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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-06-27Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] PM Tsipras' schedule in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU summitPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras will hold a series of meetings with top EU officials and MEPs, including the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, and the President of the GUE/NGL group Gabriele Zimmer, on the sidelines of the EU summit which starts in Brussels on Tuesday. The full schedule is as follows (all hours are local).On Tuesday: Meeting with the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz Meeting with the President of the GUE/NGL group Gabriele Zimmer Meeting with the Greens/EFA co-Presidents, Philippe Lamberts and Rebecca Harms, and the party's Vice-President Ska Keller Will participate in preparatory meeting of the European Socialist Party as an observer Arrival at the European Council meeting Exchange of views country and government leaders with the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz Meeting of the European Council On Wednesday: Arrival at the European Council Second meeting of the European Council; informal meeting of 27 member-states [02] Gerovasili: Proposed election law to be tabled this week, voted in early JulyThe government's proposal for abolishing the first-party bonus seats, simple proportional representation and the vote at 17 is now in the final stages of being drawn up, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili said on Monday. She said that the government's proposal will take into account the talks held between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the opposition party leaders, incorporating some of their positions and suggestions."The government's proposal will be tabled in Parliament at the end of this week and be voted on in the first 10 days of July, possibly after the prime minister's return from China," she said. "The discussion process in Parliament may help so that there are even greater convergences than those we have already ascertained," Gerovasili added, noting that the "historic necessity to establish equality of the vote with the resonance of the proposal to the people must be the criterion of the parties." [03] Mitsotakis chairs ND meeting on Brexit, Spanish election results and domestic issuesMain opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday chaired a meeting of the ND team for coordinating the party's parliamentary work. This focused mainly on the results of the British EU referendum and the Spanish elections, ahead of Mitsotakis' trip to Brussels to attend the European People's Party (EPP), and the proposals for changing election law and revising the constitution.The meeting concluded that the handling of the Brexit issue required "care, level-headedness, decisiveness and insightfulness," ND spokesman George Koumoutsakos said. Europe must also exercise self-criticism so as not to allow the forces of populism and fragmentation to grow stronger, he added. Regarding the result of the Spanish elections, ND interpreted this as a message that the forces of populism in Europe were being restrained, he said. He said that ND opposed a switch to simple proportional representation, considering the issue an attempt to divert public opinion away from the state of the real economy and an attempt by the government to shore up its crumbling support among voters. The main opposition highlighted the need for an election law that combined proportional representation with strong and cohesive governments. ND was prepared to discuss a vote for Greeks abroad and the division of electoral constituencies, Koumoutsakos said. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |