Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Pavlopoulos: The Cyprus issue is not a national but an international and European problem

[02] Greece has exceeded its targets, says European Commission VP Dombrovskis

[03] PPC invested 5.9 bln euros in last seven years

[04] Greece reconstitutes national accreditation agency

[05] Greek programme to be discussed in European parliament on Thursday

[01] Pavlopoulos: The Cyprus issue is not a national but an international and European problem

Greece and Cyprus are ready to contribute to the solution of the problem. For us it is an open plague that since 1974 there has been a foreign troop on Cyprus. We consider that the Cyprus problem is not a national problem of Greece and Cyprus, it is an international and European problem," the President of the Republic said and added: "Cyprus is a member state of the EU and of the Eurozone," he added stressing that any solution for the Cyprus issue should be according to the European law and especially with the meaning of EU-member state sovereignty. The principle of the sovereignty of an EU member state does not tolerate the existence of occupying troops and guarantees after the solution of the Cyprus issue."

"What precedent would we have created for any EU member state if we were to resolve the Cyprus problem with the occupation troops remaining in the area?" Pavolopoulos asked.

Finally, Pavlopoulos stated that Turkey will also gain from a solution that respects the principle of sovereignty of an EU member state under European law. As he said, Turkey has no interest in having this "non-solution" and the occupation troops, because the Turkish Cypriots themselves are also victims of this

[02] Greece has exceeded its targets, says European Commission VP Dombrovskis

At a press conference on Wednesday in Brussels, Dombrovskis noted that this development has been confirmed by Eurostat and an agreement between Greece and its lenders for the disbursement of the tranche is possible, probably in May.

Asked on IMF's participation in the Greek programme, Dombrovskis said the basis is the institutional framework of the European Stability Mechanism which provides that the IMF participates in the support programmes of the eurozone countries as well as the decisions of Malta's Eurogroup meeting.

[03] PPC invested 5.9 bln euros in last seven years

Andriotis said that in the period 2010-2016, PPC withdrew for financial and environmental reasons electricity production units of 2,180 MW and launched new units of a power of 1,417 MW. PPC plans to withdraw units with a power of more than 2,100 and launch new units with a power of 1,800 in the period 2017-2025. Andriotis commenting an agreement forcing PPC to lower its market share to below 50 pct by 2020 said beyond agreements there are the laws of nature which cannot be breached.

Dinos Benroubi, CEO in Protergia -a member of Mytilineos Group- addressig the seminar said he did not expect the goals of liberalizing the domestic electricity energ market to be achieved because the country lacked the necessary condtions. "If there are not equal mixtures in production, directly controlled by producers and not by other means, the market will not open," Benroubi said, adding that in the hypothetical case that someone purchased a PPC energy unit it would had to rely on existing personnel and know-how "as no one was seeking to replace workers". Benroubi also referred to hurdles existing in implementing energy investments, which kept foreign investors away from the Greek market -with only a few exceptions.

Diomidis Stamoulis, director of strategic planning of industrial activities and participations in Hellenic Petroleum presented the Group's investments which led to a quadrupling of exports to 8.6 million metric tons in 2016 from 2.3 million in 2011, covering losses suffered in domestic fuel consumption because of the crisis.

Dimitris Gontikas, vice-president and CEO in Kavala Oil, presented Energean's investment program, worth 270 million euros, in hdyrocarbon research in the Prinos oilfield and in Western Greece.

Greece can attract investments worth 27 billion euros by 2025 in the energy market, Constantinos Mihalos, president of EBEA, said, adding that the country would need huge investments in infrastrucutre and services.

Energy covers 27.5 pct of Greek exports, Christina Sakellaridi, president of the Panhellenic Exporters Association told the seminar and underlined the need to boost the volume of Greek exports.

[04] Greece reconstitutes national accreditation agency

The new law establishes the sustainability and international acknowledgement of Hellenic Accreditation System according to community law, protecting the accreditation services sector in the country and safeguards Greek exports. The new law was voted by a widespread majority of parliament deputies.

"With this legislation we upgrade a critical organization which ensures the smooth operation of the economy, health and safety of citizens. We establish the independence of Hellenic Accreditation System according to European standards and deal with problems created by the irresponsible policies and mismanagement of our predecessors," Economy Alternate Minister Al. Charitsis said.

An Economy ministry announcement said the legislation resolved problems created by a hasty and ill-planned merger in 2013 between Hellenic Accreditation System, with the Hellenic Organization for Standardization and Hellenic Institute of Metrology.

The Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD) was established by the Law 3066/2002 with the purpose of the materialization, implementation and administration of the National Accreditation System as set in the provisions of the Law 2231/1994 as it was modified with the Law 2642/1999, was transformed andincorporated as an autonomous Operational Accreditation Unit at the National Quality Infrastructure System(ESYP) established by the Law 4109/2013.

The Hellenic Accreditation System (ESYD) has been appointed as the National Accreditation Body of Greece according to the requirements of Article 4 of the Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 according to which each Member State shall appoint a single national accreditation body. ESYD employs external assessors and experts. The assessors are selected and trained according to strictly defined criteria and procedures and they must comply with specific regulations concerning their independence, integrity and confidentiality.

[05] Greek programme to be discussed in European parliament on Thursday

Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem will participate in the debate on the second programme review.

The European official will appear for the first time before the European Parliament after the reactions caused by his statements on the southern countries and women.

Vice-President of the European Parliament Dimitris Papadimoulis will speak on behalf of the European Left.

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