Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] Turkey faces dilemma over Cyprus issue, President Papoulias says

[02] Government and PASOK spar over PNO strike

[03] Greece's largest trade unions announce strikes

[04] Phanar to sponsor SI conference for dialogue of religions

[05] Labour minister inspects Olympic Village residences

[01] Turkey faces dilemma over Cyprus issue, President Papoulias says

While noting the existence of diplomatic pressures to separate Turkey's obligations toward the Cyprus Republic from its EU accession course and that diplomacy was not "an affair of morality and justice", Papoulias stressed that Greece and Cyprus had already succeeded in making customs union with the Cyprus Republic a condition for closer EU-Turkish ties.

"This term cannot be removed, no matter what pressures are brought to bear. The dogged course of Cypriot Hellenism from 1974 until today has no return. It is a course orientated toward the reunification of the island with respect for international law and the values of European culture. All Greeks are united behind and committed to this course," he said.

During the dinner, the president also referred to Greece's efforts to make the neighbouring Balkans an area of cooperation, peaceful coexistence and progress, supporting the European prospects of countries in the area, while noting that Athens was closely monitoring developments in Kosovo.

Regarding Albania, in particular, he said that Greece supports Albania's efforts to join the EU but stressed that "Albania's progress toward the EU is also dependent on respecting the rights of its Greek minority, which operates and should operate as a bridge for cooperation and understanding."

Papoulias was in Ioannina to attend three days of events for the 93rd anniversary of the city's liberation from Turkish rule, including a ceremonial parade by military troops, police and school children that took place on Tuesday. National Education Minister Marietta Yannakou also attended, representing the government.

Immediately afterward, the president expressed his condolences for the four officers killed while on a training flight in a military helicopter on Monday night.

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[02] Government and PASOK spar over PNO strike

Spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos also told reporters that institutional demands set forth by the seamen's union - the Panhellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO) - have been met, in reply to questions over a same-day meeting between Economy Minister George Alogoskoufis and Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis.

The strike, which has paralysed much of the coastal shipping sector in a country with dozens of inhabited islands, even led to a violent protest at Irakleio, Crete's port two days ago by local farm producers angry over the fact that ferry boat connections to the mainland had ceased.

"The government is always in favor of dialogue and consensus," Roussopoulos said, adding that the merchant marine minister has requested an urgent meeting with representatives of the striking union, PNO.

In returning to criticism against main opposition PASOK, the spokesman charged that whatever problems in various sectors are primarily the result of "gridlock policies" of consecutive PASOK governments.

"It's hypocritical, at best, for PASOK and its president to appear today as critics; it's also politically irresponsible for them to attempt to politically exploit workers' demands," he said.

In response to other questions, Roussopoulos dismissed a query referring to government "leaks" as behind press speculation that the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) is promoting the industrial action.

"The government has in no way even hinted that the strikers are egged on by instigators. The only person that has hinted he could instigate strikes is the leader of the main opposition, during an off-the-agenda discussion in Parliament the other day, where he received a reply from the prime minister."

Main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou on Tuesday said the government was fully to blame for the situation prevailing in the coastal shipping sector and the isolation of the islands due to the ongoing seamen's strike, while addressing a meeting of coordinators of the party's parliamentary group.

Papandreou accused the government of "Pontius Pilate" tactics and of hiding behind the "polarisation and discord between farmers and seamen, between (truck) drivers and seamen, between old and new workers", at a time when "our islands are aflame".

He said PASOK endorsed the development of social cohesion and (sense of) security of the citizen, whereas "conservatism wants insecurity in order to manipulate the citizen".

In a related development, Coalition of the Left (Synaspismos) leader Alekos Alavanos headed a party delegation during a meeting with striking seamen at the port of Piraeus on Tuesday.

"We believe, unfortunately, that the prime minister is leading the (state) vessel into a social storm, using the well-known method of instigating a civil war within society," he said.

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[03] Greece's largest trade unions announce strikes

GSEE - Greece's largest trade union umbrella group -- and ADEDY, the civil servants' union, said they will hold a four-hour national work stoppage on February 28, from 11.00 to 15.00, and a protest rally in Thessaloniki, as well as a 24-hour national strike on March 15 with a rally in Athens.

Announcing the industrial actions, GSEE's president Christos Polyzogopoulos said bankers were trying to abolish sector labour agreements, a trend likely to expand in the rest of the private sector. Such a development could severely hurt the trade union movement in the country and any effort to impose such a measure would be considered as "casus belli" by trade unions, he said.

Polyzogopoulos urged the government and the Prime Minister to prove that they support a collective labour agreements at all levels, by pressing bankers to return to the negotiating table. He also referred to a wave of lay-offs and factory closures, saying northern Greece was suffering, while he demanded immediate measures to contain this trend, as he said.

The two largest trade unions' demands are: a freeze on lay-offs, maintenance of collective labour agreements and satisfactory pay hikes.

ADEDY president Spyros Papaspyros urged workers to support strike mobilizations, saying the way out of the current deadlock was workers' actions. He also criticized the government's policy saying "each new measure is worse than the previous one".

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[04] Phanar to sponsor SI conference for dialogue of religions

According to a dispatch from Istanbul on Tuesday, the initiative to organise the conference belongs to new Socialist International president George Papandreou, also leader of Greece's main opposition party PASOK, who asked the Patriarch for his sponsorship.

The conference is to take place in Istanbul in the near future and forms part of a series of initiatives undertaken by the Ecumenical Patriarchate to discourage the exploitation of religion for political reasons.

Bartholomew announced his decision during meetings with the Turkish media that he invited to Phanar in order to express the Patriarchate's sorrow at the disruption in relations between Christians and Moslems caused by a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad that were published in Denmark and other western European countries.

The Patriarch, who was in Latin America when the crisis erupted, underlined that the Orthodox Church believed in dialogue and peaceful coexistence of religions and referred to initiatives by the Patriarchate to establish such peaceful coexistence.

Among these was the "Peace and Tolerance" conference organised in Istanbul during the war in the former Yugoslavia that concluded with a proclamation signed by Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders that denounced wars in the name of religion as an attack on religion itself.

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[05] Labour minister inspects Olympic Village residences

All of the Olympic Village's apartments are slated to be turned over to OEK beneficiaries, most of whom won the residences in a lottery.

In particular, Tsitouridis emphasised to representatives of the construction consortium that built the village and to government officials that whatever defects will have to be repaired before the state takes delivery of apartments.

The site sits on 124 hectares of land in the northwest Athens district of Aharnes. Of the 2,292 two- and three-bedroom residences, 918 have been delivered, with 130 families already moved in.

Tsitouridis, in response to reporters' questions, said the quality of the water supply and increased garbage collection are being dealt with, while a commercial centre and adjacent schools will also open in the coming period.

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