Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papadimoulis: Law should be implemented on shady loans whatever the name of the recipient

[02] ND's Hatzidakis to ANA: The government hates reforms, undermines those it accepts

[03] Family of deceased filmmaker rejects state-funded funeral to avoid burdening public coffers

[01] Papadimoulis: Law should be implemented on shady loans whatever the name of the recipient

His comment came after Greek media repored that the Bank of Greece had requested from the Supreme Court's prosecution office to investigate loans handed out by Attica Bank to businesses and individuals without observing banking rules.

"The law should be implemented with controls and sanctions for every shady loan, whatever the name of the recipient: Psyharis, Kalogritsas or Mitsotakis," he tweeted.

[02] ND's Hatzidakis to ANA: The government hates reforms, undermines those it accepts

"This government hates reforms and those it has been forced to implement, in reality it is undermining them. A typical example is Hellinikon," Hatzidakis said, referring to the long-delayed investment in the old airport. "The left-wing views of government officials are insulted by bulldozers entering the old airport to create thousands of new jobs," he added.

He said the government follows the same policy with the sale of stakes or concession agreements for the regional airports, DESFA, TRAINOSE, while delaying the liberalization of the energy market and the legislation on simplifying the opening of businesses. "The government shows the same obsessions and ineffectiveness everywhere," he said.

Asked about the imminent return of the creditors' mission chiefs in Athens next week for the second program review, ND's Vice-president said the package of measures that will be agreed on will be "very harsh and painful", noting it is still not clear what it will include.

In the middle of this uncertainty after the Eurogroup, the government chose to "put up a show, a Carnival fiesta", to hide the imminent measures and obscure its negotiating failures, he added.

Asked about the political instability in the wider region and its effect on Greece's economy, Hatzidakis said the country must remain anchored in the Eurozone to withstand the pressures.

"Exactly because we live in an extremely unstable environment with geopolitical and economic turbulence, the country's position is in the euro and the Eurozone. And every effort must be made, consistently, to make sure the country's position in Europe's hard core is not questioned again."

[03] Family of deceased filmmaker rejects state-funded funeral to avoid burdening public coffers

According to the paper, the family said it does not want to burden public finances and thanked the minister for proposing the honour. The filmmaker died in hospital on Wednesday after a long bout of ill health, aged 90.

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