Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] UN Adviser on Cyprus Eide in Athens

[02] Greece to focus on green business programmes

[03] No cuts in pensions, Labour minister says

[01] UN Adviser on Cyprus Eide in Athens

The meeting will take place at 15:00 at the foreign ministry.

The two officials will discuss the latest developments in the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot negotiations over the solution of the Cyprus issue.

Kotzias has clearly stated in the past that the matter of the guarantees as well as the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Cyprus constitute a fundamental prerequisite for the solution of the Cyprus issue. On her part, Cyprus has expressed the same position in contrast with Turkey which insists the guarantor powers to remain on Cyprus.

[02] Greece to focus on green business programmes

In an interview to Greenagenda.gr, Haritsis said that Greece has neglected the dimension of environmental and social sustainability of development interventions although there were and still are serious needs and several possibilities. In this framework, the management of new EU funds will signal a turn to sectors such as waste management, energy, tourist services, agricultural-food complex and living quality in cities. At the same time, authorities are redesigning existing funding tools and extend their operation until September, while new tools are planned to support business activity which will not be operated by systemic banks, but by new agencies such as a new Development Bank, the minister added.

Haritsis said the government planned actions worth around 500 million euros in 2016 aimed to boost green business, including some sub-contracts from the previous period (2007-2013), such as collection and processing of urban waste, while other actions will be completely new such as waste management, restoring of mountain tracks in tourist destinations, modernizing camps in regions of increased environmental interest and initiatives to improve city environment.

Haritsis said that the government will announce invitations to launch the new EU funds programme in January.

[03] No cuts in pensions, Labour minister says

In a television interview late Monday, Katrougalos presented the government's plan for pension reform which envisages a National Pension of 384 euros which will be offered without any income criteria. "We want a system of fair and single rules," the minister said, adding that the goal was not to have two-speed pensioners. "Negotiations with creditors will be tough but we want to win and I am optimistic," he said. He underlined, however, that in case that negotiations with creditors failed to offer a positive result he will address to Greek political leaders again. He also accused opposition political leaders for hypocrisy over their stance in the pension reform plan.

The pension reform plan moves along three main lines: an overall restructuring of the pension system, action to tackle the deficits and the presentation of a general alternative equivalent to individual memorandum commitments. It is expected to be voted on in Parliament at the end of January, after the negotiations with the institutions and a process of consultation is complete.

The plan calls for a recalculation of pensions using new pension replacement rates and the unification of all pension funds into one.

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