Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-12-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] Sustained high primary surplus targets the 'downside' of the Eurogroup's decision, Mitsotakis says

[02] Clashes break out in Exarchia after protest march marking anniversary of student killing

[03] Greek teens test poorly in OECD's PISA student assessment

[01] Sustained high primary surplus targets the 'downside' of the Eurogroup's decision, Mitsotakis says

"The great problem of the Eurogroup's decision...is that it leaves the Greek government 'trapped' within an excessively tight fiscal framework, with medium-term primary surplus targets of 3.5 pct of GDP that go far beyond 2018," he said, speaking to business people at the Metamorfosi town hall.

According to ND's leader, Greece had failed to persuade its European partners that it was serious about implementing structural reforms, without qualifications or provisos, in order to ask for more fiscal space that would enable "more daring things in taxation."

Mitsotakis insisted that he would move in the direction of lower taxation, however, coupled with greater tax compliance.

He also categorically ruled out large-scale dismissals of public-sector staff, except in the case of illegal hiring or extreme disciplinary offences. Public-sector reorganisation would require a "reassessment of organisational structures" and a clarification of roles and areas of responsibility, with mechanisms that allowed civil servants to be evaluated on their performance, he said.

Mitsotakis praised the role and importance of municipal local government but noted that this currently needed a radical overhaul in Greece, and a restructuring of the way it interacted with central government and the different levels of local government.

ND's leader said he was certain that his party will win the next elections whenever these are held and that this will provide an opportunity to put the growth process into motion, though it would also require some "tough decisions". He strongly criticised the government for "timidity" in carrying out reforms, noting that it could not rely only on an "economic rebound" due to the previous sharp recession.

"The "coiled spring" theory has some basis in an economy that has lost 25 pct of its wealth. But the spring will not release by itself. It needs a series of targeted policies," he said.

"This government does not truly believe in the Greek economy and the various structural reforms...it implements them with great difficulty, without believing in them, and at the same time raises obstacles to the policies it is called on to follow," he said.

[02] Clashes break out in Exarchia after protest march marking anniversary of student killing

A group of anti-establishment protesters continued to throw petrol bombs, flares and other objects at riot police, who responded with the use of tear gas and flash-bang grenades. A total of 18 people had been detained and led to the Athens police headquarters so far.

Earlier, the protesters also set fire to a car parked in the area, broke and pulled up pavement slabs and set up numerous roadblocks on nearby Benaki Street. Police helicopters were flying over the area.

[03] Greek teens test poorly in OECD's PISA student assessment

Greece's high school students earned 455 points in science questions, down six points compared with the last test, 467 points in reading (down eight points since the last test) and 454 in mathematics (up one point since the last tests). They were below the OECD average in all three categories, around the OECD average for gender and social background equity but below the OECD average for immigrant student equity.

The top ranking school students globally were in Singapore, with more than 550 points, followed by students in Japan and Estonia. The rest of the top 10 included Taiwan, Finland, Macao, Canada, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China.

Greek students were also outranked by their peers in several European countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Portugal, Austria and Spain. They did better than students in Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and many western Balkan countries.

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