Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou cites high prices, slashed incomes

[02] Dimas warns on climate change

[01] Papandreou cites high prices, slashed incomes

Disputing the government's performance regarding inflation, Papandreou said annual increases in the prices of flour, eggs, bread and pasta reached 12 percent, while "you say that you have reduced inflation ... Are you living in a different country, Mr. Prime Minister?" Papandreou said.

He said most Greeks were living on consumer loans and that banks were "having a party, with a 40-ercent increase in profits".

"In the past, Greeks used to put money aside, whereas today, they have become over-indebted borrowers," Papandreou said, adding that the middle classes were becoming a nouveau-poor class, "while your government is dancing a tango with profiteers".

Papandreou further disputed the government's measures on tackling the high cost of living, calling a recently announced package of 41 measures a "list of intentions".

Papandreou also charged that the Greek people today were paying dearly for products on the market, and for the depreciation of public commodities, such as health, education and welfare.

"In reality, they are paying dearly for ND's policy. A policy that bred the monster of expensiveness, lawlessness and corruption. A paradise for the profiteer, a daily nightmare, however, for the productive and creative citizen," the PASOK leader concluded.

In a sharp response, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis accused Papandreou of "petty populism" and a total lack of proposals, during the "hour of the prime minister" in Parliament, and in response to a question tabled by Papandreou on the high prices and wage-earners' incomes.

Karamanlis noted that high prices were fuelled by international price increases, chiefly in oil, and accused Papandreou of "pretending that he has just discovered the problem of a high cost of living".

"That is not a responsible stance. It is populism."

Conceding that imported inflation was not the sole cause of high costs, Karamanlis added, however, that the government was developing targeted policies to tackle the problem, citing in particular a recent package of 41 measures unveiled on Thursday by Development Minister Christos Folias which, he said, covered the entire spectrum of production-commerce-consumption.

The premier further said that he was prepared to "incorporate every serious, grounded and applicable proposal, from wherever it originates", adding that "we want all the political and social forces in the front against high prices".

"We want the broadest alliance between state and citizens. We want the citizen to be an active participant in the common target," he said.

Karamanlis also accused Papandreou of citing "inaccuracies, as usual".

"Over the three-year period 2005-2007, the annual increase in the real salary of wage-earners was 3 percent, whereas it was 0.3 percent in the Eurozone. In the same three-year period, the real disposable income of households increased by 4.1 percent annually, compared with 1.0 percent in the Eurozone. The minimum incomes rose accumulatively by 7.7 percent, whereas in the Eurozone they remained stagnant. Overall, the per capita disposable income in Greece, in relation to that of the Eurozone, rose from 89.4 percent in 2003 to 99.4 percent in 2007. And this means real convergence," Karamanlis explained.

He also warned that "ungrounded claims and generalisations encourage lawlessness and in the end hurt the consumer".

The premier stressed that the prices of nearly all goods were formulated on the basis of supply, demand and the rules of healthy competition and were not set out either through ministerial decisions nor with presidential decrees. "Therefore, views cannot be cultivated that do nothing but contribute to apathy, inertia and perpetuation of the problems."

He reiterated that freedom of the market was incompatible with lawlessness, and that the government placed particular emphasis on strengthening the supervisory and inspectional work, on the fundamental principles of clarity, simplification and strictness.

"We have taken and are continuing to take every appropriate measure. We are allying with the citizen-consumer for a better result. The battle with expensiveness, the battle with the citizen's day-to-day problems, is a daily battle," the premier concluded.

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of PASOK leader George Papandreou.

[02] Dimas warns on climate change

"The European Union has a leading role in this issue on the international stage," Dimas, a former ND minister, said.

The EU Commissioner spoke at an event in the Greek capital organised by the Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy, the organisation founded by late Greek statesman Constantine Karamanlis, the uncle and namesake of Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

In particular, Dimas warned that looming climate changes will drastically affect the Mediterranean basin, including Greece, saying that the median temperature in the wider region has increased by 1 degree Celsius, as opposed to a global increase of 0.74C.

"The problems of drought, water shortages and desertification will accelerate," he said.

Caption: Greek EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas, who holds the environment portfolio, addresses a Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy event in Athens on Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 on the subject of "Climate Changes and their Repercussions on Greece". ANA-MPA / A. BELTES.

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