Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-05-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] Venizelos: people must decide 'elections dilemma'

[02] European elections will 'act as referendum' on austerity, Tsipras says

[03] Golden Dawn among 43 Greek parties running in Euro-elections

[01] Venizelos: people must decide 'elections dilemma'

Venizelos raised the dilemma of the elections and criticised the main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA), saying that it wants the crisis as "political food" because it does not exist without it.

He appeared optimistic over the outcome of the elections for the democratic lineup and said "Elia, PASOK are here. It is everywhere", invoking the high percentages and the successes of PASOK trade union groups in mass social and professional agencies.

Venizelos outlined PASOK's national plan for a new growth model for the country, after the crisis and the memorandum, emphasising the implementation of programmes on reducing unemployment, creating new jobs, through growth and utilising the primary stage sector and the country's comparative advantages.

[02] European elections will 'act as referendum' on austerity, Tsipras says

Tsipras, who is also the European Left's candidate for European Commission president, said he was certain that voters will express their disagreement with memorandum-imposed austerity measures, which "have created a humanitarian crisis in Greece."

He predicted that this outcome would signal political developments in Greece but also in Europe's stance toward Greece.

Regarding his party's attacks on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and whether these would make any future cooperation with the chancellor more difficult if a SYRIZA-led government emerged, Tsipras appeared confident that the rise of a left-wing government opposed to austerity in Greece would find allies in Europe, and not just in the European south but also within Germany.

"We are all sitting on the same branch. If someone is sawing this, it is certain that we shall all of us fall," he added.

Tsipras had earlier addressed a Die Linke party conference in Berlin on Saturday night, during which he proposed a write-off of Greece's debt, in the same way as Germany's debts had been written off in 1953. He also thanked the party for supporting Greece's demands for war reparations and repayment of a forced loan extracted from Greece by the Nazi occupation regime in WWII.

"Despite the horrific austerity, Greece's public debt is not sustainable. Because the target was never to make it sustainable. The target was austerity itself, the privatisations and neoliberal reforms," he stressed, adding that bold initiatives in order for Greece's debt to become sustainable. He also warned that, unless this was achieved, this debt would be a real burden and threat not just for Greece but the entire Eurozone.

"Those thinking that Greece's overindebtedness and the still outstanding issue of debt sustainability is their negotiating weapon should know now that they are not holding a six-shooter but a boomerang," he added.

[03] Golden Dawn among 43 Greek parties running in Euro-elections

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