Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] Programme 'delays' concern one third still under negotiation, FinMin Tsakalotos says

[02] ND: Tsipras solely responsible for tough measures he's already agreed on

[03] ERC to fund Greek scientist's search for cheap 'ultrahydrophobic' materials for collecting water

[01] Programme 'delays' concern one third still under negotiation, FinMin Tsakalotos says

Replying to main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Tsakalotos said that the 'delays' only concerned only the final third of measures, which were currently the focus of a political negotiation with the institutions. As such, he added, it was logical that they were neither agreed upon, nor legislated for.

"Over one third of the agreement is fully completed. A second third and perhaps a little more is absolutely agreed with the institutions and we are in the implementation phase with laws, ministerial decisions, circulars etc. The last part in under political negotiation with the institutions..." he said.

He accused Mitsotakis of failing to understand the "dynamics" of the negotiations, pointing out that not only the Greek government but also the International Monetary Fund and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem had all officially stated that some things had to be agreed as a "package". "It is therefore logical that the Greek government cannot reveal its 'cards' until the other side does the same. In any case, only extreme voices consider that the Greek government is responsible for the delays," he added.

The main opposition, Tsakalotos added, had not clarified its own position or suggested the measures on which it thinks the government should compromise in order to conclude the second review.

"Mitsotakis, despite being challenged yesterday in Parliament by the prime minister, refused to commit to aligning himself to the national line, which says that we cannot accept the unreasonable demands of the IMF. Unless he personally thinks it right that they should ask us for additional measures when we have a 2 pct surplus!" Tsakalotos concluded.

[02] ND: Tsipras solely responsible for tough measures he's already agreed on

"He [Alexis Tsipras] should inform his finance minister who pretends he doesn't know that Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed yesterday in parliament 10 examples of reforms and privatizations without any financial cost and no burdens for citizens," the party said.

"These examples show the government, because of incompetence or obsessions, doesn't push forward with the reforms the country needs and which should have been implemented, without being imposed by anyone, because they bring investments, jobs and growth to the country," it added.

[03] ERC to fund Greek scientist's search for cheap 'ultrahydrophobic' materials for collecting water

Talking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Thursday, Assistant Professor Athanasios Papathanasiou from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) chemical engineering department outlined his efforts to create a cheap, synthetic "ultrahydrophobic" surface - or super water-repellent in laymen's terms - that is capable of collecting moisture even from the mist.

With rainfall in the Mediterranean declining by up to 100 mm a year after 1950, Papathanasiou noted that many countries in the region will have to turn to innovative methods to collect water in dry areas. Since 2009 he has led a team investigating ultrahydrophobic materials, through the ERC-funded programme 'Hydrofakir', seeking to create surfaces with fully controllable wettability that alternate between hydrophobic and hydrophilic behaviour. Taking its inspiration from the surface morphology of lotus leaves, the team reproduced the appropriate "micro-spikes" on which water droplets can rest, like a fakir on a bed of nails, preventing their absorption.

The ERC will now fund the follow-up programme Hydropho-Cheap for the next 18 months, which builds on the results of 'Hydrofakir' in order to develop affordable applications of its findings for commercial use. Papathanasiou told ANA that Hydropho-Cheap aims to either build a machine that produces such ultrahydrophobic and water-repellent surfaces, or else to create such surfaces to order for third parties. He hopes to take out a relevant patent and use the results in collaboration with companies in Greece or abroad.

The innovative method allows "hydrophobic islands" to be "written onto" surfaces, chiefly plastics. These "islands" can have various shapes and the "writing" can be done with accuracy to a tenth of a millimetre. Papathanasiou explained that in moist, misty conditions, the water initially forms droplets on a surface. When this is an ultrahydrophobic surface, the droplets will roll on the surface instead of becoming absorbed and wetting it and can thus be collected.

In addition to collecting water, Papathanasiou said there were two more practical applications for his material: in shipping to reduce hydrodynamic friction, and in biomedicine to create surfaces that allow a better biochemical analysis of blood droplets. In the second case, he said, in the future it might be possible to create small disposable devices for blood tests, such as measuring blood sugar.

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