Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-08-14

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece still capitalising from 2004 Olympics success, gov't stresses

[02] Summer holiday season peaks this week

[03] Interior minister in Crete

[04] Papandreou says PASOK ready to govern

[01] Greece still capitalising from 2004 Olympics success, gov't stresses

She added that the 2004 Olympics were a landmark for the country's tourism sector, as the event again placed the country squarely on the global tourism map.

Petralia said better exploitation of Greece's international image after the Games has had as a measurable impact on the number of tourists choosing Greece, with an increase in tourism of 5.6 percent in 2005 and 8.44 percent in 2006 -- when tourist arrivals reached a record 15.7 million -- while the increase in 2007 was anticipated at nearly 10 percent.

In tandem with an increase in visitors, there was also an increase in tourism revenues, of particular importance for the entire economy's growth, she added.

Caption: A file photo shows a view of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday, Aug. 13, 2007. ANA-MPA / A. VLACHOS.

[02] Summer holiday season peaks this week

Papoulias will go Wednesday to the Panaghia Soumela Monastery in the Vermio region of north-central Macedonia province to attend celebrations for the religious holiday.

The president, who is presently on holiday on the Ionian island of Lefkada, will fly by helicopter to the area to attend a liturgy at the Panaghia Soumela, after which he will lay a wreath at the bust of War of Independence hero Alexandros Ypsilantis.

At noon on Wednesday, Papoulias will attend a luncheon in his honour hosted by the board of directors of the Panaghia Soumela Foundation before returning to Lefkada.

Karamanlis arrived with his family on Sunday on the Cyclades island of Tinos, where he will attend the August 15 celebrations, as he does each year, before returning to Athens on Thursday.

Main opposition leader George Papandreou is spending the second part of his holiday in the Ionian islands. Papandreou, as he arrived on Lefkada on Saturday night, although he was due back in Athens on Tuesday morning to chair a meeting of his party's campaign committee. On Wednesday he will attend celebrations at the Panaghia Soumela monastery.

Communist Party of Greece (KKE) leader Aleka Papariga will spend a few days at her summer home in Nea Makri, east of Athens.

Coalition of the Left (Synaspismos) party leader Alekos Alavanos will visit Irakleio, Crete where he will be a candidate for parliament in the next general elections.

Caption: The main cathedral on the Cyclades island of Tinos, dedicated to the Madonna, which traditionally is the epicentre of Dormition of the Virgin religious holiday on Aug. 15 in the east Mediterranean nation. ANA-MPA file photo.

[03] Interior minister in Crete

"These past three-and-a half years, Crete managed to become consolidated as a region with dynamic potential, which shows important rates of growth, capitalising to the full on both its island character and every specific comparative advantages and which it firmly gains the position which it deseves in the broader region of the southeastern Mediterranean," Pavlopulos said.

Pavlopoulos referred to Crete's regional operational programmes (PEP), stating that "the rate of absorption in 2004 and after a four-year period of implementation of the programme, we found 1,250 entered projects and within just three years, we increased them to 3,000."

[04] Papandreou says PASOK ready to govern

Moreover, the former foreign minister in successive PASOK governments, said the responsibility will be even greater as three-and-a-half-year long "New Democracy government has razed the country and overturned social conquests."

Additionally, the PASOK leader again charged that the government sported an array of political blemishes, which he claimed included the "blackmailing of consciences, efforts to buy-off votes and a petty partisan reasoning of the state as booty".

He also said that Premier Costas Karamanlis is "obligated, sooner or later, to declare elections".

The latter comment comes amid high-pitched local media speculation, even in the usually lackadaisical holiday month of August, claiming that early elections will be declared in late September of early October 2007. Elections are normally slated for March 2008.

His statements were carried in the Athens daily "Vima".

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