Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 16-07-15

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece's PM receives Speaker of Israeli Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein

[02] President Pavlopoulos meets Knesset President Edelstein

[03] Tsipras says direct election of President 'has matured' as a thought

[04] ND leader Mitsotakis calls on deputies to vote against new electoral law

[05] European Commissioner Moscovici in Athens on Monday

[06] EU Commission to help Greece with necessary funds, Commissioner Thyssen tells ANA-MPA

[07] Greek railways operator TRAINOSE goes to Italy's Ferrovie

[08] Privatisation agency denies reports on existence of 300-mln-euro offer for TRAINOSE

[09] TRAINOSE deal encapsulates insanity surrounding privatisations in Greece, Potami says

[10] Greek economy has not reached the growth and employment it should have, says IMF spox

[11] Central bank governor orders inquiry into missing report on media financing

[12] Justice minister files official requests for fast-track handling of Siemens kickbacks cases

[13] Kotzias highlights Greece's prospects for cooperation on arrival for ASEM Summit

[14] MSF and MSD for Mothers present plan to protect motherhood among refugees

[15] Greek ministers to attend as observers a PES meeting in Rome

[16] Greece could need fewer taxes if electronic payments become generalised, Stournaras said

[17] Energy minister discusses TAP, Southern Gas Corridor and IGB with US official

[18] Interior minister, S&D head Pittella to meet in Thessaloniki on Friday

[19] Justice minister says Siemens case is complicated; reserves comments as procedure continues

[20] Greek import price index down 6.7 pct in May

[21] Greek stocks end slightly up

[22] ADEX closing report

[23] Inbound tourism down 4.6 pct in Jan-March

[24] Diving with skandalopetra; the incredible story of Stathis Hatzis

[25] '2nd Sterna Fringe Festival' to be held on Tinos

[26] Syrian family the victims of migrants boat tragedy

[27] Short film competition for new directors at Thessaloniki Short Film festival

[28] Appeals court to announce verdict on drug ship 'Noor 1' on July 19

[29] Stavros Niarchos Foundation to fund maintenance of Patrick Leigh Fermor's house

[30] Sunny and hot on Friday

[31] The Thursday edition of Athens' dailies Politics

[01] Greece's PM receives Speaker of Israeli Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein

"Our relations are closer than ever and I believe that this is very important," Tsipras commented in a brief discussion they had on camera. "We believe that it is necessary to intensify our cooperation in the region and especially to strive for peace and stability," Tsipras said. Israel played a crucial role but Greece could also play a crucial role, he added.

Edelstein referred to his earlier discussions with President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and his Greek counterpart Nikos Voutsis, saying the first had focused on the prospects of strengthening bilateral relations in varous fields and the second on the various ways to intensify cooperation between the Parliaments and support initiatives related to trilateral cooperation between Greece, Cyprus and Israel.

[02] President Pavlopoulos meets Knesset President Edelstein

Referring to Knesset, Pavlopoulos stressed that it is in the heart of parliamentarism in Israel and added that the exemplary operation of the parliamentary system is a political and democratic stability factor for the whole region.

Pavlopoulos made specific reference to cooperation between the two parliaments of Greece and Israel to end the war in the Middle East and Syria, and to combat terrorism of ISIS.

On his part, the President of Knesset said the cooperation between Greece and Israel is of strategic importance in the fields of defense and energy adding he is in favor of strengthening trilateral cooperation between Greece-Israel-Cyprus.

[03] Tsipras says direct election of President 'has matured' as a thought

Regarding the powers of the President, he pointed out that these would need to be discussed in the context of revising the Constitution, as having two heads of state would be 'unconstructive'.

The prime minister also said that the revision of the Constitution will restore some noted failures, such as the law treating ministers differently when crimes are committed. He did not rule out a referendum on constitutional reform, noting it will have an advisory character, as there is already an institutional framework and procedures in place on how to revise it.

[04] ND leader Mitsotakis calls on deputies to vote against new electoral law

He outlined the basic lines of his opposition policy while at the same time criticised the government. "We are exercising a strict but responsible opposition policy. The political chart is changing and New Democracy's political lead is strong. This is due to the fact that a significant part of the society believes in New Democracy," he stated.

