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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-07-26
CONTENTS
[01] Reaching agreement is the priority, Labour Minister Katrougalos says
[02] Latest measures will help tackle problems due to capital controls,
Mardas says
[01] Reaching agreement is the priority, Labour Minister Katrougalos says
ANA-MPA -- The priority at this time was to reach an agreement with
the lenders, Labour and Social Insurance Minister George Katrougalos
said on Sunday, while speaking on a morning news programme on Skai
television. What happened next, he added, would depend on the prospects
created within SYRIZA.
"I believe and continue to consider that there are margins to restore, if
not ideological unity then at least for the different tendencies to walk
more 'in step'," he added. At the same time, he noted that there was a
"difficult political equation" to solve, since the referendum had recorded
the Greek peoples' clear desire for an end to the austerity policies that
the new agreement called for, "and then we had the economic coup of the
banks closing". "Society cannot operate with the banks closed. The prime
minister, as a national leader, therefore rightly took on the burden of
a compromise. Precisely because the alternative would have destroyed the
country. Now we must see how we can carry out two entirely incompatible
things: to combine the mandate that says no to memorandum measures with
the forced agreement that we will sign that contains such measures."
In spite of this, Katrougalos added, the prime minister will continue
to govern with a leftist mandate and did not want to become a "leftist
interlude". SYRIZA did not want the return of the ministers that had lead
the austerity drive, he said, nor the worst-case scenario where SYRIZA
would govern in the same way as they did. "Those dreaming of such a thing
can forget it. We are a different party," he stressed. He also ruled out
the formation of an all-party government. "Some people are trying to pin
ownership of the programme on us and then to join us in government, as if
there was no difference...we will not become the same as them," he said.
"We want to achieve what we said before the elections and in January,
what 61 pct of the Greek people have ratified. We had an economic coup
and, faced with the prospect of the economy falling apart, we made a
forced compromise. Now comes the hard part. How to serve our goal in
this negative correlation of forces that has been formed," the minister
said. He also promised that pensions will be paid on time.
[02] Latest measures will help tackle problems due to capital controls,
Mardas says
ANA-MPA -- The recent batch of measures taken by the government will to a
large extent solve the problems faced by businesses due to the imposition
of capital controls, Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas said
on Sunday, talking on a Skai television morning news programme.
Mardas said that the transfer to banks of cash transaction authorisations
for sums up to 100,000 euros will greatly improve the speeds at which
these are approved and carried out. He said the government was aware
of the problems caused and apologised to both businesses and pensioners
for the hardships to which they were subjected over the past weeks.
Mardas also announced the start of a campaign to inform the public
concerning the drachma versus euro debate, noting that "a campaign for
the drachma is underway with many inaccuracies and mistakes." "We are
forgetting that in the 20 years from 1980-2000, the drachma lost its value
seven times in relation to the dollar and exports just barely doubled,"
he pointed out. He categorically ruled out the existence of a "drachma
plan" on a government policy level, stressing that no such discussion
had ever taken place and stressing that any such attempt would find
him opposed. "Our entire effort has been within the euro," he said.
Asked to comment on statements in the press concerning former finance
minister Yanis Varoufakis about a 'Plan B' with the parallel currency and
hacked tax registration numbers, Mardas said he was "unable to imagine"
what was meant and suggested it was time to "rein in" some statements.
"Anyone with his staff can prepare what he likes. The preparations of one
minister's staff, however, do not constitute government policy," he said.
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