Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-10-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM Karamanlis confers with Merchant Marine minister, IMO chief

[02] PASOK Nat'l Council convenes over weekend

[03] Education Minister on World Teachers' Day

[04] Report on pension reform submitted

[05] Campaign against circuses using animals

[01] PM Karamanlis confers with Merchant Marine minister, IMO chief

Voulgarakis told reporters that it was a special honour for Greece that the IMO chief was a Greek, adding that they had a constructive meeting with the prime minister, during which the discussed international maritime issues.

The minister further said that Greece's involvement in such affairs had also been discussed, as well as the initiatives taken by Mitropoulos, as IMO chief, on such matters as ship and navigation safety, which he said Greece endorsed.

The prime minister also met Friday with development minister Christos Folias. No statements were made after the meeting.

[02] PASOK Nat'l Council convenes over weekend

The session will be inaugurated by PASOK leader George Papandreou, who will be followed at the podium by Secretary Nikos Athanasakis, Evangelos Venizelos and Costas Skandalidis.

Papandreou, Venizelos and Skandalidis, who have declared their candidacies for the party's leadership, and being members of the Political Council will not have to collect signatures in support of their candidacy, but this will be taking place by members of the National Council with a show of hands.

[03] Education Minister on World Teachers' Day

"The role of the teacher has changed in the light of new conclusions by educational science. What, however, remains unchanged over the years is the teacher's central place in the educational process. The teacher, as the main mediator between the good of education and the student is the 'encourager' of education, the person who with their knowledge and experience accompanies and guides students on the often difficult paths of knowledge," Stylianidis said, stressing the debt of gratitude owed to teachers for all they had offered and continued to give.

In central Athens, meanwhile, students from Greek musical high schools gathered with their parents and teachers to protest about delays in appointing teachers and a lack of books and musical instruments in these special schools, which had led to many lost class hours.

[04] Report on pension reform submitted

In their statement, they stressed that the government had already outlined the main ways in which it intended to address the problem of social insurance reform and that these, along with others that might be proposed, would form the basis for a wide-ranging, sincere and methodical dialogue on this issue.

The two ministers also stressed that the Analytis report would be just one of many elements that would be evaluated in this context.

The joint statement came amid a flurry of reactions from parties and trade unions regarding the Analytis report, an outline of which had appeared in Friday's edition of the newspaper "Kathimerini".

The reactions included a statement by the head of the General Confederation of Employees of Greece (GSEE) Giannis Panagopoulos, who heads Greece's largest umbrella trade union group and represents a large proportion of private sector workers. According to Panagopoulos, the press reports regarding the Analytis report proposals fully vindicated the objections raised by GSEE and its refusal to participate in the expert committee.

Pointing out that the proposals included harsh cutbacks in pension rights that affected both retirement age and the amount of pensions that amounted to a reversal of the nature of state insurance, he underlined that "this sort of approach can on no account form the basis for discussion and negotiation".

According to the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) party, which forms part of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) group in Parliament, the contents of the report revealed why the government had studiously avoided its release before the elections. Senior SYN member Dimitris Stratoulis accused the government of using the report to create a "climate of social-insurance related terror" and prepare public opinion for major cutbacks in the social insurance rights of today's 30- and 40-year-olds and of women.

According to alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, however, the ministers' joint statement was clear and the Analytis report "formed part of more general considerations that will be covered in the dialogue".

He also underlined that the outline of the government's positions had been given in detail by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in his speech to ruling New Democracy's Central Committee on August 23 and that these and other proposals that will be submitted would be the subject of dialogue, whose aim was to create a social insurance system that was viable in the long term.

He also underlined that the government's positions on the areas that would not be affected were "straightforward, clear and remained the same".

[05] Campaign against circuses using animals

The non-governmental organisation has also sent letters to all state services on the issue, noting that more than 1,000 people had signed the website arcturos.wordpress.com in t

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