Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 17-01-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] ESM and EFSF unblock short-term debt relief measures for Greece

[02] ESM decision 'grievously exposes' ND and its leader, PM's press office notes

[03] Moscovici welcomes ESM approval of short-term debt relief for Greece in Twitter post

[04] Tsakalotos letter 'a good starting point' for agreement between institutions, Brussels sources say

[05] ND: Tsakalotos letter to institutions a 'humiliating apology,'

[06] No firm commitment on decongesting islands at PM's meeting with island mayors on refugee crisis

[07] The battle against corruption has just started, gov't sources say

[08] Parliament committee wraps up inquiry into political party, media loans

[09] Number of non-performing loans in Greek bank portfolios declining, Econ. minister tells Parliament

[10] Conclusion of second review as soon as possible, says European Commission spokesman Schinas

[11] FinMin's letter does not outline positions Greece will present at Eurogroup, sources say

[12] A sovereign Cyprus lies at the 'core' of a Cyprus solution, Kotzias says

[13] Commission's coordinator for EU-Turkey agreement Verwey on Tuesday in Mytilene

[14] Achtsioglou and Fotiou to participate in European Pillar of Social Rights conference

[15] ND leader Mitsotakis to visit the island of Lesvos on Feb.3

[16] Protesting farmers turn out in force to block highways and press their demands

[17] Supreme Court's ruling on Turkish officers postponed to Jan 26

[18] Addressing refugee issue is a priority of the Maltese presidency, its ambassador to Greece Cuschieri says

[19] METKA EGN signs 60-mln-euro energy project in the UK

[20] Greek chemical industry on the road to recovery

[21] Income, property tax revenue up in Q3 2016

[22] Pavlidis Marble-Granite to invest 70 mln euros in energy project

[23] Emirates to launch new flight from Dubai to New York via Athens

[24] Direct flights from Chania to Stuttgart

[25] Greek consumers save 3.0 mln euros annually from baby milk deregulation

[26] Road cargo transport up 7.74 pct in 2015

[27] ENGIE Hellas and SNFCC sign agreement for centre's upkeep

[28] Greek stocks end flat

[29] Greek bond market closing report

[30] ADEX closing report

[31] President Pavlopoulos inaugurates new library for Athens School of Fine Arts

[32] Protesting farmers block Ionian Highway near Arta

[33] 10,463 people stranded on the northern Aegean islands; 72 arrivals in the last three days

[34] Thirty five refugees arrested on Kastellorizo

[35] Monastiraki Line 1 platforms to be closed on Tuesday, Wednesday

[36] Rain on Tuesday

[37] The Monday edition of Athens dailies Politics

[01] ESM and EFSF unblock short-term debt relief measures for Greece

The boards of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) have approved the unblocking of short-term debt relief measures for Greece, the ESM announced on Monday.

In a statement after the board meetings, ESM Managing Director and EFSF CEO Klaus Regling said the measures were "an important step toward improving Greece's debt sustaina-bility." According to Regling, when the measures are imple-mented in full, there should lead to cumulative reduction Greece's debt to GDP ratio of around 20 percentage points until 2060.

"We also expect Greece's gross financing needs to fall by almost five percentage points in the same time horizon," he said.

"This substantial debt relief carries no budgetary implications for ESM Member States. The ESM and EFSF short-term measures will ease Greece's debt burden, but the ultimate success of the programme lies in the continued implementation of reforms by the Greek government," he added.

According to an ESM announcement, the ESM Board of Directors approved three schemes aimed at reducing interest rate risk for Greece. The first is a bond exchange, where floating rate notes disbursed by the ESM to Greece for bank recapitalisation will be exchanged for fixed coupon notes. The second scheme allows the ESM to enter into swap arrangements to reduce the risk that Greece will have to pay a higher interest rate on its loans when market rates start rising. The third scheme is known as "matched funding", which will entail issuing long-term bonds that closely match the maturity of the Greek loans, and implies the ESM charging a fixed rate on part of future disbursements to Greece.

The EFSF Board of Directors also approved a bond exchange, similar in its purpose and design to the exchange of ESM bonds, but applicable to EFSF floating rate notes disbursed to Greece. In addition, the EFSF has waived the step-up interest rate margin for the year 2017 on the ? 11.3 billion EFSF loan tranche that was used to finance a debt buy-back. A margin of 2% had originally been foreseen, starting from 2017.

An additional measure - the smoothing of Greece' s EFSF repayment profile - will be carried out at technical level by the EFSF. It is expected to be completed by the end of January 2017.

Euro area finance ministers endorsed these measures at the Eurogroup meeting on 5 December 2016.

[02] ESM decision 'grievously exposes' ND and its leader, PM's press office notes

The decision of the ESM and EFSF board of directors left Mitsotakis and his party "grievously exposed" since despite the government's support for low-income pensioners, the debt relief measures for Greece were going ahead, the announcement noted.

"Contrary to ND's expectations and runaway disaster-mongering, the ESM today approved the short-term debt relief measures for Greece, which will reduce the debt to GDP ratio by around 20 percentage points until 2060," the announcement said.

In the wake of this, it added, ND's leader "who a month ago refused support to 1.6 million low-income pensioners...even though he had earlier officially stated that he would vote in favour," was now in a very embarrassing position.

According to the PM's press office, the decision meant the collapse of what it called "ND's specious argument" that the government had jeopardised debt relief for Greece through its so-called "unilateral action."

"Today, Mitsotakis finds himself facing two awkward realisations: that support to low-income pensioners was given by the government and debt relief is proceeding as planned....All that is now left to Mr. Mitsotakis are the credentials of submission that he willingly presented," the announcement concluded.

[03] Moscovici welcomes ESM approval of short-term debt relief for Greece in Twitter post

"The Eurozone is unlocking the short-term measures for Greek debt. I am glad because the relief we have been expecting can now begin," Moscovici said, writing in French.

[04] Tsakalotos letter 'a good starting point' for agreement between institutions, Brussels sources say

The letter sent by Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is a "good starting point for an agreement between the four institutions," sources in Brussels told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Monday.

They noted that the letter was "well written" but noted that additional negotiations will be needed for a final agreement to be reached. Commenting on the results of a meeting between International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Davos, the sources said these confirmed the necessity of the IMF's participation in the Greek programme.

[05] ND: Tsakalotos letter to institutions a 'humiliating apology,'

In order to persuade the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to unlock the short-term debt relief measures for Greece - originally approved on December 5 and subsequently suspended - Tsakalotos had essentially promised to never again give pensioners a one-off cash bonus, ND said in an announce-ment.

"At the same time, the Tsipras government has booby-trapped the country's course by agreeing to primary surplus targets of 3.5 pct of GDP that cannot be achieved for many years. How many more times will they issue announcements celebrating the constant austerity without any return that they have imposed on the Greek people," the announcement added.

[06] No firm commitment on decongesting islands at PM's meeting with island mayors on refugee crisis

Chios Mayor Manolis Vournous stressed decongesting the islands was "the number one demand" since the excess population of migrants and refugees made daily life on the islands extremely difficult and gave rise to social problems. He stressed the need for a "stable approach" and to reinforce basic services, as well as security and policing on the islands.

The five mayors said they had presented the problems faced by their communities, while noting that there was no discussion about possible new hotspots during the meeting. The five mayors are also scheduled to have meetings with representatives of the political parties on Tuesday and to meet with the Island Policy Minister on Wednesday to discuss tourism promotion.

[07] The battle against corruption has just started, gov't sources say

"The government will place special emphasis on the case," the same source said in statements to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA). "The investigation on corruption has just started," it added.

Based on the latest data, loans to New Democracy and PASOK reach 401 million euros while loans to the media reach 1.27 billion euros. The government source said that the committee's final report is expected to run to 600 pages, reflected the volume of work done over the previous months. The same source singled out three cases, in particular: the loan to the Crete-based newspaper "Kirikas Chanion," in which the current president of main opposition New Democracy Kyriakos Mitsotakis has a 60 pct share, the loans handed out without any collateral and the loans given to the newspaper "Proto Thema" for transactions in the company's stock by its own shareholders.

The source said that the case was just beginning, since the report outlining the committee's findings will now be delivered to justice, which will take up the investigation into possible criminal liability by bankers, politicians and media owners that may be involved.

[08] Parliament committee wraps up inquiry into political party, media loans

Each of the parties represented on the committee reached volubly different conclusions concerning the extent of corruption involved, setting the tone for the debate on its findings that is to take place in the plenum on February 1.

The final report delivered to Voutsis by the commitee chairman Antonis Balomenakis runs to 965 pages, while there was strong disagreement between the ruling coalition and the opposition parties regarding its conclusions during the committee's last session. The opposition parties finally insisted on appending their own conclusions and positions separately, attached to the final report.

During the vote on the set of conclusions supported by the ruling majority, votes in favour were cast by 12 MPs from SYRIZA and ANEL, while there were eight votes against, cast by main opposition New Democracy, Democratic Alliance, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Golden Dawn. Two MPs representing the Potami party and Union of Centrists abstained, voting 'present'. All the parties with the exception of ND also supported the majority's proposal that the final report, as it stood, should be sent to the Supreme Court prosecutor so that justice can investigate any criminal liability that may exist.

Commenting on the final report, government sources noted that SYRIZA's standing political pledge to investigate the "triangle of corruption," made two years earlier in January 2015, was now a reality. "Just nine months were needed, and the depositions-confessions of the protagonists themselves, to refute the lies of decades and shed light on the underground dealings of ND and PASOK with the media and banks," they said. The inquiry had proved to all Greece that the "main pillar for the production of policy for decades was corruption itself, with banks transformed into a piggy bank to serve their mutual interests."

According to ND, however, the committee's findings were "yet another resounding defeat for the government" and had culminated in "SYRIZA's conclusion, according to which there was no evidence of criminal liability for political figures, since there was no indication of their involvement in the lending to political parties and media enterprises."

ND submitted its own 110-page conclusions outlining 38 specific findings.

[09] Number of non-performing loans in Greek bank portfolios declining, Econ. minister tells Parliament

The minister refuted claims made by Democratic Alliance MP Vasilis Kegeroglou that NPLs were rising, saying that this was not the case and that NPLs were tending to decline.

[10] Conclusion of second review as soon as possible, says European Commission spokesman Schinas

The European Commission is struggling for the best possible progress ahead of Thursday's Eurogroup meeting, its spokesman Margaritis Schinas on Monday said during a press briefing.

"The Commission is working hard with the Greek authorities and the other partners to achieve the best possible progress ahead of the Eurogroup meeting," he said adding that "the aim is to have the second review concluded as soon as possible".

Referring to the letter of compromise, he said that such issues are discussed within the context of the negotiations and among the Eurogroup members. Finally, Schinas underlined that the European Commission is focused on a 'constructive' discussion in order to continue the cooperation and facilitate the further progress.

Additionally, a community source referred to European institution's pleasure over IMF chief Christine Lagarde's statement in which she expressed her commitment to the Greek programme after her meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Davos. "We feel reassured by Lagarde's statement that the Fund remains committed to the implementation of those agreed," said the same source.

[11] FinMin's letter does not outline positions Greece will present at Eurogroup, sources say

They said the Greek government had informed the institutions about this in a letter from Tsakalotos, while clarifying that the letter did not include the positions of the Greek side.

[12] A sovereign Cyprus lies at the 'core' of a Cyprus solution, Kotzias says

The fact that this 'core' of the Cyprus issue had surfaced from the depths and become the object of talks was a "major success" during the negotiations, Kotzias added, since it had forced Turkey to discuss the issue and the international actors to recognise that this was the main problem.

Kotzias referred to three main elements that the Greek side proposed for the departure of the occupation troops, namely ensuring a constant flow, having a final completion date and the monitoring of the flow by an international organisation, such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), so there could be direct control of the real number of troops, a register of weapons and of departure flows.

The foreign minister also stressed the importance of keeping the negotiation open-ended, noting that Turkey had not wanted this. He indicated that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was prepared to take part in the talks, provided that conditions had sufficiently mature as to create a window for an agreement.

The Greek side does not want the talks on Cyprus to end with a failure, Kotzias added, and stressed that channels of communication with Turkey must be kept open, even at the most difficult moments. Greece wants to solve problems with its neighbours on the basis of European and international law, he added.

[13] Commission's coordinator for EU-Turkey agreement Verwey on Tuesday in Mytilene

Verwey will initially tour the refugees' camp of Moria in Mytilene and afterwards will hold meetings with members of the European and Greek authorities and with members of organisations activating in Mytilene.

Later, he will meet with the mayor of Lesvos and afterwards with representatives of the press. A debate with the members of the municipal committee in which have been invited and the MPs elected in the constituency will follow.

Verwey has also visited the island of Chios a month ago.

