Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 12-05-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] Critical meeting with 3 leaders ends, deliberations to continue

[02] 'ND has made every effort for solution to be found'

[03] 'SYRIZA will not become an accomplice'

[04] Venizelos: 'Limited but real optimism'

[05] Athens Newspaper Headlines on Sunday

[01] Critical meeting with 3 leaders ends, deliberations to continue

President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias convened a critical meeting at noon Sunday with leading political party leaders in a final effort to form a government, just one week after the inconclusive May 6 general elections.

Under the procedures set out in Article 37 of the Constitution, Papoulias convened the leaders of the first three parties -- New Democracy (ND), the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and PASOK -- after successive exploratory mandates to the three in turn failed to find common ground for the formation of a coalition government with a parliamentary majority in the 300-member unicameral House.

Papoulias initially met jointly with ND leader Antonis Samaras, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, for talks that lasted 90 minutes.

Following, he will have one-on-one meetings with the leaders of the other four parties elected to parliament in last Sunday's elections: Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) leader Aleka Papariga, ultra-right Chryssi Avghi (Golden Dawn) leader Nikos Mihaloliakos, and Democratic Left (DIMAR) leader Fotis Kouvelis respectively.

The first individual meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. with Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, whose party placed fourth in the elections.

No statements were made after the meeting with the three party leaders, save for a terse "the deliberation is continuing" from New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras, whose party placed first in the May 6 elections but fell drastically short of a majority in the 300-member unicameral parliament, with just 100 MPs.

The three party leaders -- Samaras, Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras whose party placed second, and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, whose party placed third -- were due to make statements later from their parties' headquarters.

[02] 'ND has made every effort for solution to be found'

Samaras said that he has made every effort for a solution to be found and for a government to be formed.

"SYRIZA did not hear the people's mandate, it does not accept to support a government, and does not provide even tolerance for a re-negotiation of the Memorandum to begin. I honestly don't know where SYRIZA is going," Samaras said.

[03] 'SYRIZA will not become an accomplice'

Tsipras, who said he was addressing himself to the "national audience" and not the narrow party audience, said that "in the name of our patriotic duty, we will not become accomplices to the crime against the Greek society".

He said that "those who governed us, implementing a programme of dissolution of the society, did not receive the message of the elections" and are also presenting themselves as its defenders and continuing to intimidate and coerce the people.

"But the people, who are being so sorely tried, can no longer be coerced," Tsipras said, and accused ND, PASOK and the Democratic Left (DIMAR) party of having agreed on a programme framework for implementation of the Memorandum.

"They have the arithmetic majority in parliament, let them proceed," he said, adding that their adamant demand for SYRIZA's participation "is irrational and unprecedented".

"They are not seeking a parliamentary majority from us, they have it themselves. They are asking us to ignore the people's verdict, to consent to the mistake, namely to continuation of the destruction of the society and the economy," Tsipras said.

[04] Venizelos: 'Limited but real optimism'

He said that PASOK, the front-placed New Democracy (ND) and the 7th-place Democratic Left (DIMAR) parties agree on the formation of a government with a tenure until the next European Parliament elections, which are due in June 2014.

He reiterated, however, that a condition for this is the agreement also of the second-placed Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), the stance of which Venizelos criticised as "a new type of arrogant behaviour".

[05] Athens Newspaper Headlines on Sunday

President of the Republic Karoloas Papoulias' meeting with the political party leaders at noon Sunday and the prospect of new general elections, and the European partners' warnings dominated the front pages of Athens' newspapers on Sunday.

AVGHI: "The people standing tall with the Left".

AVRIANI: "Tsipras (SYRIZA leader) the new Andreas (Papandreou, the late founder of PASOK and former prime minister)".

DIMOKRATIA: "Difficult hour".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Barrage of pressure, using the 30 billion euros tranche".

ETHNOS: "Russian roulette - Risk of 'crash' before the (new) elections".

KATHIMERINI: "The country on a dangerous path - The meeting under the President the last hope - Messages for exit from euro".

KERDOS: "The coffers drying up - State revenues plunge by half - Danger of State finding itself unable to make payments".

LOGOS: "Black-out vote leading country to new elections".

NIKI: "The plan for the drachma, and the agony over the deposits".

PROTO THEMA: "They pushed the button for the drachma".

REALNEWS: "Government sought with voice and clout - The country must not be led to extended lack of governance".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Everyone turn out for the KKE rally at 8:30 on Monday evening at the Pedion tou Areos park".

TO ARTHRO: "Chaos or salvation in Kouvelis' (Democratic Left leader) hands".

TO PARASKINIO: "Shocking report in favour of Greece - German journalists confirm the immense looting of the Greek funds by its lenders".

TO PARON: "Hours of agony, as the 'troika' coerces even with expulsion of Greece from the euro".

TO VIMA: "Agonizing bargaining under the threat of new elections and exit from the euro".

VRADYNI: "Greece's European prospect on the razor's edge".

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