Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-03-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] The government will not tolerate violence in sports venues, Deputy Sports Minister Kontonis says

[02] Greek unemployment rate at 26 pct in Dec‏

[01] The government will not tolerate violence in sports venues, Deputy Sports Minister Kontonis says

Kontonis reiterated that the Sunday's football matches will be held behind closed doors and added: "We will consider whether this measure will be applied to the next week games too ... I believe that things will have been settled by then. I expect today the Hellenic Football Federation's (EPO) directive to the referees that will provide for stricter regulations. There are other issues on which there is no agreement and that is why we will have further deliberations, as life progresses through dialogue."

He also confirmed that there will soon be a new sports law. "We will soon take steps with a draft law that we will shortly submit to the Parliament, because the sports law, as it has been announced, needs time, solves persistent problems of all sports and all federations. We will intervene to remedy shortcomings and gaps in the existing legislation, to render the state responsible in terms of maintaining the order and imposing fines on those who behave inappropriately in sports venues," he noted.

Kontonis called on fans to trust the government, which is trying to establish a framework based on fairness, transparency and meritocracy.

The full interview in Greek is available for subscribers at ANA-MPA website.

[02] Greek unemployment rate at 26 pct in Dec‏

The statistics service, in a monthly report, said the number of unemployed people totaled 1,233,404 in December, with the unemployment rate among young people aged up to 24 years old remained above 50 pct (51.2 pct), while in the 25-34 age group it was 35 pct.

The number of unemployed people fell by 76,053 compared with December 2013 (-5.8 pct). The number of employed people totaled 3,505,569, up 17,972 compared with December 2013 (0.5 pct), but down 24,453 compared with November 2014 (0.7 pct). The number of economically non-active people totaled 3,371,756.

The unemployment rate among women was 29.3 pct, significantly higher compared with men (23.4 pct). The unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group was 51.2 pct (56.2 pct in Dec 2013), in the 25-34 age group it was 35 pct (36.3 pct), in the 35-44 age group it was 22.5 pct (24 pct), in the 45-54 age group it was 20.9 pct (20.6 pct), in the 55-64 age group it was 16.4 pct (17.5 pct) and in the 65-74 age group it was unchanged at 10.6 pct.

Macedonia-Thrace (27.3 pct in Dec 2014 from 29.2 pct in Dec 2013) recorded the highest unemployment rate among the country's regions, followed by Attica (27.3 pct-28.3 pct), Epirus-Western Macedonia (26.8 pct-29.8 pct), Thessaly-Central Greece (26.2 pct-26.4 pct), Peloponese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands (25.5 pct-26.4 pct), Crete (24.3 pct-23.8 pct) and Aegean (19 pct-21.8 pct).

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