Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece and Italy share the same views on the refugee issue, President Pavlopoulos says

[02] Scandinavians choose Chalkidiki for summer holidays

[01] Greece and Italy share the same views on the refugee issue, President Pavlopoulos says

"Europe finally understands that the main focus of the European project and the European integration is not the currency, but the human being," he noted.

He underlined that the refugees will be treated according to Europe's civilisation and democracy, which means that we will be merciless in regard to terrorism and expressed his sympathy to the Turkish people and Turkish government for the new terror attack at Ankara.

"We need the solidarity of Europe in tackling the refugee issue without phobias, which some of our partners have. Because people with phobias are not familiar with the idea of Europe," stressed the President.

"As regards the way that we will defend our borders, which are also the borders of the European Union, there are specific rules," he said and added: "The borders of member states are also the borders of the EU, but these borders are mainly designated by member states and their guarding is also determined by member states. Therefore the regulations for any cooperation with FRONTEX are clear. This cooperation rules out the possibility of joint patrols with third countries, e.g. Turkey."

Pavlopoulos stressed the importance of understanding the need to protect the Schengen Agreement and its implementation. "Because if this agreement is not implemented, this will not only cause more dangers, but will also set the European Union at risk. That is why we should consider the need to amend Dublin II based on the terms you have suggested and we have supported."

On his part, the Italian Foreign Minister referred to the perfect coordination between the two countries adding that Greece and Italy can contribute to addressing the crisis that Europe is facing, particularly on the refugee issue.

[02] Scandinavians choose Chalkidiki for summer holidays

Roughly 11,200 people visited the exhibition and representatives of all the major tourist agencies, APOLLO, VINK, TUI NORD and AIR TOURS had a series of meetings on the sidelines of the exhibition.

Chalkidiki was very high in Swedish tourists preference while tour operators that do not have programmes for the northern Greek peninsula pledged to visit Chalkidiki in 2016 with aim to include it in their 2017 agenda.

Greece is ranked seventh in the Scandinavians' preference. 60 percent make their reservations via the internet and the model "sea-sun" is preferred by 70 percent of the Swedish tourists.

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