Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] ND leader on social security proposal: Govt punishing working people

[02] Tax revenue at 39% of GDP in Greece, Eurostat‏

[03] Running water restored to Iraklio's 'Lions Fountain'

[01] ND leader on social security proposal: Govt punishing working people

He made the statement after a meeting with the president of the Athens Bar Association, Vassilis Alexandris. The two men reportedly discussed a hotly contested proposal by the government to increase social security contributions in order to shore up Greece's feeble pension system.

"In other words, the government is punishing the work of the people that the Greek economy so desperately needs to restart. Every day that goes by, it is made more obvious that the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition governmnet is seriously hurting Greece," he said.

[02] Tax revenue at 39% of GDP in Greece, Eurostat‏

The EU executive's statistics agency, in a report released here, said that the ratio of tax revenue and social contributions to GDP in the Eurozone was 41.5 pct and in the EU 40 pct. The ratio of 2014 tax revenue to GDP was highest in Denmark (50.8 pct,), Belgium and France (both at 47.9 pct), while the lowest shares were recorded in Romania (27.7 pct of GDP), Bulgaria (27.8 pct) and Lithuania (28.0 pct) as well as Switzerland (27.1 pct).

Between 2013 and 2014 decreases in the tax-to-GDP ratio were observed in eight Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom) as well as Norway and Switzerland. The largest decreases in the tax-to-GDP ratio were observed in Norway (-1.0 percentage points), the Czech Republic (-0.7 pp.), the United Kingdom (-0.5 pp), Belgium and Slovenia (both -0.3 pp.). For Luxembourg and Switzerland, the observed decreases were very slight (below -0.1 pp.). For Portugal, a decrease of -0.2 pp. between 2013 to 2014 followed a 2.7 pp. increase between 2012 and 2013.

Increases in the tax-to-GDP ratios were observed in twenty Member States as well as Iceland and Serbia. In percentage points, the highest increases in percentage of GDP from 2013 to 2014 were recorded by Iceland (2.9 p.p.), Denmark (from 48.1 to 50.8 pct of GDP, or approximately 2.75 pp. of GDP), Cyprus (2.6 p.p.), Malta (1.4 p.p.) and Serbia (1.0 pp.). While Cyprus and Malta reported a comparatively low tax-to-GDP ratio, Denmark increased a relatively high tax-to-GDP ratio.

[03] Running water restored to Iraklio's 'Lions Fountain'

One of the historic landmarks of the old quarter of the Cretan city, located in Iraklio's Eleftherios Venizelos Square, the water line was reconnected on a pilot basis.

The water flows through a special zeolite filter to ensure that it does not damage the monument, which will be monitored and regularly cleaned.

The project aims to showcase both the monument and the historic centre of Iraklio, as the fountain is considered one of the finest examples of 17th century sculpture on Crete. The fountain was commissioned by the greatest Venetian commander of the 17th century, Franceso Morosini, with the aid of engineers from Venice, and includes works to transport water from the Giouhta springs above Kamares and along the Arab-Byzantine wall to the fountain.

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