Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-01-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] ND opposes migrant citizenship bill

[02] Inflation at 2.6% in Dec.

[01] ND opposes migrant citizenship bill

Samaras, a former minister who recently assumed the party's helm, also pledged to repeal any provisions of the draft bill when his party comes to power.

Moreover, the ND leader repeated his warning towards the government not to proceed with the mass legalisation of migrants, as he said, "without preconditions now being implemented by most European countries".

"The government did not listen to this plea," he charged, adding that he has already conveyed a memorandum to the relevant interior minister spelling out the reasons that ND's deputies will oppose the draft bill.

"In the memo there are comparisons with measures taken by other European countries, so it can clearly be demonstrated that ND is within the European reasoning, whereas the government bill is beyond any reasoning; it simply serves obvious petty political expediencies," he said.

Additionally, he said other European countries not faced with the wave of illegal immigration now plaguing Greece have, nevertheless, adopted stricter conditions for granting naturalisation and citizenship.

"Instead of being careful ... we are moving away from common sense, our (European) partners and our own best interests," he said.

Samaras said the specific draft bill will facilitate the even greater flow of illegal immigrants towards Greece, "who will merely have children in Greece, which in turn will automatically be granted Greek citizenship, thereby legalising their parents..."

"Greeks are a people, not a population. What transforms a 'geographical area' into a unified country and the 'local population' into a people is its identity," he emphasised.

Samaras countered that the Greece-born children of legal migrants in the country should be granted, following an application, citizenship upon reaching adulthood and after completing nine years of compulsory education.

"Greece is an open, democratic society and we do not want to turn the country into a closed fortress, however, we will not allow it to become lawless," he concluded.

[02] Inflation at 2.6% in Dec.

The statistics service, in a report, attributed the December increase to an 8.5-pct rise in transport prices, a 6.3-pct increase in alcohol and tobacco, a 3.2-pct rise in housing prices, a 3.2 pct increase in health prices, and rise of 3.0 pct in education, 2.7 pct in communications, 1.3 pct in durable goods and 3.6 pct in other goods and services prices.

The food and beverage category was the only one to record a decline in December.

The consumer price index rose 0.2 pct in December from November, after a decline of 0.5 pct recorded in the same period in 2008.

Greece�s harmonised inflation rate rose to 2.6 pct in December, from 2.2 pct in December 2008.

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