[14] Achtsioglou and Fotiou to participate in European Pillar of Social Rights conference

The aim of the European Pillar of Social Rights is to enhance the EU social acquis and suggest the right policies in a number of critical areas in order to achieve the smooth and fair operation of labour markets and welfare systems in the participating member states.

According to a Labour Ministry's announcement on the European Pillar of Social Rights, in the last period a broad consultation with other EU institutions, national authorities and parliaments, social partners, civil society and experts from universities and citizens has been held.

[15] ND leader Mitsotakis to visit the island of Lesvos on Feb.3

Mitsotakis will meet with representatives of the local authorities and agencies and is expected to tour refugees hosting centers in Moria and Kara Tepe.

ND leader will deliver a speech on Friday at the Municipal Theatre of Mytilene and then he will return to Athens.

[16] Protesting farmers turn out in force to block highways and press their demands

Farmers in Arta set up a roadblock on the Ionian Highway after a rally and tractor march through the city, while farmers from Tyrnavos arrived on the Larisa-Kozani national highway near Melouna at 13:30.

The head of the Larisa farming association federation Rizos Maroudas said that the farmers were launching a struggle to press for solutions to their problems and "avert new measures that the government is planning against farmers and livestock breeders."

Based on decision taking by farming associations and protest committees, a second roadblock will be set up in Agia on Tuesday, while a large blockade by the federations in Larisa, Karditsa and Trikala is planned on Thursday.

Farmers were also mobilising in Aitoloakarnania in western Greece, with a protest held in Agrinio and announcing that they would decide on action to escalate their protests at a meeting of all farmers in Aitoloakarnania to be held over the next few days.

Support for the farmers' mobilisation has come from the civil servants' union federation ADEDY, which noted that farmers faced a tripling of their social insurance contributions and a 60 pct cut in their pensions by 2022, while their taxation rate was being doubled from 13 pct to 26 pct.

The Communist party-affiliated trade union group PAME also issued an announcement of support, urging workers and unions in every sector to support the farmers' protests against the government's attempts at "social automatism".

[17] Supreme Court's ruling on Turkish officers postponed to Jan 26

[18] Addressing refugee issue is a priority of the Maltese presidency, its ambassador to Greece Cuschieri says

He added that during the Maltese presidency in EU he will be working closely with the Greek authorities, and especially with the Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas.

"The refugee issue is our top priority," he said.

"The fact that migrants from Africa arrive in countries of the region, mostly Malta and Greece, does not mean that these people want to stay in these countries. Instead, they want to move to northern Europe and elsewhere. It is therefore clear that the problem is a European problem, and not of a problem of one member state," he noted.

Libya, Syria and Turkey are the key countries to address migration, the ambassador of Malta said. "We fear that the problem will escalate in the coming months, if do not look in depth the problems of Libya, which may explode in the Central Mediterranean and if we do not understand the conflict in Syria. And, of course, we must be in close cooperation with Turkey, which is an important partner for the control of EU external borders," he said.

Financial News

[19] METKA EGN signs 60-mln-euro energy project in the UK

In an announcement, METKA EGN said the largest contract was signed with Noriker Power Limited to build an innovative electricity production unit with a power of 20 MW, including an energy storage facility, offering rapid frequency services to the electricity grid in the UK.

The company will exploit the expertize gain from a successful implementation of an Oriana project in Puerto Rico for Sonnedix, one of the largest solar power units worldwide.

The remaining projects are solar power units in the UK, six of them co-produced with Lightsource and Canadian Solar.

[20] Greek chemical industry on the road to recovery

IBHS said that an improvement in the last year was achieved amid a gradual worsening of the political and economic scene, which climaxed with a three-week bank holiday in July and the imposition of capital controls in the country. The chemical industry's production index grew by 3.7 pct in 2015 from an 1.2 pct increase in the previous year.

Production volume fell 11.0 pct in July 2015, on a year-on-year basis, but grew in all other months of the year, while a significant percentage of chemical industries were forced to freeze their investment plans.

Exports grew 10.8 pct in 2015 to 165.76 billion euros, after falling for a number of years until 2014, while imports were stable at 914.76 billion euros, after falling by an accumulated 11.7 pct in the last four year.

Greek chemical enterprises faced strong competition from the import of raw materials, particulaly from third countries, because of lower prices.

