Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-03-28

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Government official expresses optimism SLA could be clinched by April 7

[02] Tsipras discusses plan for Holocaust Museum with Boutaris and Saltiel

[03] The government is 'waging a great struggle to complete the 2nd review,' Achtsioglou says

[04] Case files investigating former PM Samaras, central bank governor and MP sent to Parliament

[05] IDE tests hybrid solar-conventional power system HG10K-10 at Hellenic Air Force base

[01] Government official expresses optimism SLA could be clinched by April 7

The official said the European program signed by the country (MoU) will coincide in its duration with the IMF's Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) which will be agreed with the fund.

"The MEFP is easier, it doesn't have so many issues. The IMF is not a control freak like the Europeans who raise so many issues," the official said.

Asked about the labour issues which remain open, the same source said only a small issue has not been resolved and didn't respond on a question about the income tax threshold which will be agreed with the institutions.

[02] Tsipras discusses plan for Holocaust Museum with Boutaris and Saltiel

Boutaris noted that Thessaloniki used to be called "Jerusalem of the Balkans" and Saltiel said he was pleased with the recent adoption of legislation which will allow descendants of Greek –Jews living abroad to claim Greek citizenship.

"We had to implement it but unfortunately not everyone voted it," Tsipras responded.

In statements to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) after the meeting, Boutaris said he was confident the museum will be ready within the first half of 2019 if there is a presidential decree to resolve issues with the building licence - as promised by the prime minister.

"The meeting went very well. The prime minister wants the problems to be solved, for the licences to be issued, and wants to announce the start of work on the Holocaust Museum himself at the Greece-Cyprus-Israel trilateral meeting, which has been set to take place this summer in Thessaloniki," Boutaris said.

"If we have the presidential decree within June, with Mr. Tsipras' help, I believe that the project will be completed in the first half of 2019," he said.

The Holocaust Museum and Educational Centre is to be erected on a 7,000-square-metre site near Thessaloniki's old railroad station, where thousands of victims of Nazi atrocities embarked on a journey of no return during WWII. Its construction is estimated to cost 22 million euros, of which 10 million euros will be given by Germany, with the first five million euros disbursed in 2017 and the rest in 2018. The remaining 12 million euros, according to Boutaris, are expected to be donated by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The architectural plans for the construction of the museum were donated by two architectural firms based in Tel Aviv and Berlin.

[03] The government is 'waging a great struggle to complete the 2nd review,' Achtsioglou says

"It is a negotiation in which the Greek positions reflect the need to open up a new path, to once again give prospects to Greek society. Opposed to these positions are the positions expressed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for further internal devaluation, further decline in labour rights and violation of the European acquis," she said.

For the IMF and the neoliberal forces in Europe, Greece served as a model for what must happen in Europe regarding labour relations, Achtsioglou noted. "Everyone in Europe, regardless of what happens in Greece and the negotiation, is discussing the issue of collective bargaining and this singular state of exception for our country," she added.

According to Achtsioglou, the Greek side sought to once again put solidarity and respect for the European acquis at the centre of the negotiation. Growth, she added, would have to be based on a new model that reversed the 'brain drain' and slowed unemployment, creating jobs with full labour and social insurance rights, and the restoration of normality in labour relations.

She also noted that policies of internal devaluation and compressed labour costs imposed after 2009, through which Greek workers lost 26 pct of their nominal per capita income, were shown in practice to have "remarkably little impact on the balance of trade deficit."

[04] Case files investigating former PM Samaras, central bank governor and MP sent to Parliament

The case concerning Samaras is linked to an alleged recording of a conversation that Samaras had with a judicial official, which was posted on the internet on December 10, 2014. In the five-minute audio segment, the former premier allegedly told the official "Tell the tall one, the Panathinaikos [fan], that the next three who go should be f*****."

The instigation above supposedly referred to members of the far-right Golden Dawn party facing charges, shortly before their testimony.

[05] IDE tests hybrid solar-conventional power system HG10K-10 at Hellenic Air Force base

The system was tested as part of the Greek defence ministry's policy for energy autonomy in military camps using smart grids and renewable energy sources (RES).

IDE's Hybrid System is a dual use system in the company's HEPS (Hybrid Electric Power Systems) product series and is the result of the company's long-term research and development. It is an integrated, autonomous, mobile unit for the smart management and distribution of available electric energy from photovoltaic cells and an energy storage system, by creating a micro-grid and using a backup diesel generator. In comparison with an equivalent conventional diesel generator, IDE's system produced fuel savings exceeding 60 during the evaluation, reduced engine operating hours by 70% and maintenance requirements by 80%, as well as reducing the pollution generated.

The evaluation results were recently presented to the Working Group for Energy & Environment of the European Defence Agency (EDA).

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article