Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-03-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Reforms will continue, PM Karamanlis affirms at Parliamentary group session

[02] PASOK presents 3rd 'book of government unreliability'

[03] Bulgarian PM Stanishev in Athens for pipeline deal

[01] Reforms will continue, PM Karamanlis affirms at Parliamentary group session

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis underlined on Wednesday that, exactly three years earlier, on March 7, 2004, Greece decided to "change pages" and clash with the accumulated problems and chronic weaknesses of the past, while pledging that reforms initiated by his government would continue.

Karamanlis' high-profile comments came during an address to his ruling New Democracy party's Parliamentary group marking the third anniversary of ND's assumption of the government.

"Greece (since 2004) has entered a steady and secure orbit of changes and reforms", which were "now the universal demand of the citizens," he said.

"The reforms we commenced are continuing with a four-year timetable. The reforms we drafted will also continue after the 2008 general elections," Karamanlis said, adding that the ND government has already planned a structured dialogue on the major institutional changes in the following period, which concern Constitutional revision, reforms in the country's administrative structure, the social insurance system and social protection against poverty.

In focusing on the course of the economy, Karamanlis noted that the deficit had been contained at below 3 percentage points of GDP, while growth rates achieved were double the Eurozone average, adding that "development today is not limited to the state-supported sectors, and is not founded on borrowing and debts".

"This is the crucial policy difference. Nearly two-thirds of the development is attributed to investments and exports," the premier explained.

Turning to each sector of governmental work in turn, Karamanlis said "the commitments we undertook are turning into action, day to day" with the backing of the citizens, who "demand changes and reforms that lead far away from the practices and mentalities of the past ? This was why undermining actions are in vain. This is why our position becomes increasingly stronger. And this position is not negotiable. Reforms are continuing," he said.

Foreign policy

Turning to foreign policy, Karamanlis reiterated that Greece encouraged neighbouring Turkey's European orientation, in such a way that its full implementation of EU criteria would finally result in its full accession, although he warned that "this, however, is conditional, first of all to its (Ankara's) compliance with the commitments it has undertaken towards the European Union ? Commitments that are judged and will be judged at every further step by all the EU member states".

Regarding FYROM, the prime minister said Greece sought "a full normalisation of our relations with FYROM, with a mutually acceptable name, for the facilitation, therefore, of its course towards Euro-Atlantic institutions as well".

Karamanlis said that, in the context of Greece's incorporation into a global energy charter, a three-way interstate agreement between Greece, Russia and Bulgaria for the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline will be signed in the second half of March in Athens.

Education reforms

On the education front, he said that among the ideas being examined was the separation of secondary education from a nationwide college admissions process, a planned change that would be based on extensive dialogue beforehand.

Referring more specifically to provisions in a framework-law on higher education, Karamanlis said it encouraged the self-administration and autonomy of universities, and that it "effectively safeguards the academic asylum and ensures the free dissemination of ideas, which today is being violated by the uncontrolled violence".

Touching on dialogue carried out on the important issues concerning society, Karamanlis said the government was not claiming infallibility, although he stressed that ND had not made, nor would it make, choices that sacrifice the interests of the many or undermine the country's future.

Karamanlis further referred to a "broad social alliance" forged by ND:

"The relationship of confidence we created with the citizens has consolidated a new governance. The pact we made with the Greek people is being fully applied. We must, however, be totally frank. In some instances the dialogue with those immediately concerned lasted longer than society desired. In some instances mistakes may have been made. We do not reject criticism that aims at improvements. We have not claimed, nor are we claiming, infallibility. However, choices that sacrifice the interests of the many, choices that undermine the country's future, choices that put forward party interests at the expense of the collective good have not been made, and are not being made, and will not be made," he emphasised.

"This is why we say 'no' to facile promises. This is why we say 'no' to acrimony. This is why we say 'no' to barren rejection. We are bound by the confidence of the citizens. We our bound by our duty to the Greece of the future. We are bound by the concerns and dreams of thousands of youths who are struggling for a better tomorrow. We our bound by the demands of society for solutions to the problems. We are bound by the people's mandate for political change. This is why we are persisting with the strategy of reforms. We are continuing with even greater determination," Karamanlis continued.

Regarding the "fair and important demands" put forward by society, the premier said that the course that has led the Greek economy to a better position "required difficult, but absolutely necessary, decisions", adding that it was "more than certain" that the major impasses have been left behind. "We won battles, which improve the present. We are creating conditions that guarantee a better tomorrow. For all the citizens. Throughout the entire country," Karamanlis stressed.

Particularly regarding the reforms being advanced by his government, Karamanlis said the citizens perceive the needs of the times.

"They demand changes and reforms that lead far away from the practices and mentalities of the past; changes and reforms for a better prospect. This is why the barren reactions are doomed. This is why the attempts at undermining are in vain. This is why our position is becoming increasingly stronger. And this position is not negotiable. The reforms are continuing. The reforms are becoming action, with the backing of the citizens. They are being made for the present and the future. And this concerns, first of all, education," the premier continued.

Turning to the need for presentation of the political parties' platform positions, Karamanlis said that society demands from everyone replies on the "what" and "how", but warned, however, that society rejects the rationale of "highest-bidder" pledges.

In an indirect but clear reference to main opposition PASOK party, Karamanlis said that "some are feigning today that they never governed this country and are pledging, as the opposition, all that they had refused as government".

"They accuse others for what they themselves are to blame. They have forgotten what they themselves had said about their identification with the State and the partisanship that razed everything. They have forgotten that they left behind the debts and the deficits, high prices and unemployment, corruption and poverty. Some think that they can mislead with cheap words. They think that they can underestimate the citizens' intelligence. They believe that they benefit from fanaticism, acrimony and polarisation. Some oppose every reform, manufacturing flimsy pretexts. They are attempting to undermine even the highest parliamentary procedure, which concerns the Constitutional revision. They turn their backs on the interest of the country. I don't know whether they think that's how to rally themselves together, or exorcise their fear. What is certain, however, is that they are trying to turn their weakness into a problem of the country. What is certain is that they remain captives of the past, and to the minorities of inertia. They say and unsay. The promise and retract. They speak of the future but turn back to the past. Confusion is their permanent counsel. This acts dangerously both for them and for the country. The former is, naturally, their own problem, but the latter concerns all of us," Karamanlis said.

"Our decision," he continued, "is to leave them by themselves, in the extremes and extremities they have opted for. Our decision is to carry on with the changes, together with the citizens. Our decision is to firmly continue the strategy that rids the country from the bonds of inertia" Karamanlis stressed.

The citizens "choose the path of reforms, growth and progress. The road that leads to our common goal: A better life for all the citizens. This was the road selected by the Greek people on March 7, 2004. And it is on this road that we are continuing, firmly and without deviation, with self-confidence and optimism, and with certainty," the premier concluded.

KKE

"The prime minister's speech was, in essence, a response to PASOK within the framework of their power struggle, a fact that in itself undermines the interest of the people," the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said in announcement issued by its press office.

The statement also stressed that both the ruling party and the main opposition share an "anti-popular" policy being in the "service of capitalists."

Alavanos

"The government policy is in conflict with the interests of the vast majority of the people," Coalition of the Left (Synaspismos) president Alekos Alavanos later said in reference to the premier's address.

Alavanos stated that the government policy is in conflict with the social state and in order to impose itself it resorts to "unconstitutional moves like the framework law on education."

On the likelihood of early elections, Alavanos said elections are the government's initiative and his party is ready.

On the government side, Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas said the prime minister's speech "lays the ground for a third term in the country's government."