The past six months proved the government's inability to implement the memorandum signed, he stressed. Now we start to pay the cost of the 'proud' negotiation of (Prime Minister Alexis) Tsipras and (former Finance Minister Yannis) Varoufakis as well as that of current minister (Euclid) Tsakalotos, he added.

The government is implementing measures of 9 billion euros, he said adding that nobody has forced the government to take such measures.

Finally, Mitsotakis called on all "democratic deputies" from all parties to join their forces to prevent government's plans for changing the electoral law.

[05] European Commissioner Moscovici in Athens on Monday

Moscovici will meet with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and afterwards will attend a working lunch with the participation of Economy Minister George Stathakis, Labour Minister George Katrougalos, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Chouliarakis.

Later, the European Commissioner will give a joint press conference with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos at EU representation office in Athens.

Moscovici's schedule will conclude with his speech at the Greek parliament and to the parliamentary plenum of the Greek parliament's Financial, Production, Trade and European Committees.

On the occasion of Moscovici's visit to Greece the head of the Greek representation of EU in Greece Panos Karvounis stated "We welcome Commissioner Moscovici, a European friend of Greece that never lost his trust in the country's ability to recover and return where it belongs, inside the European economy. After the completion of the first review, the focus on the structural reforms, the fiscal stability and the promotion of the investments is absolutely essential. The main point of the second review is reforms to be implemented and not remain only at the adoption level with aim the restart of the growth. In this demanding course, the European Commission was and remains Greece's stable supporter".

[06] EU Commission to help Greece with necessary funds, Commissioner Thyssen tells ANA-MPA

The Belgian Commissioner stressed the need for restoring social dialogue, which was weakened during the crisis, adding however that certain structural reforms will be hard but necessary so that growth returns and investments are boosted.

She noted that Greece needs deep reforms given the conditions in pensions, salaries and how each one affects the other. "Reforms have never been easy. What we have to do and what politicians in Greece have to do is make people understand that these reforms are for their benefit because they will open new jobs," she underlined.

"What matters in the second programme review is that Greece is getting out of a large crisis as a result of bad economic conditions and some structural problems that it ought to have solved earlier. That is why Greece paid the cost of the crisis double," she stated.

Thyssen stressed that the Commission will support and help Greece with the necessary funds and reform policies that will benefit the people.

The full interview is available in Greek at AMNA's website.

[07] Greek railways operator TRAINOSE goes to Italy's Ferrovie

This included an assessment concerning the validity of the offer, two independent valuations and a positive opinion from a Council of Experts.

The tender envelope will now be sent to the Court of Audit for a pre-contractual review and the share purchase agreement will be signed after the court gives its approval. Completion of the transaction is subject to the approvals of the competent authorities.

Ferrovie is the third largest railway company in Europe and is expected to transfer knowhow and experience to TRAINOSE.

HRADF noted that the conclusion of the tender marks the completion of a process that started three years ago and ensures both TRAINOSE's viability and its further development. It also lays the foundations for successfully closing the dossier on illegal state aid opened by the European Commission with respect to TRAINOSE's 750 million euro debt to the Greek Railways Organsiation (OSE).

[08] Privatisation agency denies reports on existence of 300-mln-euro offer for TRAINOSE

The only offer was the one made by Italian state railways Ferrovie dello Stato, the sources said, responding to reports that the company could have been sold for 300 million euros in the past.

[09] TRAINOSE deal encapsulates insanity surrounding privatisations in Greece, Potami says

"Two years ago, when the company was going to be privatised, [Economy Minister] George Stathakis and SYRIZA found the 300-million-euro sale price provocatively low. Today and after various subsidies have cost the Greek tax payer 750 million euros, the company is being sold for 45 million euros. Who will pay the difference for the subsidies that were given and the 245 million that was never received' Clearly not the members of the government but those that have always paid. The privatisation of TRAINOSE was the only way for the company to develop. And if this had been done at the proper time the benefits would have been much greater," Potami said.

The Greek privatisation agency, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), had earlier announced its decision to accept a binding offer by Italy's Ferrovie for a 100 pct stake in TRAINOSE for 45 million euros and declare the Italian state railway the preferred investor.

