Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-04-04

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

CONTENTS

[01] Venizelos: We guarantee the implementation of the policy agreement

[02] EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on Ukraine crisis and relations with Russia

[01] Venizelos: We guarantee the implementation of the policy agreement

Venizelos on Friday had a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, which was attended by Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras.

"The prime minister and I, as government vice-president and PASOK leader, are the ones who fully guarantee the implementation of the policy agreement," he said.

Regarding the economy, Venizelos noted that "Greece will return to the markets" and the "return to the markets symbolizes the gradual return to normalcy and regularity."

"Markets are smarter and faster than political discussions and institutional dialogues, as there is always the element of profit and entrepreneurship," he said.

"It is very important to have the response of international markets as to where Greece's economy stands today and this response will be positive, encouraging, optimistic," he pointed out.

More particularly, referring to his first message that is "the stability of the country" he noted that this was a national asset "now that we are emerging from the crisis and the memorandum, now that we are turning the page, now that Greeks can regain lost ground."

Regarding the PASOK's role in the government, Venizelos said: "We now hope that even more people realize how important that role is for the national strategy adopted by the country, which was later joined by other forces, with that being a positive development."

"The third message is related to the Golden Dawn, not the party, the criminal organization according to the indictment of the Greek justice, which acted on its own criteria, independently and in accordance with the Constitution," Venizelos said. He sternly criticized "certain political forces" and claimed "it is a tragedy for the democracy and the rule of law to adopt the allegations of the defendants of the case in return for petty party benefits."

Venizelos was also asked to comment on the stance of some PASOK members that following the Baltakos cases have raised an issue over other persons.

"We are interested in the policy agreement and the course of the country," Venizelos said while he pointed out that "We have differences with the parties we are cooperating with regarding our values, our ideology and our history."

Asked whether there will be a debate in Parliament over the Baltakos case, Venizelos said: "the debate in Parliament will obviously take place. The time will be set but obviously this parliamentary challenge will be answered, as the Parliament's debates demonstrate in an institutional way how weak can arguments be."

[02] EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on Ukraine crisis and relations with Russia

The meeting focused on the de-escalation of the tension in the area and how EU will show its support to Ukraine without jeopardizing its relation with Russia.

Baroness Ashton noted that "we must carefully consider our future relations with Russia", which is as she said "a collossal neighbour" that must contribute to the defusion of the crisis, and at the same time "express our support to Ukraine".

Moreover, Ashton said that "we closely watch the developments" adding that the "description that some troops were retreating has not yet been verified by the NATO".

"It is really very important for Russia to prove that it is serious when it refers to the defusion of the crisis by withdrawing its troops. And this is something that we are awaiting to see. Anyway, now we are watching with huge concern" she noted.

On the same issue, the Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans noted that there are three ways to support Ukraine: The agreement for Ukraine's accession to EU, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) programme and the upcoming presidential elections.

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