Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-06-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] Veteran Left leader Kyrkos: SYRIZA was a mistake from the beginning

[02] Finnland's Hirvonen wins 56th Acropolis Rally

[03] SYN Political committee

[01] Veteran Left leader Kyrkos: SYRIZA was a mistake from the beginning

He said that the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) party (which heads the SYRIZA parliamentary coalition) paid for that mistake in the recent European Parliament elections.

"We paid for that mistake with a defeat, because the physiognomy and policy line of SYN ended up so altered that its core -- our devoted comrades, cadres and members who have for years now been waging the battle for the survival of the renovative Left's effort -- are literally at a loss," Kyrkos opined.

He added that "there is no leadership issue", but naturally there was an issue of "reassessing both our policy line and our methods, and also our relations with the entire democratic sphere".

Asked to comment on Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) leader George Karatzaferis' overture for cooperation to ruling New Democracy, Kyrkos replied: "Don't put too much weight on (prime minister Costas) Karamanlis' refusal, the idea is gaining ground'.

[02] Finnland's Hirvonen wins 56th Acropolis Rally

Latvala posted the best time in the final 33-km Aghii Theodori 2 stage on Sunday. Following the win, Hirvonen narrowed to seven points (55) his distance from front-runner and current world champion Sebastian Loeb (48, France/Citroen), who crashed out of the Rally on Saturday when his car hit a rock, careered off track and rolled repeatedly. Loeb was the winner of last year's Rally Acropolis.

The Acropolis Rally is the seventh leg of the 12-round 2009 World Rally Championship.

Caption: Finland's Mikko Hirvonen (R) and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen (L) celebrate during the medal ceremony after winning the WRC Acropolis Rally in Loutraki, Greece, on 14 June 2009. (ANA-MPA//V. Psomas)

[03] SYN Political committee

The main characteristic of the two-day session was the strong confrontation between the Coalition's two dominant trends, the Renewal Wing and the Leftist Wave, focusing on the results of last Sunday's Euroelections. The Renewal Wing wanted a change in policy, while the Leftist Wave replied that a change in policy is carried out in congresses and defended SYRIZA's policy.

Tsipras said in his closing address that the conjuncture is extremely difficult since, as he said, the game has been prepared in the conservative camp, where the main opposition PASOK party is also located, and added that the only counterweight to this reality is the Coalition's policy and introversion must be avoided for this reason.

The Coalition leader said that the sector of the Left may have been defeated but it will not be ruined. It was not ruined, as he added, when it had percentages below 2 percent and it was not ruined because this sector was had and is needed by society.

Turning his attention to the future, Tsipras said that the real problem is not the defeat in the Euroelections, but the fact that the national elections lie ahead and a possible new defeat will not concern the leadership alone, but all.

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