[10] Greek economy has not reached the growth and employment it should have, says IMF spox

Speaking to journalists, Rice said all institutions must recognize that the Greek economy has also not achieved success in a series of other economic indicators. For this reason, the IMF aims at incorporating in a new program those conditions that will lead the economy to where it should be.

Concerning the requested reforms in the Greek labour market, Rice said the aim of the second program review will be to align the labour market with the "best international practices". He also avoided commenting on a statement made by Greek Labour Minister George Katrougalos on Wednesday that the IMF "has been isolated" in the ongoing negotiations.

He said the failure of the Greek program, in comparison with those at Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Latvia is due to numerous and complex causes, without naming them.

Rice also reiterated the IMF's intention to participate in the new program on the condition that it will be effective. This will be achieved by taking into account the sustainability of Greek public debt and the consistent implementation of the reform program.

[11] Central bank governor orders inquiry into missing report on media financing

[12] Justice minister files official requests for fast-track handling of Siemens kickbacks cases

The minister's requests will be forwarded to the Athens Appeals Prosecutors' office within the day.

Paraskevopoulos asked Dimitriou to speed up the processing of the trials under Article 30 of the Criminal Procedure code, which gives calls for the priority handling of trials for cases of an exceptional nature.

The Athens Appeals Prosecutors office will contact the foreign ministry translation service to determine how much time is needed to translate the decree in two languages in order to set a new trial date.

[13] Kotzias highlights Greece's prospects for cooperation on arrival for ASEM Summit

"At tomorrow's ASEM Summit, we will promote this understanding and take a step forward for cooperation between the states of Europe and Asia," he said.

Following a proposal by Singapore as well, Greece will have a prospect of becoming a center of technological cooperation and connectivity for ASEM, Kotzias added.

"Cooperation in the economic sector, in science and research, with countries developing new technologies and new forms of economic development, is of great importance for our country, now that the period of crisis is ending. Moreover, we are connected to these countries by a historical parallelism of major cultural links, a common search for answers to the great questions regarding the nature of human society and the prospects of humankind themselves. As a result, we are also discussing issues of economy, practical and technological cooperation, as well as issues bearing on humanity's survival and its good governance," he said.

Greece's main message is the need for this cooperation to be extended and expanded; to become more regular and have more immediately feasible results. I will also have the opportunity to talk with the leaderships of, among others, Singapore, Vietnam and Mongolia," Kotzias added.

[14] MSF and MSD for Mothers present plan to protect motherhood among refugees

The head of MSF, Nikitas Kanakis, the Director of MSD for Mothers Dr. Naveen Rao and the CEO for Greece, Cyprus and Malta, Haseeb Ahmad, acknowledged the efforts of the Greek government and the people to tackle the refugee crisis and stated their intention to offer their help by strengthening the state healthcare infrastructure in cooperation with the relevant authorities.

The program will be conducted in cooperation with the national healthcare provider ESY.

[15] Greek ministers to attend as observers a PES meeting in Rome

The main topic will be developments in Europe and the outcome of the British referendum.

[16] Greece could need fewer taxes if electronic payments become generalised, Stournaras said

If the government forced more businesses to install POS machines there could well be a sufficiently large increase in

revenues so that it would not be necessary to implement the entire package of measures agreed in the last programme, he added.

The central banker, who was speaking at the launch of the book "European Banking Supervision: The first eighteen months", also called for the recapitalisation of banks directly by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), saying this would be more efficient than the method used in the Greek case.

[17] Energy minister discusses TAP, Southern Gas Corridor and IGB with US official

The two officials also discussed the privatization of DESFA which has not been concluded due to objections by the EU competition authorities.

During the meeting, Skourlatis spoke of the government's aim to transform Greece into an energy hub that will service the wider region.

[18] Interior minister, S&D head Pittella to meet in Thessaloniki on Friday

The meeting will be held at 15:30 (local) at the city's airport.

[19] Justice minister says Siemens case is complicated; reserves comments as procedure continues

The case concerns bribes paid by the German company to Greek officials in exchange for a contract with Greek telecoms company OTE. The judges halted the trial indefinitely after they accepted the defendant's claim that the indictment had not been translated into French and German for the one French-Swiss and 13 German defendants in the case.

