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Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-16Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Karamanlis visits Ireland, holds talks with Irish PM AhernDUBLIN (ANA - L. Tsirigotakis) Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis held talks with his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern over a working dinner on Thursday in Dublin, following Karamanlis' arrival after a lightning visit to Berlin. The main issues discussed were the European Constitutional Treaty, the cohesion of the European Union and European enlargement in the Balkans, as well as bilateral relations between Greece and Ireland. Summarising his talks with Ahern, Karamanlis noted that bilateral relations between Greece and Ireland were excellent and that the two countries had very useful and effective cooperation in the international forums where they both participated."There are, of course, many opportunities and much potential for expanding and developing this cooperation even more, so a large part of our talks was devoted to this issue," he noted. The Greek premier also pointed out that he had last visited Dublin for the celebrations marking the accession of the 10 new member-states of the EU. Stressing that the EU now faced "new challenges of major importance for the future," Karamanlis said that he and Ahern had carried out an overview of these challenges and exchanged views concerning the future of Europe, its enlargement and ways to approach the issue of the EU constitutional treaty after the end of a period of reflection. "Greece wants to see a new energy in our efforts and the continuation of dialogue with careful exploration of future prospects. In this process, we must pay due attention to the concerns of the citizens and the need to restore their trust in the European enterprise," he said. Karamanlis noted that achieving better conditions for the development of EU economies and creating new jobs would help significantly in this direction. "In this framework, we also examined the progress of the Lisbon process with Mr. Ahern and agreed that even more must be done in order to achieve our targets," he added. The Greek premier also briefed Ahern on Greece's positions on issues of regional and broader international interest, particularly the situation in the Balkans, Turkey's prospects of EU accession, the Cyprus problem and the Middle East. Karamanlis was accompanied by newly-appointed Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyiannis and a Greek delegation. Immediately after the talks, the Greek premier and the Greek delegation left for Athens. ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved. [02] Trade unions to discuss strike actionA meeting on Thursday between Greek employers' and employees' unions over reaching a new general collective labour agreement for 2006 ended in deadlock. Employers' groups, mainly the Federation of Greek Industries (SEB) are offering pay hikes of less than 3.0 percent, based on the average European inflation rate and a part of a productivity growth rate in the country. "Trade unions will not agree on such an offer," General Confederation of Employees of Greece (GSEE) President Christos Polyzogopoulos said.Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he announced a general assembly of GSEE next Tuesday to discuss strike actions for early March, together with the Civil Seravants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY). Polyzogopoulos said the likelihood of reaching a compromise pay agreement with employers was more distant now. Trade unions see as priority measures to protecting an institutional framework covering collective pay agreements at all levels. ?Any attempt to undermine this framework creates a major issue and it is considered as ?casus belli? by trade unions,? Polyzogopoulos said. GSEE's head urged the prime minister to intervene in protecting the framework of collective pay agreements between workers and employers. SEB president Odysseas Kyriakopoulos said employers considered a national collective labour agreement as a framework that has contributed in establishing work-place peace in the country and reiterated his intention not to question the significance of labour agreements in the future. Kyriakopoulos, however, noted that a minimum wage level was creating problems when rolled over to pay agreements in loss-making sectors. He said the country suffered a competitiveness deficit and said that average minimum wages in Greece, following its entry in EMU, rose by 29.9 pct, compared with a 9.8-percent increase in the Eurozone. ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved. [03] FinMin: More checks to combat tax evasionGreek Economy and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis on Thursday urged for intensified inspections in domestic markets to combat smuggling in fuel products and to containing tax evasion particularly by night clubs. Addressing the ceremony of the inauguration of a new building to house the Special Inspections Agency, the economy and finance minister stressed that the ministry would not tolerate any abuse of power by members of the Agency.He stressed that emphasis should be given on inspections in fuel products and night clubs. He underlined that the night club sector was not only committing financial but social crimes as well that needed to be effectively combatted. The Greek minister stressed that a new laboratory of decoding electronic transactions and a new department of e-commerce inspection were the spearheads of the ministry's efforts to combat new forms of electronic crime in the country. Elias Argyros, the agency's special secretary, addressing the event, referred to the positive results of the agency's activities so far saying that inspections so far has revealed tax evasion cases worth more than 865 million euros. ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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