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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-07-21
CONTENTS
[01] Pavlopoulos: Greece's course in EU and eurozone non-negotiable
[02] Fighting corruption will be 'number one priority', Quick tells
ANA-MPA
[03] Negotiations on Greek bailout to begin once prior actions are passed,
gov't says
[01] Pavlopoulos: Greece's course in EU and eurozone non-negotiable
President of Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Tuesday sent a clear
message that Greece's place is in the European Union and the eurozone.
Addressing Cypriot students at the Presidential Palace, he stressed
that any other option would be economically, socially and nationally
destructive.
"The safest way for ending the nightmare of memorandum is the united front
-which should be shielded whatever the cost - of those democratic forces
that guarantee the uncompromising development of the country within the
European Union and in the eurozone," Pavlopoulos stated.
[02] Fighting corruption will be 'number one priority', Quick tells
ANA-MPA
ANA-MPA -- Fighting corruption and finding ways to offset the harsh
measures imposed by Greece's creditors will be the coalition government's
top priority, Deputy Minister of State Terens Quick told the ANA-MPA
in an interview on Tuesday.
"The number one priority is for people to understand that this government
is not linked to any interest groups, that we are not the people of the
interests, and that we can therefore crack down on corruption without
any qualms," Quick said. Put in charge of coordinating government
action against tax evasion, Quick said a major area of focus will be the
fuel trade. "At this moment, the Greek state does not know how many
petrol stations there are. They do not know how many fuel tanks over
5.0 tonnes there are. Not only in homes but also in businesses and at
the refineries. We do not know where the fuel storage areas are. All
this must be put into some kind of order," he said. Estimates for
the revenue lost for fuel sales ranged from 1.0 - 5.5 billion euros,
Quick pointed out, while the state had so far installed inflow-outflow
systems only at retail level and nowhere else. "I have already prepared
the relevant recommendation to present at a new meeting that will be
held with the minister against corruption, Panagiotis Nikoloudis, on
Friday," he said, stressing that the present government would abolish the
'immunity' previously afforded to those evading taxes. A second priority,
he added, was to show people that the government was striving to find
counter-measures or alternatives to offset harsh austerity. "It is the
first time that the Greek government has been allowed, on the basis of
this agreement, to reverse a law that has been passed and replace it with
something else that is deemed suitably equivalent," Quick pointed out.
The deputy minister said the government was also ready to start checking
thousands of bank deposits abroad, in Switzerland and elsewhere, in order
to discover money that had not been declared. "Whoever has not declared
[their deposits] will be fined 40 pct. Whoever declares them will pay
21 pct to be cleared. In this way we do not sanctify tax evasion but
only locate the money and, of course, bring in revenues," Quick said.
The full interview in Greek is available on the ANA-MPA website.
[03] Negotiations on Greek bailout to begin once prior actions are passed,
gov't says
ANA-MPA -- Negotiations between Greece and the institutions will begin
as soon as Parliament votes for the prior actions demanded by Greece's
creditors and will run until August 20, government spokeswoman Olga
Gerovasili said on Tuesday. She said these prior actions will not
include the changes in taxation for farmers.
The prior actions demanded of Greece in the July 12 agreement between
Eurozone leaders, in order for negotiations to begin, are the changes
to the VAT and the pension systems, full independence for the Greek
statistical authority ELSTAT and full implementation of the Treaty on
Stability, Coordination and Governance in the framework of EMU. With the
exception of the pension reforms, which have been postponed until later
with the agreement of the institutions, the measures were all passed
by Parliament on July 15, Gerovasili pointed out. Eurozone leaders
also called for the adoption of the Code for Civil Procedure and
transposition of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) into
national law, which will be voted in Parliament on Wednesday, she added.
"The government wishes to make it clear that none of the above prior
actions concerns the change in the taxation regime for farmers. Rumours
that this will these measures will supposedly be passed in early August
have absolutely no basis," she said.
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