"The prime minister didn't give an order; he showed his interest in the problem and inspired me to try and do all I can. Our role is to speak in legal terms. Responsibilities are being investigated. Until we have convictions there is the presumption of innocence," Paraskevopoulos said.

"The case is complicated with numerous categories and many defendants. As responsibilities are currently being examined, I will abstain from formulating any other judgment, particularly for cases that have affected the country's political history," he added.

Financial News

[20] Greek import price index down 6.7 pct in May

The statistics service, in a report, attributed this development in the so-called imported inflation to a 0.8 pct decline in the import price index from Eurozone countries and a 12 pct drop in the import price index from countries outside Eurozone.

The index was up 1.9 pct in May from April 2016.

[21] Greek stocks end slightly up

Piraeus Bank (5.10 pct), Lamda Development (3.60 pct) and Hellenic Petroleum (1.69 pct) scored the biggest percentage gains among blue chip stocks, while Viohalco (1.57 pct), Ellaktor (1.40 pct) and Piraeus Port (0.78 pct) suffered heavy losses. Among market sectors, Banks (2.12 pct), Real Estate (1.38 pct) and Telecoms (1.30 pct) scored big gains, while Personal Products (0.28 pct) and Food (0.27 pct) suffered losses.

National Bank and Piraeus Bank were the most heavily traded securities of the day. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 53 to 39 with another 21 issues unchanged. Euroconsultants (29.52 pct), Dionic (20 pct) and Epilektos (19.53 pct) were top gainers, while Trastor (11.91 pct), Flexopack (9.72 pct) and Intrakat (9.59 pct) were top losers.

[22] ADEX closing report

[23] Inbound tourism down 4.6 pct in Jan-March

In particular, arrivals from Germany increased by 5.5% to 118 thousand and those from France by 11.8% to 40 thousand. Arrivals from the United Kingdom also increased, by 6.3% to 107 thousand. Finally, turning to non-EU28 countries, arrivals from Russia rose by 134.9% to 20 thousand and those from the United States increased by 28.9% to 62 thousand.

In January-March 2016, overnight stays in Greece totalled 9,786 thousand, up 5.7 pct from 9,263 thousand in January-March 2015. This reflected an increase of 23.4 pct in stays by residents of non-EU28 countries, as stays by residents of the EU28 fell by 2.5 pct.

Since 2012, the Bank of Greece conducts a cruise-specific survey in order to enrich the data collected through its Border Survey. In line with standard practice, detailed cruise data were collected for January-March 2016 from 16 Greek ports, covering 82.7 pct of all cruise ship arrivals.

In the period under review, 150 cruise ship arrivals (January-March 2015: 119) and 189 thousand cruise passenger visits (January-March 2015: 124 thousand) were recorded. This survey revealed that 96.0 pct of all cruise passengers were transit visitors, with an average of 2 stopovers at Greek ports of call, virtually unchanged from a year earlier. In January-March 2016, total receipts from cruise passengers rose by 38.8 pct year-on-year to 14.4 million euros.

The surplus of the balance of travel services was 76 million euros in January-March 2016, down 3.8 pct from a surplus of 80 million in January-March 2015. This development is attributed to a smaller increase in travel receipts. The rise in travel receipts in January-March 2016 was mainly driven by an increase of 28 euros or 9.6 pct in average expenditure per trip (January-March 2016: 315, January-March 2015: 288), as non-resident arrivals declined by 4.6 pct.

In January-March 2016, travel receipts totalled 539 million euros, rising by 4.5 pct year-on-year.

General News

[24] Diving with skandalopetra; the incredible story of Stathis Hatzis

A large number of Greek and foreign divers are expected to take part in the competition aiming to break the world record.

The competition is organised by Karpathos municipality and is dedicated to legendary Stathis Hatzis, a sponge diver from the island of Symi.

On 14 July 1913 the Italian warship 'Regina Margarita' lost her anchor outside the port of Karpathos. The divers' attempts to find the anchor were fruitless and the captain of the ship asked the sponge divers of Kalymnos with the special diving suit called "skafandroto" to find the anchor. However, the anchor was lying at 70-80 depth and divers could not reach such depth at the time. The islanders suggested to call Stathis Hatzis from Symi claiming that he was they only one who would dare to go so deep.

