Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-10-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] Tsipras says competition in TV licencing tender resulted in raising 256 mln euros

[02] Moscovici: Greece is on the right track; must press on 'to build success story'

[01] Tsipras says competition in TV licencing tender resulted in raising 256 mln euros

"Because we limited the offer we created this intense competition. They were inside the General Secretariat for three days and they didn't know how high the amount was. This is why we collected the 256 million," Tsipras told parliament in his rejoinder during an off-the-agenda debate on corruption and intertwined interests.

"What we do has a great peculiarity: Other governments have tried it, but backed down. It is not an easy thing having them all against you, distorting everything from morning to night," he added, noting it takes some "bravery of the soul" to do it.

"We promised the Greek people we'll finish this. We are united by honesty. All you want is power."

The prime minister then accused New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis of bullying judges and judicial officials who are deliberating on the TV licensing tender. "From the start until the end of his speech today, Mr. Mitsotakis has attempted to buy judges," he said.

He also told parliament his government protected 95 percent of the primary residencies of Greeks valued up to 280,000 euros, thus protecting the weaker citizens.

[02] Moscovici: Greece is on the right track; must press on 'to build success story'

"Today's decision to disburse 1.1 billion is an important step in this heavily front-loaded programme and it also opens the door for the second review of the programme to start," he said. "I am happy that we have reached this point and we must absolutely go on, as I said, to try to build a 'success story' with Greece now. We are on the right path," the Commissioner added.

He noted that these milestones included reforms on a number of key issues, including pensions, bank governance, energy, privatisation and others, covering all parts the Greek economy, and he thanked Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Greek authorities for their efforts to complete this work.

"The measures will lead to budget savings of about 3 pct [of GDP] between 2016 and 2018," he said, adding that he shared the view of Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem about the state of the Greek economy. "We have quite good news from growth and also fiscal execution."

Moscovici also welcomed the significant progress that has been made in arrears, noting that this "must and will continue" since it was critical for relieving pressure on the real economy in Greece.

He announced that teams from the institutions will return to Athens in October to start the technical work of the second review, which will move the focus from legislation to implementation of the reforms.

ESM chief Klaus Regling explained that the Eurogroup's decision had approved the disbursement politically and that the official decision for the disbursement of the 1.1 billion euros will be taken at the next ESM Board of Directors meeting in two weeks, on October 24. Regarding the remaining 1.7 billion euros, Regling said that this could possibly be disbursed at the same time, provided the institutions have received the missing data for September, showing that the target for net arrears clearance has been met.

He said that Greece had submitted figures for July and August showing that the 1.8 billion euros ear-marked for arrears clearance has been fully used for the purpose intended.

"For net clearance we need to know whether there have been any new arrears accumulating so that is what we are waiting for," he added

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