Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-05-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] Main opposition sees "fiscal alchemy"

[02] Greece, Bulgaria poised to drive growth in Balkans

[01] Main opposition sees "fiscal alchemy"

"Under the weight of his policy, which has hurt the economy and burdened the public, Mr Alogoskoufis has resorted to fiscal alchemy, indifferent to the repercussions on the country's future," the party's economics spokeswoman, Vasso Papandreou, said in a statement.

"The actual message from the budget is not encouraging. The rate of increase in revenue on a monthly basis has dropped to 3.3% in March and 1.0% in April versus the same months of 2005, despite a rise in the first two months due to circumstances," Papandreou noted.

She was responding to statements by Alogoskoufis earlier in the day.

The finance ministry rejected the criticism of its handling of the economy.

In a statement, the ministry accused the party of misleading the public with alarmist statements, also recalling PASOK's problems with the budget when in power.

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[02] Greece, Bulgaria poised to drive growth in Balkans

"Relations between the two peoples go above and beyond governments, which is why all governments serve the same purpose," he said.

Stylianidis also noted the great progress achieved in infrastructure in the region, adding that a number of Greek companies have expressed an interest in participating in the construction of the road network linking Thessaloniki in northern Greece with the Bulgarian capital.

"As you can see, the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair is urging Greek companies to participate in the Plovdiv exhibit, with the participation of 60 companies. The Greek and Bulgarian governments are cooperating in all sectors, with particular emphasis in the energy sector, having given a significant push to the Burgas-Alexandropoulis pipeline project," he said.

He also noted that Greece is Bulgaria's second-largest foreign investor.

"All these things show that both countries are headed in the right direction. And of course, Greece is determined to support, in every way it can, Bulgaria's EU accession so that it [Bulgaria] can become a full-fledged member of the European family on January 1, 2007," he said.

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