Petros Bouroutis, Marketing & Business Affairs Manager in Infobank Hellastat said that production companies with an extrovert activity will prove more resilient to the recession, taking advantage of the clearly more satisfactory demand levels recorded from foreign markets.

The IBHS report analyzed the financial reports of 165 production and commercial enterprises in the sector. Total turnover was 1.06 billion euros in 2014, up 5.4 pct from the previous year. EBITDA rose 18.6 pct to 77.45 million euros and EBITDA margin grew to 7.8 pct.

[21] Income, property tax revenue up in Q3 2016

Revenue from taxes on production and imports accounted for 33.8 pct of total revenue (8.038 billion euros) from 33.3 pct (6.656 billion) in 2015. Total general government revenue was 23.78 billion euros in the third quarter from 19.97 billion in the same period in 2015.

The statistics service, in its quarterly report, said that wages accounted for 26.1 pct of total spending in the third quarter of 2016 (5.482 billion euros), from 26.2 pct (5.353 billion) in the same period in 2015. Social spending accounted for 45 pct (9.439 billion) from 47 pct (9.609 billion) in 2015 and primary spending fell to 19.628 billion euros in the third quarter from 19.689 billion in 2015.

The general government's primary balance (excluding interest) totaled 4.152 billion euros, from 22 million in 2015.

The public debt was 311.16 billion euros in the third quarter of 2016 from 315.292 billion in the second quarter of 2016 and 303.193 billion in the third quarter of 2015.

[22] Pavlidis Marble-Granite to invest 70 mln euros in energy project

The plan envisages the development of four energy parks with a total power of 50 MW for the production of electricity power in Macedonia and Thrace and more particularly in Serres, Komotini and Thrace. Construction works are scheduled to begin in March 2017. This investment will improve the company's project portfolio, raising its position in the Greek renewable energy source market.

Pavlidis Marble-Granite expects positive results in 2016, boosted by marble exports, and said that investing in windpower energy would offer new sources of liquidity.

Pavlidis Marble-Granite reported an annual turnover of 50 million euros in 2015 and expected a 20 pct increase in 2016.

[23] Emirates to launch new flight from Dubai to New York via Athens

According to the announcement, Athens is a market with important investment opportunities especially in today's highly competitive environment of the airline industry. According to surveys of the Athens International Airport, passenger traffic between Athens and the US with a stopover exceeds the 570,000 passengers annually, while only in summer 2016, the traffic in direct flights to New York increased by 52 percent, reaching 156,000 passengers.

"Therefore, the size of the New York market provides a unique opportunity for activities in the US. Emirates decided to take advantage of that opportunity and also play an important role in the Greek market," the announcement added.

Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura welcomed the decision and stressed the importance of supporting "the efforts of the Tourism ministry to further enhance the already increasing tourist flows from the USA and the United Arab Emirates to Greece, on an annual basis, traveling either for leisure or business purposes."

[24] Direct flights from Chania to Stuttgart

The tourism fair in Stuttgart is the largest tourism fair in Europe, with 220,000 visitors. The deputy regional governor of Chania Apostolos Voulgarakis, who was leading the delegation, had a meeting with the Tourism Minister of Baden-W?rttemberg, Guido Wolf.

According to an announcement of the regional administration, the participation of Crete in the next tourism fair was considered necessary.

[25] Greek consumers save 3.0 mln euros annually from baby milk deregulation

The survey focused on the first category of baby milk. IELKA said that baby milk has a significant cost on family budget, of more than 120 euros on a monthly basis. The global baby milk market has an annual turnover of 7.9 billion US dollars, while the European market was a value of more than 1.5 billion euros and the Greek market a value of 28-32 million euros.

Baby milk was sold exclusively in pharmacies by 2011, but the market opened in 2012 allowing supermarkets and e-stores to sell this product.

IELKA survey showed that this decision had positive impact on prices, with products sold by supermarkets at 24.74 euros per kilo on average, 9.4 pct cheaper compared with 2011 and at 26.78 euros per kilo by on-line stores, 1.94 pct cheaper compared with 2011.

This decline prices accounted for a saving of 3.0 million euros for Greek consumers, practically, a Greek household will save around 120 euros for the six-month period that will use baby milk.

[26] Road cargo transport up 7.74 pct in 2015

The statistics service, in a report, said that the weight of cargo transported by private lorries in 2015 totaled 332,442 thousand tons, up 7.47 pct from 2014, while the weight of cargo transported by public use lorries totaled 84,159 thousand tons, up 18.3 pct over the same period.

Among various cargo types, the "other packaging categories" recorded an 144.91 pct increase, while "liquid category" rose 45.67 pct. The "dry cargo category" fell 16.5 pct and containers fell 11.41 pct in 2015.

Western Macedonia recorded the largest number of cargo transport, followed by Attica and Central Macedonia. Based on weight, Central Macedonia recorded the highest number, followed by Attica.

[27] ENGIE Hellas and SNFCC sign agreement for centre's upkeep

Under the agreement, ENGIE Hellas will provide a range of services from technical maintenance and energy, to security, cleaning, gardening and waste disposal.

The agreement is the largest of its kind in Greece and is expected to create at least 250 new jobs, including those of the contractors, an announcement said.

[28] Greek stocks end flat

Aegean Airlines (2.28 pct), Jumbo (1.97 pct) and Hellenic Petroleum (1.81 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while Titan (2.31 pct), Motor Oil (1.17 pct) and Eurobank (1.11 pct) suffered heavy losses. Among market sectors, Personal Products (1.42 pct) and Raw Materials (1.12 pct) scored big gains, while Construction (1.85 pct) and Banks (0.72 pct) suffered losses.

National Bank and Piraeus Bank were the most heavily traded securities of the day. Broadly, advancers led decliners by 55 to 52 with another 20 issues unchanged. Intertek (25 pct), AXON Holdings (20 pct) and Sato (16.95 pct) were top gainers, while Tzirakian (20 pct), Pasal (16.83 pct) and Foodlink (10 pct) were top losers.

[29] Greek bond market closing report

In interbank markets, interest rates continued falling. The 12-month rate eased to -0.101 pct from -0.100 pct, the nine-month rate fell to -0.156 pct from -0.155 pct, the six-month rate was -0.241 pct, the three-month rate was -0.327 pct and the one-month rate was-0.372 pct.

[30] ADEX closing report

General News

[31] President Pavlopoulos inaugurates new library for Athens School of Fine Arts

The project, which houses the oldest and most complete library on the arts in Greece, was built with European Community funding, while the planning and design of the facility and the cost of the move were financed with a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

In a speech at the opening of the new library, President Pavlopoulos highlighted that this was yet another SNF contribution to cultural life in Greece, following the construction of the SNF Cultural Centre in Faliro. He also noted that the opening of the new library coincided with the 180th anniversary since the foundation of the 'School of Arts' in 1837, from which the School of Fine Arts and the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) eventually emerged.

"This is, without doubt, the most important library in Greece from the point of view of artistic content, which along with the National Library hides within itself real artistic treasures," Pavlopoulos said.

The new library was built on the premises of the former Sikiaridis textile factory and, as the president said, "coexists in a creatively contrasting dialogue with its 'melancholy' remains."

The School of Fine Arts presented the president with an honorary plaque containing three original postage stamps that the Hellenic Post will circulate on Monday to mark the School's 180th anniversary, as well as an engraving by Greek artist Yiannis Moralis depicting the School's facade.

The event was attended by Culture Minister Lydia Koniordou and SNF representative Vasilis Kaskarelis.

[32] Protesting farmers block Ionian Highway near Arta

Meanwhile, at a roadblock set up by farmers at the town of Louros, farmers were "organising to stay" according to the head of the Preveza farmers's federation Spyros Klinakis.

[33] 10,463 people stranded on the northern Aegean islands; 72 arrivals in the last three days

According to police, 10,463 people that have applied for asylum which has been not examined yet remain stranded on the northern Aegean islands.

[34] Thirty five refugees arrested on Kastellorizo

[35] Monastiraki Line 1 platforms to be closed on Tuesday, Wednesday

The station will be open for line 3 metro trains running between Egaleo, Doukissis Plakentias and the Athens Airport. ISAP trains will go through the station without stopping or taking on passengers. Those wishing to change trains must go via Syntagma, Omonia and Attiki stations.

Weather forecast

[36] Rain on Tuesday

[37] The Monday edition of Athens dailies

ETHNOS: Zero hour for the negotiations

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: 30 windows for pension before 62

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: 24,251 hirings in municipalities

TA NEA: What is needed for the measures to pass

NAFTEMPORIKI: Changes in the labour market

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