with the country's political leadership on Wednesday for an exchange of best wishes, and that 2014 shall be better than previous years since, as he said, certain things shall be moving in a better way.He held a long discussion with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, saying about him that he has the optimism of a fighter and that he himself is ranked among these fighters. President Papoulias made the assessment that there shall be political calm since, as he stressed, political unrest is in the interests of no one and referring to phenomena of corruption called on the relevant Justice Minister Charalambos Athanassiou to take heads. "Phenomena of corruption must be dealt a blow, heads must be taken", while referring to Athens Stock Exchange issues, he termed the acquittal of those involved repulsive although, as he said, it was up to justice. On the question of armaments, President Papoulias said that "there must be substantive legislative arrangements", stressing that specific people cannot have the possibility of doing what they like. President Papoulias exchanged best wishes with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas, Independent Greeks president Panos Kammenos and Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) president George Karatzaferis. [In the photo, Papoulias attending the New Year's Day services at Aghios Dionyssios Areopagitis church in central Athens; the service was attended by cabinet members and the parliament president, among others; ANA-MPA/Orestis Panagiotou] [02] Stores closed Jan. 1-2, to reopen Jan. 3 (Friday)ANA-MPA - Retail stores including supermarkets will remain closed through Thursday, January 2 for New Year's holiday.They will reopen on Friday, January 3, under their normal schedule. [03] Eurobank to complete merger with New Hellenic Postbank in AprilA full operational unification between Eurobank and a new Hellenic Postbank is expected to be completed in April 2014, Eurobank's chief executive Christos Megalou said on Monday.In a letter addressed to Eurobank's personnel on the occasion of completing a legal merger of the two banks, Megalou stressed that the merger plan would be completed within set timetables, as it happened with the legal merger and the absorption of New Proton Bank, "thanks to the quantity and the quality of the work contributed by everyone involved in this project." "The merger with New Hellenic Postbank and New Proton Bank safeguarded the group's systemic role. We completed a voluntary retirement program -which leads to a significant cost restructuring- and launched the transformation of our business model, to adapt to future challenges. We move to actions which will allow us to implement a share capital increase plan, attracting private capital and international investors," Eurobank's CEO said in his letter, adding that a positive outcome of this effort will signal the return of Eurobank to the private sector, offering a strong vote of confidence to the Greek economy's prospects. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |