Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-03

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek-Turkish relations, Cyprus issue and programme review dominate Tsipras-Merkel's meeting

[02] Labour Min Achtsioglou reiterates government's determination to conclude the review

[01] Greek-Turkish relations, Cyprus issue and programme review dominate Tsipras-Merkel's meeting

According to sources, Merkel briefed Tsipras on her contacts with the Turkish leadership and more particularly as regards peace and stability in the region, the refugee issue, the Cyprus problem as well as EU-Turkey relations.

On his part, Tsipras underlined his commitment to finding a fair and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue and stressed the importance of the EU-Turkey agreement. The Greek Prime Minister also stressed that Turkey must respect the international law and added that its provocations in the Aegean undermine the Greek-Turkish relations as well as the peace and stability in the wider region.

As for the economic programme, he stressed the importance of taking initiatives so that the programme review is concluded in February.

Tsipras will also have separate meetings on the sidelines of the summit with the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, his British counterpart Theresa May and the French President Francois Hollande.

[02] Labour Min Achtsioglou reiterates government's determination to conclude the review

The Minister stressed that the IMF is to blame for the delay and not the Greek government. Greece has met 1/3 of the prior actions, it has agreed on another 1/3 of the prior actions and the rest 1/3 on labour, energy, fiscal issues needs to be agreed on.

She added that the IMF demand for legislating additional measures after the end of the programme is out of reason - financially or democratically. "When the economy outperforms, it is unreasonable to legislate measures for the period after the end of the programme," Achtsioglou underlined.

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