Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-01-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] Climate between Greece and its lenders has improved, says Maltese FinMin Scicluna to ANA

[02] ESM: Greek debt manageable

[03] The government is playing with fire, says ND leader Mitsotakis

[04] Turkish rocket ship leaves from the region of Imia after warning

[01] Climate between Greece and its lenders has improved, says Maltese FinMin Scicluna to ANA

Scicluna in an exclusive statement to ANA underlined that the relations between Greece and its lenders have improved significantly and are not threatened by a new crisis. "I can say that the climate is much better so I do not see another crisis on the horizon. Of course there are differences but not as those we had in the past" he noted.

I believe the economic climate helps Greece. It is not a matter of commitments but of proof that the results are better than those expected, even of a small scale but still very encouraging" he said adding that the condition helps because we do not have the 'tensions' we experienced before.

On Eurogroup's request for an automatic contingency mechanism or the legislation of precautionary measures in case something goes wrong he said that "these requests were made in a period that uncertainty and lack of trust prevailed".

"I believe that if confidence is fully restored and with less uncertainty, this request will be less strong and an agreement will be reached. I can't speak for the Eurogroup but my impression is that when the period of uncertainty and lack of confidence is over, the requests for measures in case the whole issue collapses will be less. I can reassure you, without any commitment, that the prevailing climate has helped and that something will be found that will be less demanding that it was in the beginning" concluded the Maltese minister.

[02] ESM: Greek debt manageable

An ESM representative underlined that due to the discussion on the Greek debt after the leak of IMF's report, ESM makes public its general remarks on the Greek debt.

"We believe that the Greek debt is manageable if the agreed reforms are fully implemented due to the very favourable lending ESM's long-term conditions as well as to the short term measures for its relief which were recently adopted. Greece and the Europeans agreed on an ambitious fiscal course during the period of the programme which is credible and is supported by emergency measures in case of unforeseen events. Finally, Greece's fiscal performance in 2016 was better than expected".

[03] The government is playing with fire, says ND leader Mitsotakis

In an interview to newspaper Macedonia, the main opposition leader said that if we do not secure the financing the Grexit scenario will return. "The government is playing with fire again" . The government's inefficiency gives ground to the extreme voices of Europe and offers them the opportunity to raise again the issue of Greece exit from the eurozone as the most suitable solution".

Mitsotakis called the citizens to rally with ND and noted that the political change is the society's request against populism, lies and the government's incompetence.

[04] Turkish rocket ship leaves from the region of Imia after warning

The Greek cannon ship "Krateos" and coast guard patrol vessels sailing in the area called on the Turkish ships to leave. The Turkish ships sailed with destination the port of Bodrum.

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