Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] Cyprus president briefs Tsipras on his meeting with Turkish-Cypriot leader Akinci

[02] Greece needs to form 'united front' against creditors' demands, Papadimoulis tells ANA

[03] Bank association briefs Tsakalotos on targets regarding NPLs, bank deposits, credit growth

[04] University rectors ask ministry to reduce admissions in 2018, citing budget cuts

[01] Cyprus president briefs Tsipras on his meeting with Turkish-Cypriot leader Akinci

Following the meeting, the office of the UN Secretary General's Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide issued an announcement saying the two sides had asked the UN to prepare for another international meeting with the guarantor powers in early March.

In statements about the new meeting, Cyprus deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said the level at which the meeting will be held had not yet been decided but that "it will have the same format as the previous meeting, since the participants will be the Cyprus Republic, the two communities, the three guarantor powers and the European Union."

During their meeting on Wednesday, the leaders of the two communities on Cyprus reviewed the progress made in Geneva and Mont Pelerin and also decided to meet once a week throughout February, while the negotiators will continue regular meetings three times a week.

Cyprus' deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said that Anastasiades will also contact President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on the telephone, while sources reported that the Cypriot government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides may meet Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Thursday.

Talking to the Cyprus broadcaster RIK, Papadopoulos said the meetings in February will aim at a resolution of the major issues concerning the five chapters of the internal aspects of the Cyprus issue. There will also be discussion on the security and guarantees aspect, he added, but this will not be final since there were other interested parties. The negotiators will continue talks to resolve differences and problems of lesser importance, he said.

[02] Greece needs to form 'united front' against creditors' demands, Papadimoulis tells ANA

"This is what the Summit of the South, Pittella, the Greens, the European Left say. Let [main opposition New Democracy leader] Kyriakos Mitsotakis say it as well. He should pick up the phone and call [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel, [German Finance Minister Wolfgang] Schaeuble and the others that share his views that are in important governments and support the country; not the government, the country," Papadimoulis said.

The MEP expressed his impatience with what he called "petty party politics" and threw the ball back in ND's court, saying he was "unable to see any better idea" emerging from the main opposition, in spite of the strong support it had received from Lambrakis organisation newspapers, "which lost half their readership in this way."

Instead of presenting a united national front, top members of the main opposition were asking the lenders to "help us topple the Tsipras government and we will do everything you ask," Papadimoulis asserted.

During the interview, Papadimoulis criticised the smaller centre-left parties in Greece, Democratic Alliance and Potami, for failing to reproduce "the positive statements I heard from [the head of the European Parliament's S&D group leader Gianni] Pittella about Greece, in which he asked the lenders not to make unreasonable demands for the legislation from now [of measures for] the five-year period 2019-2023." Neither Democratic Alliance leader Fofi Gennimata, nor Potami's Stavros Theodorakis, whose parties belonged to the S&D group, had made similar statements, he pointed out, nor had Mitsotakis.

He discussed his own role and responsibility within the European Parliament, including his firm conviction Greece must cultivate cooperation and coordination between Greek MEPs, regardless of political and party differences, for the good of the country.

[03] Bank association briefs Tsakalotos on targets regarding NPLs, bank deposits, credit growth

During the meeting, HBA, headed by its president Nikolaos Karamouzis, said other challenges include restoring positive credit growth – as demand is still limited – and the full utilization of new technologies.

The two sides discussed developments in the Greek banking system, the target to minimize NPLs and possible legislation that might help in this direction, including the out-of-court settlement of business loans, electronic auctions, tax regulations for writing off non-collectable debts, issues relating to liquidity and credit expansion, corporate governance, and preparing banks to adapt to the upcoming, international and European regulatory developments that will greatly affect the sector.

[04] University rectors ask ministry to reduce admissions in 2018, citing budget cuts

As well as the cuts in funding, universities also noted the large number of academic staff that have retired and not been replaced, lack of facilities and the large numbers of tranfer students they are required to accept.

Apart from Patras and AUEB, substantial reductions have also been requested by the Athens Technical Education Institute (42 pct), University of Piraeus (35.8 pct), Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (34.1 pct) and National Technical University of Athens (30 pct).

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