Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] Draghi: Greece must complete second review and have sustainable debt to join QE

[02] European institutions and IMF working together as foreseen in ESM charter, Breidthardt

[03] Finance ministry sources confirm initiatives are being taken to close 2nd review

[04] Heads of power grid operator ADMIE resign after pay increase furore

[05] DEPA to expand gas network to 18 cities

[01] Draghi: Greece must complete second review and have sustainable debt to join QE

Addressing the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels, Draghi explained that the sustainability of Greece's debt must be addressed before the ECB can proceed to buy Greek debt.

This required that both the short-term and medium-term measures for easing Greek debt must be in place, he added, in order to enable a reliable assessment of Greece's debt sustainability. Greece's Eurozone partners have already given the go-ahead for short-term debt relief measures, which are currently being rolled out, but Greek authorities and Eurozone member-states are still in negotiations over the medium-term measures, he pointed out. Consequently, Draghi added, a reliable assessment of Greek debt sustainability required the completion of the second review.

Once the review was concluded, he explained, the ECB's board will carry out its own, fully independent assessment of the sustainability of Greece's debt.

"We can be closer to the goal of buying Greek debt if the second review is completed soon, otherwise we can wait," Draghi said.

[02] European institutions and IMF working together as foreseen in ESM charter, Breidthardt

The IMF had recently reaffirmed its intention to stay on board the Greek programme, said the spokesperson for European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. Under the ESM charter, she added, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and where possible the IMF will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of terms that accompany the financial assistance package to Greece.

"In this framework, we are working with the IMF," she said.

She avoided any comment on the position of the new U.S. administration regarding the IMF's participation in the Greek programme.

[03] Finance ministry sources confirm initiatives are being taken to close 2nd review

"As we have noted before, at this time there are many factors on many levels taking initiatives to speed up the procedure to achieve an agreement on the second [program] review," the sources said. "It is still early to assess if they will bear fruit," the sources added.

The sources were responding to press reports that Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem is seeking a meeting of parties involved in the negotiations in Brussels, namely the representatives of the creditors, the IMF and Greece.

[04] Heads of power grid operator ADMIE resign after pay increase furore

The resignation comes after New Democracy MP Konstantinos Skrekas revealed the two ADMIE executives, Manolis Koroniotakis and Ioannis Blanas, used a 2015 law to increase their wages to 20,000 euros per month and receive a one-year back pay totaling 200,000 euros each.

According to a press release from the ministry, Koroniotakis and Blanas argued the increase in their salary was lawful and based on the terms of the contracts they signed, however they pledged to return the sums to the company.

Stathakis accepted their resignations.

[05] DEPA to expand gas network to 18 cities

EDA was set up in implementation of a legal obligation to split the distribution activities from the rest activities of DEPA by January 1, 2017 and took over distribution networks and industrial regions in 12 cities in Central Greece, Central Macedonia and Eastern Macedonia-Thrace.

The network was a length of 500 km and supplies 170 commercial and industrial customers. DEDA's growth plan, as presented by its chief executive officer Theodore Terzopoulos in a recent energy conference, envisages the spectacular increase of the network with the construction of more than 1,000 km of medium and low pressure lines.

The project will cover the cities of Chalkis, Karpenisi, Amfissa, Lamia, Livadia, Theve, Alexandria, Veria, Kilkis, Giannitsa, Katerini, Serres, Alexandroupoli, Komotini, Xanthi, Drama, Orestiada and Kavala.

Natural gas consumption in the new regions is estimated at around 700 million cubic meters annually.

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