Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-09-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou in Berlin, to meet with Merkel

[02] Poll indicates ND lead

[03] Former EL.STAT board member testifies in deficit furor

[01] Papandreou in Berlin, to meet with Merkel

According to German government spokesman Steffen Siebert, the two leaders will chiefly discuss the economic crisis, "and we will be awaiting with interest what Prime Minister Papandreou will present regarding the materialisation of the decisions that have been taken, the road that has been covered and the road remaining to be covered".amna

The two leaders will make statements to the press after their talks, which will be followed by a working dinner at the Chancellery.amna

Papandreou will be in Berlin at the invitation of the BDI, the umbrella organisation of German industry and industry-related service providers, and is due to address the BDI annual conference on Tuesday morning, which will also be attended by Merkel.amna

Papandreou's address to the BDI is titled "Looking to the future: The Europe of development and solidarity".

[02] Poll indicates ND lead

The poll was conducted between Thursday and Monday on a sampling of 1011 people throughout Greece.

More specifically, with respect to voters' intention, ND amassed 22.3 percent against 15.5 percent for PASOK, while the undecided vote among the respondents was 30 percent. These were followed by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) with 9.8 percent and the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA parliamentary alliance) with 4.8 percent, while the Democratic Left (DIMAR), Democratic Alliance (DISI), Ecologists Greens and the Arma Politon (Citizens' Tank) did not amass the 3 percent threshold required for gaining a seat in parliament.amna

To a question on who is the most suitable for prime minister, ND leader Antonis Samaras was first with 22.5 percent, followed by current prime minister and ruling PASOK leader George Papandreou with 16.1 percent. Since February, Papandreou has suffered a major decline in the same poll, and Samaras has also posted a decline, although a very small one.

A majority of 52 percent of the respondents believe that early elections should not be called, against 45.6 percent who opt for snap elections. Also, 50 percent believe that early elections will be held, against 42 percent who believe that early elections will not be called.amna

The poll results also indicated that voters do not want a single-party government by any party. To a question on what government would be better able to deal with the crisis, 8.9 percent opted for a PASOK government under Papandreou and 14.7 percent opted for an ND government under Samaras, while 36.5 percent wanted co-governance by the two mainstream parties (PASOK and ND), and 38.1 percent said that no government is able to deal with the crisis.

[03] Former EL.STAT board member testifies in deficit furor

Georganta, professor of econometrics, appeared before First Instant Court Prosecutor Popi Papandreou in the presence of Financial Prosecutor Grigoris Peponis, who is investigating the case to establish whether her allegations are standing and to determine if criminal violations were committed.

The entire EL.STAT board, sans its chairman but including Georganta, was ordered to resign by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in a surprise decision earlier in the month. amna

According to reports, Georganta testified that the upward revision was made possible by including expenditures from public utilities in the general government spending, stressing that some of those public utilities companies are now included in the personnel redundancy programme applied via the labour reserve measure.

Georganta maintained that this method is in conflict with the Eurostat practices considering that studies and statistical calculations that are deemed as imperative and should have taken place in advance were never held in the controversial wider public sector companies. amna

Former EL.STAT vice-president Nikos Logothetis will also be summoned to testify. Logothetis has made similar accusations as regards the 2009 deficit via a memo he had forwarded to the prosecutor�s office. He is also facing felony charges for violation of personal data protection after EL.STAT President Andreas Georgiou accused him of hacking into his email account.

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