Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Gov't aiming for a deal without 'a single euro' of additional austerity, Tzanakopoulos repeats

[02] Thomsen statements on 'changing Greek figures' the height of irresponsibility, Capital Market Commission chief says

[03] Greece must make use of 'every minute' up to Feb. 20 to reach agreement, Papadimoulis says

[01] Gov't aiming for a deal without 'a single euro' of additional austerity, Tzanakopoulos repeats

Speaking during the regular press briefing, he attacked main opposition New Democracy and its leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, saying they had found themselves "at a strategic impasse ahead of the conclusion of the second review."

"Up until now they were demanding that the review should not be completed and that elections be held. They accuse us of supposedly delaying. They hope that in the future when an agreement has been reached they will be able to accuse us of not negotiating effectively. The Greek people should draw their own conclusions. It is not permissible to play politics from the sidelines during critical times for the country," he said.

Mitsotakis, he added, spent 75 minutes outlining his policies for the Greek economy to the German chancellor behind closed doors but not even half a minute to present them to the Greek people, since these were identical to the positions of the most extreme of the lenders and nothing but harsh austerity for the majority of society.

[02] Thomsen statements on 'changing Greek figures' the height of irresponsibility, Capital Market Commission chief says

"I once travelled with Mr. Thomsen on a trip from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. He had 10 associates with him, each armed with a lap-top - I cannot understand why their estimates are wrong. And to now hear him say, we will see your figures and if we are convinced by them we will change ours. This is the ultimate admission of irresponsibility concerning the fate of a nation," Gotsis said.

Briefing Parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee on the HCMC report on 2014-2015, Gotsis also referred to a need to "open up" the Greek banking market and allow more players to enter, noting that the current Greek system with one central bank and four systemic banks "does not exist in any other country."

"There was a misunderstood discussion in our country during the crisis about a parallel financial system...We saw early on that our banks had a problem in the credit market. Greek businesses, even healthy ones, need support and especially to be able to draw capital," he said. Greece had lagged behind in alternative forms of financing and currently occupied the 132nd place with regard to the banking financial market, he pointed out.

"We must give the market a chance to act in ways complementary to the banks," he said.

Gotsis also highlighted the huge problem presented by non-performing loans that were still on the banks' books, pointing out that such "skeletons" in their asset portfolios created problems for their evaluation in the stock market.

[03] Greece must make use of 'every minute' up to Feb. 20 to reach agreement, Papadimoulis says

He also stressed that those raising the possibility of Grexit were "out of touch with reality and off-topic". What could be at the back of their minds, Papadimoulis added, was a "Tsipras-exit" and the departure of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his government, not Greece's exit from the euro.

The MEP attacked Greece's main opposition party, saying it was so desperate to take over power that "instead of wearing the Team Greece colours when it goes abroad, it broadcasts the message 'help me topple Tsipras now so that I can give you everything you want because later it will be hard and will have to go up to 2019.'"

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