Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-12-19

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

CONTENTS

[01] Venizelos: The time of reflection and truth has come

[02] SYRIZA leader: In 2015 our commitments will become actions

[01] Venizelos: The time of reflection and truth has come

"The Greek people have the ability to press for a result on December 29 but also to make the right choices, if they are called to make them by themselves, by defining and protecting their fate," he said.

"Now is the moment of truth for the political parties I have called to consent, to agree on the election of the President of the Republic and on a negotiation team for all the critical issues that are open before us, so that everyone can help in his own way and we can have the best possible result," he noted.

"Now is the moment of truth for the deputies," he said "because they have a personal historic responsibility" as well as for "the Greek people, for every citizen." He also noted that "now everyone can consider whether what is being said and heard is nationally responsible and safe or they are false, demagogic, irresponsible and dangerous." He emphasized that "now everyone can think who he wants to represent him in the negotiations."

"Therefore, the time of reflection and truth has come," he said.

Venizelos said that the question is whether the country on December 29 will have a President of the Republic elected consensually with the increased majority of 180 votes or we would automatically be led to elections and "we will have spent one of the two months that the EU has given us as a technical extension of the expiring programme in pre-election tension."

He explained that until February 28 many issues need to have been resolved, we need to have turned the page and replaced the expiring program with the new institutional framework of the precautionary credit line which "does not mean loan, but readiness to support the economy if necessary."

At the same time, he continued, we must transform the IMF program too, which expires in 2016, into a precautionary program with the same amounts, in order "to be able to make the best choices for the country, namely if we choose funding sources with the smallest interest rate, either from the markets, from the IMF, from the credit line of the EU or from both institutional tools that are at our disposal."

He claimed that "the mere fact that the page will have been turned, the memorandum will have ceased to exist and Greece will have been liberated from the stranglehold of the troika, will de-escalate the interest rates and will allow us appear on the international market in a way comparable and even better compared to one before the European elections."

The most important of all, he said, is the relationship of the Greek banking system with the ECB, which is the heavy firepower that has unlimited liquidity and protects the about 15 trillion euros of public debt that all Eurozone countries have.

In addition, he spoke of the next stage which is the "capital" of the debt. After referring to the settlements made in February 2012, he noted that the most important is that "we then managed to integrate -since February 2012 and confirmed it in November 2012- a mechanism, a commitment in the restructuring that there will be further improvement as well, therefore a further "haircut", as soon as Greece achieves its goals and it has achieved them with the top one being the primary surplus."

"Now that we are working on the new national productive model, it is very important to keep the country strong, on its feet, with a solid financial system, without threats, without criticism, to have a clear political horizon, to tackle the uncertainty, to send a political stability message, which is also a message of social and economic stability," he noted.

[02] SYRIZA leader: In 2015 our commitments will become actions

The two officials met to discuss Attica region's initiative to re-connect the electric power to families that live below the poverty limit.

Tsipras noted that "we will pass through difficult times but with our head held high and with our minds to the citizen's dignity we will succeed" and reiterated that "we will turn our commitments into actions and my visit here today is the proof".

On Independent Greeks MP Pavlos Chaikalis' attempted bribery allegations, Tsipras said that "the charges are serious" adding that he should first see the evidence and what justice will say on the case.

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