Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-11-18

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] OPAP reacts to govt decision to impose extra tax charge on lottery games

[02] PM Alexis Tsipras arrives in Ankara, begins meeting with Davutoglu

[03] ND leader Meimarakis says SYRIZA deceived the Greek citizens

[04] Moderate aftershock jolts Lefkada

[05] Greek winemakers oppose to tax on wine

[06] Biggest graffiti in Greece opens to public

[01] OPAP reacts to govt decision to impose extra tax charge on lottery games

Odysseas Christoforou, general manager of Corporate Communication in OPAP, said the move was discriminatory against OPAP and noted that such a move would have serious negative consequences.

"We have timely and in detail informed the government that such a move would be counter-efficient, it would not lead to the expected fiscal revenue and would severely hit our agent network as it would lead to a reduction of gaming in the country. Such a decline in activity will negatively affect state revenues," Christoforou said, adding that "beyond the financial consequences of imposing such a measure, legal issues were also raised, among them a discriminatory treatment against our company and our network of agents".

He said that OPAP has submitted specific recommendations to the government aimed to boost public revenues through combating illegal gaming in the country, which was estimated at around 6.0 billion euros.

[02] PM Alexis Tsipras arrives in Ankara, begins meeting with Davutoglu

The two prime ministers were scheduled to hold a joint press conference after the end of the meeting, after which Tsipras will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Earlier today, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos (Bartholomew) stressed the need to confront the violence and to promote the interfaith dialogue, in their meeting in Istanbul.

Tsipras stressed the need for cooperation with Turkey saying that the issue is very high on the discussions agenda that he will have in Ankara later in the day. Both countries can cooperate and coordinate to stop the drama of the people that are drown every day a few metres off the Greek coasts and deal with this humanitarian problem.

The Ecumenical Patriarch referred to his meetings on Tuesday in Brussels with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and the European Union's Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini to whom he announced that in the first six months of 2016 a meeting with representatives of monotheistic religions will be held in Brussels in order to discuss the condition in the region. The European officials proposed the meeting to be broader with representatives and of other religions and Vartholomeos said that this meeting can be held in parallel.

[03] ND leader Meimarakis says SYRIZA deceived the Greek citizens

Meimarakis in a statement points out that the government submitted in the middle of the night the bill on emergency procedure after agreeing with the lenders on its translation.

"The government proved again how much it deceived the Greek citizen in order to steal his vote. Because, unfortunately, starting from today thousands of Greeks are facing the risk of losing their home through foreclosure" noted Meimarakis and underlined that new taxes will be imposed and thousands of job positions are threatened".

He also referred to left inconsistency, irresponsibility and inertia.

[04] Moderate aftershock jolts Lefkada

A total of 56 aftershocks have been recorded so far deriving from the epicentre of the strong quake that hit the island on Tuesday.

[05] Greek winemakers oppose to tax on wine

The Greek Wine Association noted in a statement that "it is a proposal that aligns neither with the Greek nor the European reality as the imposition of tax on wine has repeatedly been discussed in the competent EU institutions and the Common Market Organisation. No country, no EU member state that produces wine, has ever imposed taxes on wine. Only member-states that do not produce wine have, for obvious reasons, done so."

[06] Biggest graffiti in Greece opens to public

The paintings that decorate the industry cover 2,000 square meters and the artists Christos and Vassilis Galazoulas took advantage of the industry's available area to paint it aiming to link the natural and the industrial environment. In the two days of the exhibition the visitors will be toured and informed by the artists while learning how cement is being produced.

"It is the only graffiti in an industrial site in Greece and one of the biggest in Europe," the manager of parallel actions of Open House, Dimitris Theodorakos said to ANA-MPA.

The Open House Thessaloniki is organised for the 4th consecutive year on 21 and 22 November and is part of the parallel action Made in Thessaloniki through which the visitors would be able to be acqainted with the creative side of the city.

Open House Thessaloniki is one of the most important international instituitions for the promotion of architecture and the visitors will be toured for free in the inner sanctum of 67 public and private buildings of exceptional architectural interest.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article