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Tuesday, 26 November 2024
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Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-08-17Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] Karamanlis explains reasons for snap Sept. 16 electionsPrime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Friday called on President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and formally asked him to declare general elections on Sept. 16. Karamanlis made nationally televised statements just after 2 p.m. (12 GMT) to explain the reasons for the snap election, where he cited a bevy of announced draft bills and constitutional revision as the main reasons for seeking a new mandate.Karamanlis, who called on Papoulias immediately after an extroardinary Cabinet meeting at noon, explained that the specific date had also been chosen so that "the new government will have ample time to draft the (2008) budget". "I adamantly believe that the citizens desire the continuation of the changtes and reforms, with a new momentum and new speed," Karamanlis told the last Cabinet meeting of his New Democracy (ND) government, adding that it was a national necessity, and his obligation, to seek the renewal of the people's mandate. Caption: Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis (L) with President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias at the presidential mansion in Athens on Friday, Aug. 17, 2007. ANA-MPA / S. PANTZARTZI. [02] PASOK, SYN leaders on electionsMain opposition leader George Papandreou on Friday said he was certain that his party would emerge victorious from the imminent general elections next month."I am certain of victory," Papandreou said upon arrival at the party headquarters on Harilaou Trikoupi street in downtown Athens. To a question on whether the two mainstream parties -- PASOK and the ruling New Democracy (ND) party -- were setting off from the same starting line, he replied that "it is a new starting line for Greece". Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) leader Alekos Alavanos said the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) movement was heading to the elections with mixed feelings. "We are happy because we have a wealth of work with results, strong movements behind us, throughout all these years, and we also feel sadness and pessimism because the elections are taking place on a backdrop of destruction for the entire country," referring to Thursday's devastating fire on Mt. Penteli. The SYN leader said that his party would speak openly and honestly to the Greek people throughout the campaign period, adding: "It is a pathetic pretext that ND is calling early general elections, saying it was doing so for national reasons. The national reasons are its own policy, in other words the reforms. In this way it is putting in an awkward position the President of the Republic, who is obliged to accept their lies". He said it was also a "big pretext as well on the part of the main opposition party that it demanded elections when the Constitutional revision was being voted on, so that it would not be present and not publicly express its position on the private universities, a position that was opposed by a large section of its supporters". Alavanos expressed hope that the elections would result in defeat of the entire two-party system and open up new prospects for the young generation, the social state, and ecology. Caption: Main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou (R) with SYN leader Alekos Alavanos (L), in ANA-MPA file photo. [03] Wildfire on Mt. Penteli under controlAn extensive wildfire that erupted on the slopes of Mt. Penteli, overlooking the greater Athens area from the north, was reportedly under control on Friday after a massive fire-fighting effort the previous day, although dozens of residences, vehicles and vegetation -- including some of the last remaining forest land on the mountain -- were reduced to ashes.The fire on Penteli, defaced by decades of quarrying and construction of homes on land once occupied by forests, came after a particularly devastating wildfire earlier in the summer to hit the national park on Mt. Parnitha, once of the greater Athens area's few remaining natural greenspaces. A handful of other wildfires around the country were also reportedly under control. In a related development, Coalition of the Left (Synaspismos) leader Alekos Alavanos toured affected areas on Mt. Penteli on Friday, something he had announced on Thursday afternoon prior to the news that early elections would be held on Sept. 16. Caption: A firefighting helicopter in action on Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007, in the suburban Melissia district on the slopes of Mt. Penteli. ANA-MPA / S. PANTZARTZI [04] Christodoulos statements departure for USArchbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece on Friday invited the press to his residence to bid them farewell before his departure on Saturday for Miami, Florida, where he will undergo a liver transplant."I am carrying in my luggage the people's love, and am certain that God will hlep me and everything will go well," he said, adding that he considered the people's manifestations towards him "are made in honour of the Church, I do not keep them for myself". Replying to questions on his recent ordeal with colon cancer and his upcoming surgery, the Archbishop said that it had changed him, that such an ordeal humbles one, and makes one look at life under a different light. "It teaches you to overlook the pettiness and to look farther and higher, to the more substantial things in life. This ability is given to you by pain, by danger. All these bring maturity," he said. Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Christodoulos. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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