"The premier's speech marking the three-year anniversary of the new governance of changes and reforms confirms that the government has the people's mandate to continue on the same path of changes and reforms in a decisive, uncompromising and firm manner toward the realization of the remaining commitments included in its programme," said Sioufas.

Defence Minister Evangelos Meimarakis commented that ND still has a lot of work to do, adding that it has proceeded with the implementation of the necessary reforms and will serve its entire term in government.

Caption: PM Costas Karamanlis addresses deputies of his ruling New Democracy party on Wednesday, March 7, 2007. ANA-MPA / P. Saitas.

[02] PASOK presents 3rd 'book of government unreliability'

PASOK has issued a similar list, usually running to several hundred pages, on each anniversary since the ruling New Democracy government came to power in March 2004.

PASOK party secretary Nikos Athanassakis stressed that this year's book would be the last, since PASOK would be in power by next year.

He began his presentation by rhetorically asking whether Greek citizens were better off now than they were three years ago, answering himself with a resounding 'no', while underlining that ND may today (Wednesday) celebrate its third year in power, "but the Greek people had no reason to celebrate, being deceived by the government."

Less extensive than in past years, the theme of 'deception' was repeated throughout the book's 14 chapters, which outlined 60 points where PASOK says basic pre-election pledges were not carried out.

These included promises to increase funding for education, Internet access for young people, increase farming incomes and stamp out bureaucracy.

Among those that the present government allegedly deceived, according to Athanassakis, were the media that supported the ruling party in the run-up to the elections.

He stressed that the smaller size of this year's book was not because ND had carried out its promises since last year but because listing them all, as well as and problems caused by ND's policies, would require a volume the size of an encyclopaedia. A detailed list for each sector had been posted on the Internet for all to see, he added.

Also in attendance were PASOK spokesman Petros Efthymiou and the party's Parliamentary group secretary Dimitris Reppas, who echoed the calls for immediate elections.

Commenting on the speech made by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to ND's Parliamentary group on Wednesday, Reppas said it was an "apology and an admission of failure" and that the government would be judged by the truth of its actions rather than its words.

Reppas criticised the government's handling of the public-sector contract worker issue, saying that the majority ended up on unemployment, as well as on farm issues and rising prices that had burdened each family with an additional 245 euros a month. He said that public debt had rocketed from 183 billion euros to 234 billion euros, while the upward revision of Greek GDP by 25 pct was "an insult to the citizens' intelligence".

In the book, the government also came under fire for redistributing wealth from the poor to the well-off through an unfair tax system that increased indirect taxation.

Asked to comment on Karamanlis' criticism of PASOK's programme and whether the two main parties were competing in the proclamation of handouts, Athanassakis responded by calling Karamanlis' government "the worst since democracy was re-established (after a military junta was toppled in 1974)".

Regarding Greece's ailing social insurance system, Athanassakis said tat this was a problem that could and should be solved, while Reppas accused the government of deliberately trying to trigger a crisis in social insurance, health and education through its policies so that it could then invoke the crisis to justify privatisations in these areas.

Though not an issue addressed in the book, criticism was also levelled against the government on foreign policy and in connection with recent press reports claiming disagreements between Karamanlis and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, the Akropolis brokerage affair and other issues.

Caption: Athanassakis appears during a press conference in Athens on Wednesday, March 7, 2007. ANA-MPA / K. Mavrona.

[03] Bulgarian PM Stanishev in Athens for pipeline deal

The agreement will be signed by Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas on behalf of the Greek government, Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and Bulgarian Regional Development and Public Works Minister Assen Gagaouzov.

According to an announcement by the press office of the Bulgarian government, US$ 700 million will be invested in this pipeline project.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be present at the signining ceremony, according to a Kremlin announcement late Tuesday evening.

Caption: Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, left, and Bulgarian Premier Sergey Stanishev are shown during an Economist conference in Athens, Wednesday 28 June 2006. ANA-MPA/G. ANTONIOU

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