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Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-01-15Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Econ policy 'killilng growth'(ANA-MPA) -- Main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras renewed his attack on the government's economic policy on Saturday, at the same time pledging that he will continue his "anti-Memorandum" policy line, based on the principles of social liberalism.Opening a meeting of the central committee of the ND-affiliated DAKE labor organisation in the private sector, Samaras underscored the "triptych of Growth, Competitiveness and Social Cohesion" as "the only road for the country to exit the crisis". (ANA-MPA) Greece can exit the crisis only with development, Samaras reiterated, and strongly opposed the government's across-the-board cutbacks in the public sector and reduction of the low incomes. (ANA-MPA) "Most everyone inside and outside Greece believes that this 'policy of the Memorandum' cannot bring us out of the current situation, and that it has indeed led Greece to an impasse," Samaras said. (ANA-MPA) Samaras further maintained that the "alternative proposal for exiting the crisis with growth and recovery, rather than recession" that he has proposed "will take us out of the present impasse", adding that an ever increasing number of people agree with it. (ANA-MPA) Quite the opposite, he continued, "the government is killing growth with the asphyxiation it is imposing, torpedoing competitiveness with a vertical increase in taxes, and destroying the social cohesion through the downgrading of the incomes, and chiefly of those who are not to blame for the present crisis", while the climbing unemployment "has now affected each and every family in Greece". (ANA-MPA) Samaras also outlined the negative prospects for 2011, saying that unemployment was already running at 13.5 percent and would overshoot the Memorandum's prediction of 14 percent at the end of the year. (ANA-MPA) More details on the subscriber's page of ANA-MPA | Subscription request form [02] Opposing demonstrators clashTwo people were arrested and 13 taken in for questioning after clashes broke out between anti-racism demonstrators and a counter-rally in the Agios Panteleimonas district.Riot police used teargas to disperse the crowds at Aghios Panteleimonas square, where the two rallies met up on Saturday afternoon. An anti-racism rally was staged in downtown Athens, followed by a march through various neighborhoods heavily populated by migrants, that ended up in Aghios Panteleimonas square where a concert was to be held. On the other side, some 200 local residents held a demonstration protesting the heavy presence of migrants in their neighborhood and aiming to have the concert cancelled. The violence broke out when the counter-demonstrators attempted to break through a police barricade and threw projectiles against the anti-racism demonstrators. More details on the subscriber's page of ANA-MPA | Subscription request form Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |