Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-10-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Polydoras voices bitterness over ND rejection and 'character assassination'

[02] New attempt to form NCRTV at parliament presidents' meeting on Monday

[03] Work to restore Holy Sepulchre 'at most crucial stage' after Jesus' burial slab exposed

[01] Polydoras voices bitterness over ND rejection and 'character assassination'

"I was very upset. I felt like an earthquake had fallen on me. They expelled me because I disagreed with the imposition of the ENFIA property tax, which seemed to turn Greeks from home owners into homeless and hearthless. Now they want to exile me," Polydoras said.

Some in ND's leadership were engaging in "tacticalism to topple the government and satisfy their petty ambitions," he claimed, while adding that these positions did not express all of ND nor all of the party's MPs. "Most of the MPs and the majority of people in ND are behind me," he added.

Polydoras accused the television moguls of wanting to control politics, not just gain privileged access to public contracts, and that the prime minister was attempting to stop those "playing a power game."

"They want it all. They want to decide who becomes minister, who becomes prime minister, who becomes chairman of the NCRTV. They say that I am not qualified. In order to be qualified, I must be a buddy of Christoforakos," he said, referring to the former Siemens executive that is now a fugitive from Greek justice, after fleeing to Germany to avoid prosecution on a charge of offering kickbacks from Siemens slush funds.

Polydoras repeated that he felt honoured that the government had proposed him for such an important position and that he accepted in the hopes that it will bring results, provide a resolution and ending the tension with justice. Attempts to affect the decisions of justice were not the exclusive province of governments, he added.

In the case that the political parties did not consent to his leadership of the NCRTV, Polydoras said he was ready to resign at any time and did not intend to put the prime minister in a difficult position. He ruled out contacting the political party leaders that "rejected me within 17 minutes," including ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Democratic Alliance leader Fofi Gennimata and Potami party leader Stavros Theodorakis.

ND later strongly criticised ERT for the way the interview was conducted, with ND press office director Makarios Lazaridis saying it was "shameful for ERT" and noting the grave responsibility of its management in a post on Twitter. A brief ND announcement commented that "After today's appearance by Mr. Polydoras on ERT everyone understood by Mr. Tsipras proposed him and what exactly his qualifications are."

Replying to the criticism, ERT said it had "no intention of answering to anyone about the guests it invited to speak on its programmes or the questions that were put to them. If anyone would like us to submit lists of guests and questions, they should say so openly." The broadcaster noted that Polydoras' views were a matter of valid news interest, while ERT had never denied any person an opportunity to express their views.

Independent Greeks (ANEL) party leader Panos Kammenos also criticised ND's stance and accused it of "denying the soul" of the party's founder Constantine Karamanlis "which is Vyron Polydoras" and being dominated by what "Karamanlis had called extremes."

He expressed hope that ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis will "think again" before the conference of Parliament presidents met to decide about forming a new NCRTV on Monday, and see that people like Polydoras could not be treated in that way.

Sources close to the former prime minister Costas Karamanlis, the nephew of the party's founder, made clear on Sunday that he was not in any way involved with Polydoras' candidacy and had not met or spoken to Polydoras in more than four years.

[02] New attempt to form NCRTV at parliament presidents' meeting on Monday

Asked to forecast the outcome, given ND's rejection of Polydoras' candidacy, Parliament President Nikos Voutsis noted only that "we will know tomorrow night what will happen tomorrow."

He was replying to questions on the sidelines of a SYRIZA event at the National Resistance monument in Thessaloniki to mark the anniversary of the city's liberation from Nazi occupation troops in 1944.

In response to questions about whether Polydoras was able to enable a consensus, Voutsis replied:

"There is consensus about restoring collective memory and the need to restore the social fabric after so many years of painful policies in order to exit the crisis. This is what counts now."

No excuse for ND following transfer of powers back to NCRTV, Minister of State Pappas says

Responsibility for organising a new tender procedure for the issue of television licences will be transferred back to the NCRTV, as was originally envisaged under the law 4339/15 on regulating the television sector, Minister of State Nikos Pappas repeated on Sunday. As a result, ND had no excuse for not cooperating to form a new NCRTV that will regulate the sector, he added.

"The excuse of the [NCRTV's powers] does not exist for ND. No one can understand what conditions, or perhaps excuses, it is setting yet again. ND has an obligation to prove that it has a basic sense of constitutional responsibility and to contribute to the formation of the NCRTV," Pappas concluded.

Legislation is to be tabled on Monday that will abolish article 2A in law 4339/15, which transferred the powers of the NCRTV to the government, sources said on Saturday. Once this is passed, all responsibility and authority for conducting the tender procedure for awarding television content licences will go back to the NCRTV.

[03] Work to restore Holy Sepulchre 'at most crucial stage' after Jesus' burial slab exposed

The project recently came under the spotlight after news that scientists had revealed Jesus's burial place for the first time in centuries, removing the marble cladding that had covered it since at least 1555 A.D. if not earlier.

According to Moropoulou, the team was now at the "heart" of the project's development in what she described as an "overwhelming experience."

"On October 26 we rolled back the slab of the Holy Sepulchre given that we were completing the phase of the injections and had to protect the Holy Rock. Under the marble slab of Calfas Komninos, the famous architect that carried out the restoration of the tomb in 1810 (after the fire of 1808) we found another slab that was probably from the crusades - this is evidenced by the characteristic Crusaders cross that it bore. Underneath we found the stone shelf on which the body of Jesus is thought to have been placed.

"We opened a window so that the Holy Rock will always be visible to visitors. Now we are in the final stages of the project, which are to reattach the marble and stone decorative plates that we removed in order to stably restore the Edicule, in a way that ensures the monument's integrity and the sustainability of the solution we provide. Given that the cause of the Edicule's deformation remains: it is no longer the rain water that for years fell from the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the dome has today been sealed - but the waters rising from underground, from a complex that connects the entire church with underground canals," Moropoulou said. She noted that there will have to be an excavation and some kind of intervention in the near future.

She also referred to the unique and deeply moving experience that the project provided for the Greek team, as well as the grave responsibility that they bore.

"Next to the Holy Sepulchre, as part of the project, we have set up an interdisciplinary laboratory. We want the findings that we announce to be the property of the entire world. What makes us all so moved is that the Tomb of Christ is a living tomb. It sends forth a message of resurrection and hope and that is what has affected us and enabled us to work," she told ANA.

The interdisciplinary team's work on the tomb began in June this year, following an invitation from Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilos to the NTUA. The Patriarch had first obtained the agreement of the other two religious communities that share in the site's management, the Franciscan order and the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem. The team is led by Moropoulou, a chemist and includes architecture professor Manolis Korres, civil engineering professor Constantinos Spyrakos and land surveyor Andreas Georgopoulos. The team had presented its plans in January 2016 in Jerusalem, in the presence of the prime minister, and then in February to the leaders of the three religious communities responsible for the church, as well as to an audience in Athens in March. The restoration work is scheduled to finish in March 2017.

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