Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-01-25

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

CONTENTS

[01] Inner Cabinet briefed on weather-related problems

[02] Papandreou again calls for heating oil subsidy

[03] Eurosystem and Mediterranean central banks meet

[01] Inner Cabinet briefed on weather-related problems

One worry expressed by top government ministers was the prospect of subzero temperatures and accompanying frost overnight.

On his part, Public Works Minister George Souflias said the goal was to keep all national roadways open, as well as Athens' central thoroughfares.

Regarding the gridlock experienced at the Tempi Valley bottleneck late Monday and throughout Tuesday, a problem that generated the severest media criticism, Souflias said such incidents, albeit unfortunate, are not uncommon elsewhere.

"In Greece we need to learn to gravitate towards moderation and not exaggeration," Souflias merely noted.

Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas also briefed participating ministers at the session -- chaired by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis -- that power consumption in the country on Tuesday exceeded 3,600MW, far higher that a 3,250MW figure recorded during a peak last summer.

The most serious power outage affected the Ionian islands of Cephallonia and Ithaca.

In other related developments, numerous schools around the country remained closed, as did most courts.

Conversely, the two largest airports in the country - in Athens and Thessaloniki - remained open.

The situation on the national and provincial road networks was mixed, as inclement conditions necessitated snow tires on the few cars and trucks that ventured onto the major Athens-Thessaloniki highway. A majority of the roads in the foothills and mountainous regions of mainland Greece - Epirus, Macedonia, Thessaly, Sterea Elladha and northeastern Thrace - were either closed to traffic or accessible only by properly equipped SUVs.

Some of the lowest temperatures, meanwhile, were recorded in mountainous Epirus (NW Greece), including a figure of -17C in one site, the so-called "Katara" district.

Finally, most of the longest ferry boat routes from Piraeus and Rafina (greater Athens area) to various Aegean islands were cancelled.

[02] Papandreou again calls for heating oil subsidy

He made the statement during a visit to the working-class municipality of Aghia Varvara, west of downtown Athens.

Papandreou also criticised the government for dealing only with its communications policy, as he said, and not with "people's real problems".

[03] Eurosystem and Mediterranean central banks meet

The third Euro-Mediterranean seminar, which brings together Eurosystem and non-euro area Mediterranean central banks, was jointly organised by the Bank of Greece and the European Central Bank (ECB) and held in Nafplion, in the Peloponnese, on Wednesday. In preparation for this seminar, a workshop was held at the ECB in Frankfurt on September 21-22, 2005, bringing together senior experts from the central banks of the Eurosystem and the Mediterranean partner countries.

The need was expressed for further capital account liberalisation and the reform of monetary policy.

Seminar participants were welcomed by Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB, and Nicholas C. Garganas, Governor of the Bank of Greece. The seminar was attended by government and high-level representatives of the entire Eurosystem, including Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, as well as by governors and high-level representatives of the central banks of Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. The seminar was also attended by the Vice President of the European Investment Bank and a high-level representative of the European Commission.

The Eurosystem attaches great importance to international contacts and exchanges of views with other central banks at the global level, and its relationship with the central banks of the Mediterranean region is no exception. This Euro-Mediterranean seminar was the third at the level of central bank governors. The first meeting was held in Naples in January 2004 and initiated a multilateral dialogue between Eurosystem and non-euro area Mediterranean central banks, which was continued in the second meeting in Cannes in February 2005. This third seminar showed the continued commitment of these meetings as a regular forum for pursuing an active and ongowing dialogue with the central banks of the Mediterranean countries.

Seminar participants underlined the fact that economic and financial developments in the region were generally benign in 2005, with robust growth observed and inflation remaining under control, despite some upward pressure on prices.

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