Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-12-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece supports Cyprus solution without occupation troops or guarantees, Kotzias says

[02] Mitsotakis: Prospect of elections frightens only the prime minister

[03] Marine Le Pen: 'Frexit is part of my policy'

[04] Greek PM and Turkish president may meet in early January, Cyprus spox says

[01] Greece supports Cyprus solution without occupation troops or guarantees, Kotzias says

The minister noted that this was the third briefing he had given to the parties in Parliament during the last month, and the second session of the NCFP on Cyprus.

The party representatives had also agreed to a more frequent exchange of views between the parties and the experts within each party, as well as to "ensure the best possible cooperation between us," Kotzias said. The minister emphasised that there must be whole-hearted support for the necessity to solve the Cyprus problem in Greece, "which stands at the side of the Cypriot people and the Cyprus government."

The Council session focused on the preparations ahead of the international meeting in Geneva on January 9-12, while Kotzias gave an in-depth and thorough analysis of the practical problems that lie ahead and how the Greek government intends to solve them.

Asked what message he would like to send to Turkey, Kotzias repeated that Greece wants a neighbour that is as democratic and European as possible, a neighbour that is "not irascible and understands that its own long-term interests are best served by also supporting and not overturning international law."

Regarding Greek-Turkish meetings ahead of the Geneva conference, Kotzias said that current plans were confined to a meeting of the Greek and Turkish foreign ministry general secretaries, in order to sound out intentions. He noted that there had been two meetings at this stage during the Annan Plan negotiations in 2004, one in Istanbul and one in Athens, by teams working on the Cyprus issue, as well as two meetings between then Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis and Turkey's current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the Burgenstock talks, two meetings between Karamanlis and then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and one meeting with all three, none of which produced a result.

"Studying the older negotiations, there was then a view that the guarantee treaties and alliance treaties could in some way be preserved and the Turks' rights of intervention not be fully abolished. We are monitoring all three at present, with patriotic consistency but in a different direction," Kotzias added.

[02] Mitsotakis: Prospect of elections frightens only the prime minister

"I think elections don't frighten anyone. They frighten Tsipras. I saw no panic abroad or any concern over the prospect of elections," Mitsotakis said at a dinner that he gave for accredited journalists ahead of the holidays.

According to Mitsotakis, the worse scenario for Greece was a delay in completing the second review, since the money will "run out for good" in July and Greece will find itself "with its back to the wall" from March until July. Even if the review is completed "nothing will change," Mitsotakis added and noted that Greece had already paid for the prime minister's u-turns once.

"You can't fool everyone all of the time. Society realises that his main intention is to remain in power," ND's leader said.

He also attacked Tsipras for his track record on reforms and for the "slapdash" approach to the one-off Christmas benefit for pensioners.

"Tsipras, through his actions, shows that he neither understands nor is able to carry out reforms...all he does is "sort out" contract workers and appoint new ones, in order to make them permanent," Mitsotakis claimed. As for the pensioners' benefit, Mitsotakis said that he would also have given a part of the primary surplus to pensioners but only after consulting with Greece's partners "to avoid these debacles, with statements of repentance and the various terms and provisos." Among others, ND's leader pointed out, at the same time as handing out the Christmas bonus, the government was cutting the previous EKAS benefit for low-income pensioners.

[03] Marine Le Pen: 'Frexit is part of my policy'

"Frexit is a part of my policy," the head of France's National Front party said, adding that "ideally all these countries should leave on the same day as France and I will try to push in that direction."

People should have the opportunity to vote for their freedom from the slavery and blackmail imposed by the Brussels technocrats and to return to national sovereignty within their countries, Le Pen said. "The British understood this and voted to leave the European Union while, of course, they never replaced the pound with the euro," the French presidential candidate said.

"Wherever the euro went, there was an increase in prices, taxes and unemployment, a reduction of wages and pensions and citizens became poorer. In Britain, when the economic crisis started, they proceeded to devalue the pound and economic growth soon resumed," she pointed out.

Le Pen said her goals for the EU to become a "loose confederation of states with respect for national sovereignty" and she called for the outright abolition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Wherever the IMF went, it asked for cuts in wages and pensions, higher taxes, privatisation of public utilities and caused an impoverishment of populations. The IMF prevents all growth," she said.

If elected president of France, Le Pen said that she would pull the country out of NATO since "it is not needed any more." She noted that NATO was founded to safeguard against the danger of the Warsaw Pact and the expansionism of the Communist Soviet Union, neither of which existed any more. "Washington keeps NATO in existence to serve its goals in Europe," she added.

On Turkey, Le Pen said she did not agree with Turkey becoming a full member of the EU and that she supported a "special, privileged relationship with Turkey." She expressed opposition to policies that "promote and encourage the entrance of migrants into Europe, which cannot accept them."

"This tsunami of migrants must be contained. Europe is not able to give them work and opportunities to get rich. The migrants and illegal the minute they set foot on European soil because they have broken the law. They should be sent back to their countries," she said.

Questioned about her party's relations with the Greek extreme-right party Golden Dawn, Le Pen said that "we neither have any nor want them."

[04] Greek PM and Turkish president may meet in early January, Cyprus spox says

The Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades had earlier spoken on the telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the Geneva talks, Christodoulides posted in his Twitter account.

He also made it clear that no agreement can be reached in Geneva without the Cyprus Republic represented and said that the meeting will be multilateral, involving more than five sides. Representatives of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the European Union will take part and "have a role and say," Christodoulides said.

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