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

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM: Struggle against corruption will continue

[01] PM: Struggle against corruption will continue

The prime minister clarified that the government's rival "is untransparency, bureaucracy and corruption" and stressed that all of the government's commitments on the consolidation of a new political culture remain in full.

Karamanlis also refered to high prices in the market and called on businessmen to prove on a daily basis and in practice their respect for the laws of the country and for the citizen and consumer.

"The government is and will continue to be relentless towards those who do not realise the self-evident: That freedom in the market does not mean unaccountability. That all the market elements must operate in the framework of a society which functions according to rules," he said.

Karamanlis said that the citizens are right in being indignant towards profiteering and towards efforts to distort the market and to undermine competition, adding that the government is determined to respond to the citizens' just demand and take every measure possible to safeguard the healthy functioning of the market.

The prime minister also focused on the bad economic conjuncture prevailing in Europe, where growth rates are receding and inflationary pressures are increasing and stressed that the challenge emerging "is for us to mobilise all the available forces of society to safeguard all that we have achieved together."

Karamanlis said that the government's economic policy is being vindicated by the fact that Greece, in the midst of a bad conjuncture for Europe, is steadily recording high growth rates and unemployment rates are continuing to decline.

"This shows in the most resounding way that the strategy of changes and of reforms is a one-way path. Under the circumstances, our target cannot be other than: growth, competitiveness, social cohesion," the prime minister concluded.

Cross-party Committee on transparency in public life

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis addressed a letter to Parliament President Dimitris Sioufas on Monday, calling for the creation of a Crossparty Committee on transparency in public life.

The prime minister said in his letter that "as I had stated during the off-the-agenda discussion in Parliament, on 27.6.2008, a series of proposals that we submitted during the process on the Revision of the Constitution on the consolidation of transparency in the public sector and in public life, particularly with regard to the shielding of parties and the stricter control of so-called 'political' money were not able to be turned into a constitutional mandate due to the opposition's refusal to cooperate."

Karamanlis further said "I call on you to proceed in the framework of your duties, with the creation of a Crossparty Committee that will process all the above issues, prepare and submit an integrated legislative initiative proposal that will move, as it is self-evident, in the limits determined by the Constitution. We propose that the main objective of the Crossparty Committee be the issues that concern the internal functioning of parties and specifically the transparency of their operational and electoral expenditures."

The prime minister further noted that "we believe that similar arrangements must also be anticipated for deputies and for candidate deputies."

Lastly, Karamanlis said in his letter that "it is self-evident in the framework of the Crossparty Committee that proposals that have been tabled must be taken into consideration, as well as proposals that will be tabled by all parties. We call for the cooperation of all the Parliamentary Parties, to enable us to jointly reach the most suitable arrangements for the further shielding of public life and of the public sector."

Parliament President Sioufas distributed the letter to the Parliamentary parties, together with the observation that an Crossparty Committee cannot be created with the limited composition of Parliament's summer committees, but in October when the Plenum will be functioning.

Government spokesman

Earlier in the day, Government Spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos announced the initiative by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to establish the inter-party committee that will propose measures to strengthen the institutional framework regarding the financing of political parties, a timely issue amid the ongoing Siemens furor.

Speaking during a regular press briefing Roussopoulos said the move proves ruling ND party's commitment to its pre-election positions, while scolding main opposition PASOK for declining to participate in the recent constitutional revision process, as he said.

The development comes amid the ongoing judicial investigation and widespread press scrutiny involving the Siemens subsidiary in Greece, and allegations that the latter provided tens of millions of euros in kickbacks to curry favor for winning state contracts. Recent attention, particularly by the opposition and the press has focused on an alleged "football junket" provided by Siemens to then transport and communications minister Mihalis Liapis in June 2005, today the culture minister.

Moreover, a one million D-mark Siemens "campaign donation" to then ruling PASOK party in late 1999 is the most prominent instance of the German multinational's questionable involvement with the local political world.

Roussopoulos also read out PM Costas Karamanlis' letter to the Parliament president requesting the establishment of such a committee, while calling on the opposition parties to ready their positions on the matter.

In response to another barrage of press questions involving Siemens and Liapis, Roussopoulos, among others, said Greece must operate within national and EU law when asked if the multinational will be "blacklisted" from state tenders, as he referred to a recent decision by a non-EU European country (Norway) to ban Siemens from contracts there.

Caption: Prime minister Costas Karamanlis addressing the ACCI Business Awards ceremony. (ANA-MPA)

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