Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-07-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] Turmoil in Turkey makes debt relief for Greece more important, Lew says

[02] Sallas retires as chairman of Piraeus Bank Group

[03] Defence ministry sources deny that Turkish jets entered Greek airspace

[04] 'No clouds' at Mitsotakis-Meimarakis meeting on Wednesday, sources say

[05] Third memorandum 'only path to growth', Parliament Budget Office says

[01] Turmoil in Turkey makes debt relief for Greece more important, Lew says

"I would hope [the recent regional upheaval] would change the climate in which discussions of debt relief happen, just because it's the right thing to do on its own, and at a time when Greece is in a position [of] geopolitical significance that's a good time to reinforce their fiscal future," Lew said.

Even before Turkey's attempted coup, the U.S. Treasury Secretary noted, Greece's pivotal role as a transit point for refugees surging into Europe from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere had led to a renewed focus on the country's geopolitical significance.

"You have to fix the foundation to have a strong Greece," he said, calling on Greek leaders to become more proactive in implementing reform alongside any debt restructuring programme.

In the interview, Lew expressed relief that the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now appeared to have agreed, at least in principle, to a debt restructuring that would not reduce the amount repaid to creditors.

"I think we have crossed a threshold in that there's been broad agreement that there does need to be debt restructuring," Mr Lew said, adding: "The specifics will obviously matter a great deal."

Lew is due in Athens later this week for talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Thursday.

[02] Sallas retires as chairman of Piraeus Bank Group

Addressing a board meeting, Sallas said that despite a positive review from the Financial Stability Fund "I have reached certain decisions which I wish to announce today. I have completed a cycle of 25 years as chairman of the bank and 30 years in the creation and management of banks and other financial companies.

"In these 25 years in Piraeus Bank an extraordinary work was made. Beginning in December 1991, with a personnel of 200 and market share of only 0.1 pct in the Greek banking market, we created a significant in size bank, with more than 20,000 staff and a market share around 30 pct. We have played a vital role in the restructuring of the banking system, we developed innovative products and services, we supported the business community and contributed in economic progress. E-banking, green banking, agricultural contracts are only a part of it.

"However, it is obvious that after the last recapitalization exercise a new corporate and economic environment was emerging for the banking system and of course for Piraeus Bank. In this new environment it is necessary to have the experience of older executives but mostly the powers of young people, new managers, which will take over the task to lead the bank to a new era. Having judged the new data, I have already informed all related institutions since early 2016 of my intention not to participate in the new organisational form of the Group. I could not, however, announce my decision earlier since the bank's board was under review. Today, after completion of the review by HFSF and the selection of the biggest part of board's members, I decided to announce my decision to leave the bank's board," Sallas said.

The bank's board, unanimously agreed to offer the title of honorary chairman of the group to Mihalis Sallas, acknowledging his contribution to the bank's development. The board also appointed professor Hariclia Apalagaki as interim chairman of the board.

[03] Defence ministry sources deny that Turkish jets entered Greek airspace

Citing a despatch of the Turkish news agency DHA, "Hurriyet" reported that Turkish fighter aircraft had conducted an operation against two Turkish coast guard vessels in Greek territorial waters.

Talking to the ANA, the defence ministry sources said there was a "natural mobilisation" on the Greek side in response to developments generally, as part of the effort to monitor and supervise the country's sea borders.

[04] 'No clouds' at Mitsotakis-Meimarakis meeting on Wednesday, sources say

"Even if there had been some small clouds in relations between them, they do not exist any longer. The skies for ND are clear. ND does not have the luxury, especially in times of battle, of not having Vangelis Meimarakis on the front line," the same source said.

[05] Third memorandum 'only path to growth', Parliament Budget Office says

They noted, however, that a series of crucial decisions were still pending over the next few months until the November 2015 review. "These are decisions in extremely sensitive sectors which will most likely create new turbulenece," the report said, noting that the next months will bring the government and the opposition parties to new tests, referring to changes in the labour market.

The report underlined the positive points of a new memorandum, but noted that crucial questions were whether this process of changing direction and institutions will continue and whether Greece could avoid the risk of stalemate default. Among the negative points of the memorandum, the target for primary surpluses of 3.5 pct of GDP after 2018 was characterised as unrealistic, while postponement of a final debt relief deal was fuelling uncertainty.

The report noted that the third memorandum safeguarded the necessary money to service the operation of the public sector avoiding a default, channeling money to the private sector and included a series of reforms in the state and the economy which will facilitate growth. The report mentioned problems in competition due to state regulatory interventions which protected specific groups, or tolerance towards monopoly practices.

Resolving the non-performing loans issue was crucial, the report said and stressed that any changes in the labour market should be dealt with carefully by avoiding any comments over "red lines" which could cause new uncertainties in September, slowing down economic recovery and improvement of employment. Intelligent policies were needed, the report noted.

The Parliament's Budget Office stressed that the introduction of an automatic fiscal correction mechanism was another cause of concern.

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