Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Gov't has specific roadmap for Greece's exit from the crisis, Economy Min Stathakis says

[02] Alt. Migration Minister: The Schengen issue is not on the table

[01] Gov't has specific roadmap for Greece's exit from the crisis, Economy Min Stathakis says

The minister referred to the six major key points of July's agreement which also included the re-negotiation of debt.

Based on the old agreements, Greece had to pay about 80 billion euros for debt servicing between 2015 and 2022, something unrealistic, as he said.

He added that based on the new agreement these 80 billion euros were converted into a long-term debt of 30 years. He also referred to the Greek banks recapitalization which led to the European Central Bank lowering the borrowing ceiling for Greek banks from the Emergency Liquidity Assistance mechanism (ELA) by 20 billion euros and the upgrade, for the first time after several months, of the Greek economy by the rating agency Standard & Poor's.

He also stated that economic estimates, namely that the Greek economy would record recession of 2.5 percent this year and 0.5 percent next year, have changed since the August agreement.

"The Greek economy shows zero recession and therefore it is highly likely that it will record significant positive growth in 2016 after the adjustment of the new data," Stathakis estimated.

He added that Greece needs to increase investments and support industries that contribute traditionally to the economy such as shipping and tourism. He also noted that significant reforms are needed to support investments, the strengthening of the competitiveness of the Greek economy along with extroversion.

Moreover, he stressed the importance of the sound management of the new National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) programme that will be launched on February 2 and will last for five years.

[02] Alt. Migration Minister: The Schengen issue is not on the table

"An unbelievable minister proposed setting up a camp for 300,000 refugees in Athens and referred to the possibility of leaving the Schengen zone and pushing back into the sea, which is illegal and constitutes a criminal act," Mouzalas said in an interview with SKAI TV on Tuesday referring to the Belgian Minister.

On the contrary, the major EU countries (Germany, France, Italy) said that we need more Schengen and referred to the European Commission spokeswoman's statements on the issue.

He declined that Greece was accused of not protecting sufficiently its borders, with the exception of the Austrian Minister, noting that the Frontex's position, as it was expressed at the Summit, was "vindicating" for Greece because as they said "sea is not a field."

Referring to the February 15 deadline for the hotspots, he said that it is objective. He recognised that there is a delay but he estimated that Greece will find a way to solve the problem. He announced that hotspots will be ready by the end of February and will start operating in early March.

Concluding, Mouzalas said "the Schengen Treaty is in danger at European level, Europe is in danger, Europe is afraid, I am worried."

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