Hatzis dived with the skandalopetra and located the anchor at 83m depth.

The skandalopetra (or simply petra, "stone") is a stone, usually of marble or granite, weighing between 8 and 14 kg, with rounded corners and hydrodynamic shape. It was the only tool used by divers, since the time of Alexander the Great. The fishermen, naked, were tied on the stone with a thin cord. The skandalopetra itself was tied on the boat with the same rope. This link allowed fishermen to dive safely for centuries.

Skandalopetra diving was used until the early 60's but the diving industrialization and the fact that it was a very dangerous and difficult work led to its complete disappearance.

[25] '2nd Sterna Fringe Festival' to be held on Tinos

'Sterna Fringe Festival' is a three day versatile festival with dance, music, theatre, talks, performances, workshops, yoga, creative activities for children, walks and exhibitions.

The initiator of the festival is Ioanna Koutzoukou who loved Isternia - a beautiful village located in the western part of Tinos, overlooking Syros, Kythnos, Giaros and the western Aegean from an altitude of 310 meters. The village was named Isternia because of its many cisterns.

The 1st sterna festival was organized in August 2015 by Koutzoukou's family and friends, who shared her passion for the Arts.

The festival is co-organized by the Association of Isternia and is supported by Tinos Festival and the villagers of Isternia.

[26] Syrian family the victims of migrants boat tragedy

Coast Guard identified the bodies after locating a floating plastic bag containing the family-members documents.

Moreover, the increased flow of migrants and refugees to Greek islands in the last days raised concern to the Greek authorities. Two boats with 55 migrants arrived on Sunday, 79 people reached Lesvos coasts on Wednesday while a dinghy with 40 refugees on board arrived early Thursday.

The same sources said that the refugees and migrants flow to Samos and Chios remained at low levels and authorities attribute it to the fact that the presence of thousands of visitors, particularly Turkish nationals at Cesme and Kusadasi due to the Ramazan Bayarami prevented traffickers activity.

[27] Short film competition for new directors at Thessaloniki Short Film festival

The new competition will be held during the 19th Short Festival of Thessaloniki that will take place between 3 and 12 March 2017.

[28] Appeals court to announce verdict on drug ship 'Noor 1' on July 19

The prosecutor has proposed that the main defendants in the case be found guilty of running an international criminal organization. Other defendants have been charged with aiding and abetting the alleged ring members.

The case has been linked to the mysterious deaths of six people involved in it and Greek authorities cooperated closely with foreign authorities to resolve it. The announcement will be made at the military courthouses in Rouf.

[29] Stavros Niarchos Foundation to fund maintenance of Patrick Leigh Fermor's house

Fermor, a British author, intrepid traveller and decorated soldier, gained prominence from his role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War and his two best-known books, "A Time of Gifts" (1977) and "Between the Woods and the Water" (1986), which recalled his travels across Europe in the 1930s.

In 1996, Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor bequeathed their home to the Benaki Museum with the intention that the house's ownership would be transferred to the Museum after their death. According to the expressed desire of the Leigh Fermors and the donation Contract, the house can be used to host intellectuals and scholars (writers, researchers, artists, poets, etc) who are looking for a quiet and hospitable place to work. In order to cover the operating expenses of the house, the Benaki Museum also has the right to lease the property for a period of three months per year.

"This unique property will operate as a venue that will host important personalities of literature and art, but also as an educational center in cooperation with educational institutions in Greece and abroad," the museum said in a press release.

The Foundation had initially funded the economic and technical study, which was based on the initial proposal of the Benaki Museum for the future functioning of the Fermor house, whose ownership passed on to the museum after the donor's death in the autumn of 2011.

Weather forecast

[30] Sunny and hot on Friday

[31] The Thursday edition of Athens' dailies

AVGHI: Operation "purification"

DIMOKRATIA: Fatal mistakes for 'dark' funds

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: How you will avoid the tax for unreceived rents

ETHNOS: New framework for the farmers

IMERISSIA: New changes in taxes

KATHIMERINI: Thessaloniki university sounds alarm

NAFTEMPORIKI: Changes in taxes

RIZOSPASTIS: Draft law on collective agreements

TA NEA: Crisis in justice

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