Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-09-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Savvidis next in line after Kalogritsas withdraws from TV licence tender process

[02] Legislation on bad loans is result of "complex" consultations between institutions and Greek authorities, Schinas says

[03] Greece, Cyprus, Israel's meeting on energy issues

[04] Cosmote presents new iPhone in Greek market

[05] Construction sector has still a lot to give to Greek economy

[01] Savvidis next in line after Kalogritsas withdraws from TV licence tender process

Savvidis submitted 61.5 million euros in the TV licences procedure and Alpha submitted 61 million euros.

In a statement, Savvidis said: "We are ready to pay the first installment in two or three days."

Yiannis Kalogritsas, one of four successful bidders in an auction held earlier in September, earlier announced that he would withdraw from the next stage in the process "for reasons that everyone is aware of."

He underlined that he will protect himself and his family "although he spent 3 million euros for the letter of guarantee."

Earlier in the day, the firm Ioannis-Vladimiros H. Kalogritsas sent a letter to the General Secretariat for News and Communication asking for a 48-hour extension in order to pay the first installment of the amount for the TV licence. The company's bid and the provenance of its funds had come under intense media scrutiny in the weeks following the auction.

The General Secretariat for News and Communication replied: "According to the term 8.4 of the tender, the first installment of the total sum is paid within fifteen days following the announcement of the highest bidders. Therefore the above deadline is a sine qua non of the tender 1/2016 and cannot be modified." Thus the request cannot be accepted.

The fourth bidder, Antenna TV paid 25,300,000 paid to the General Secretariat of Information the first installment totaling 25,300,000 euros on Monday.

On Friday, Alter Ego, the company established by shipowner Evangelos Marinakis, and SKAI TV paid to the General Secretariat of Information the first installment totaling 24,633,333 euros and 14,533,333 euros respectively.

[02] Legislation on bad loans is result of "complex" consultations between institutions and Greek authorities, Schinas says

During a press briefing in Brussels, Schinas was asked to comment on reports according to which European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that the transfer of loans to funds was a Greek proposal and not a prior action.

"The European Commission explained that the legislation recently adopted in Greece was the result of complex and detailed discussions with the Greek authorities," Schinas underlined adding that the legislation "achieves a balance between the Greek authorities' need for Greek banks to deal with high levels of non-performing loans and the establishment of a regulatory and supervisory framework for the servicing and sale of NPLs, with the participation of the Bank of Greece."

"The Commission will continue to cooperate with the Greek authorities on the implementation of the strategy for the reduction of non-performing loans as part of the second programme review," he stated.

Asked to comment on reports that the climate between the Greek authorities and the institutions is negative, he stressed that the Commission continues to cooperate with the Greek authorities on the implementation of the prior actions that will give the green light for the disbursement of the 2.8 billion euro sub-tranche.

[03] Greece, Cyprus, Israel's meeting on energy issues

The meeting will be attended by Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis, Cypriot Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis and Israel's Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz.

Among the issues to be discussed are the electrical interconnection between Cyprus and the EU through Greece and the construction of an underwater gas pipeline from the SE Mediterranean to Greece and then to Italy. This is the EuroAsiaInterconnector cable and East Med conduit that have been included in the list of common interest projects (Projects of Common Interest, PCI) of the European Commission.

Crete is an intermediate station in both projects while the first technical studies carried out have showed that the work is feasible from a manufacturing point of view. Specifically, the gas pipeline is designed to transport up to 16 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the eastern Mediterranean resources to Italy via Greece. The work includes a 200 km offshore pipeline from the Levantine Basin to Cyprus, a 700 km offshore pipeline from Cyprus to Crete, a 400 km underwater pipeline from Crete to the Peloponnese and a 600 km onshore pipeline from mainland Greece to the point of interconnection with the Poseidon pipeline in Thesprotia.

Correspondingly, the electrical interconnection Israel - Cyprus - Greece has been planned with Korakia, in Crete, as an intermediate station and a submarine cable will connect it with Attica region. The project is also linked with Crete's electrical interconnection promoted by ADMIE.

[04] Cosmote presents new iPhone in Greek market

The new iPhones will run with speeds up to 375 Mbps in Greece, exclusively by Cosmote.

"In Cosmote we continue enriching the largest 4G+ range of devices in the Greek market with two top iPhone models, offering incredibly fast speeds on the internet up to 375Mbps exclusively through Cosmote's network. In OTE Group we invest on our network offering our customers faster speeds. Cosmote's 4G network covers more than 85 pct of the country, while the 4G+ network covers 64 pct," Alexandros Davos, retail marketing manager OTE Group said during the event.

Cosmote offers the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus at a prices of 819 euros and 969 euros, respectively, or at lower prices in connection contracts with Cosmote.

[05] Construction sector has still a lot to give to Greek economy

In an interview, Papaioannou said that according to a report by the Foundation of Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), the construction sector's annual contribution to the country's GDP was 3.1 billion euros in 2010. The sector was the steam engine of the Greek economy and needs to regain this status, he said, adding that this could be achieved on three preconditions: a restructuring of the sector, a change in tax policy and a unification of all sectors under one umbrella.

Building activity and infrastructure projects were hit harshly from 2010 onwards. Lack of liquidity froze large projects, while high taxation did not allow even small individual owners to make any works, the president of SEPAK said. He noted that the sector has still a lot to give to the economy as long as all interested parties work together seriously, while the state need to intervene on taxation. As long as tax rates remain prohibitive the more the sector's ability to recover slows down.

SEPAK recommended the unification of all professionals in the sector. "We must unite the sector, on the model of SETE (tourism union), to bring together all professions related with the construction sector, not only engineers and engineering companies but all professions," Papaioannou said.

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