Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou attacks government on corruption furor

[02] Greece says EU Court's ruling on feta cheese 'historic'

[01] Papandreou attacks government on corruption furor

Asked about the issue on Tuesday, main opposition PASOK president George Papandreou first attacked the government and ruling New Democracy party, saying the former has the primary responsibility for implementing the "rules and laws that must be applied to all".

Additionally, he again cited what he called an eight-point programme to fight corruption, saying he was awaiting a positive response by the government, although he said the government so far has not responded to this initiative.

"PASOK is determined to give this battle (against corruption)," the former foreign minister in successive Simitis governments said.

The PASOK leader made the comments following a meeting with members of a high-profile group -- the Greek Union for Human and Citizens' Rights -- vigorously promoting a complete separation between the state and Church.

Regarding the latter meeting, Papandreou said he favors "distinct and clear roles of institutions", while adding that he found the group's proposal for Church-state relations responsible and covering all related issues.

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos later dismissed Papandreou's claims, namely, that an eight-point proposal tabled by PASOK months ago was being ?processed? and made more specific.

?It took them 10 months to understand (that the proposal was vague) ? When they (PASOK) finish processing it (proposal) we will be waiting to hear specific, I trust, proposals,? the spokesman said.

?As for a cover-up and a belief in a system of favouritism, they are practises identified with PASOKâs 20 years in power,? he said, countering charges by Papandreou that the government was attempting to cover-up such instances.

KKE

On its part, the Communist Party of Greece's (KKE) called on supporters "not to fall into the trap of disinformation being laid over real scandals and corruption".

The party again reiterated its standing position of an unfair distribution of wealth in the country, saying that although GDP reached 165.2 billion euros in 2004 from 79.9 billion in 1995, "only new privileges, tax breaks and incentives are being handed to big capital, whereas pension rights are again under fire as education and healthcare are being commercialised."

Finally, KKE said scandals, a lack of transparency and corruption are endemic to the capitalist system.

[02] Greece says EU Court's ruling on feta cheese 'historic'

Speaking to reporters after hearing the court's decision, the Greek minister said that "after years of struggle, the Greek government's coordinated and systematic handling of the case ended successfully. The European Court, with its historic decision, decisively ruled that the name 'feta' was not common and that it was exclusively Greek, annulling the cases brought by Denmark, Germany, France and the UK".

"Starting today, Greek feta producers can exclusively sell their product in the European market. Their exclusiveness is related with the quality and Greek cultural traditions," Basiakos noted.

The European court ruled that the name "feta" is recognised as a protected designation of origin (PDO) for white cheese soaked in brine traditionally produced in Greece, from ewes' milk or a mixture of ewes' milk and goats' milk.

The milk used for the manufacture of "feta" must come exclusively from the Greek regions of Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus, Thessaly, central Greece, the Peloponnese and the prefecture of Lesvos.

The geographical area thus defined for the production of feta covers only mainland Greece and Lesvos, an island in the eastern Aegean. It does not include the island of Crete or certain other island chains in the Greek archipelagos, namely the Sporades, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese Islands and the Ionian Islands. The court rejected the applicants' submission that the quality and characteristics of feta were not essentially or exclusively due to a particular geographical environment.

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