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Tuesday, 26 November 2024
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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-07Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>CONTENTS
[01] We have an agreement, says Eurogroup chief DjisselbloemWe have an agreement for reforms and timetable for the Greek programme. The technical staff will return to Athens as soon as possible" stated Jeroen Djisselbloem after the end of the Eurogroup meeting on Friday in Valetta.The major issues have closed "only a few details are still pending and from now on we will proceed very quickly" he added. He said that the heads of the delegation will return to Athens as soon as possible in order for a comprehensive technical staff agreement to be reached. [02] Agreement 'balanced', European Commissioner Moscovici saysEuropean Commissioner Pierre Moscovici noted that an in principle agreement came after months of "difficult negotiations" which intensified in the last weeks, days and hours, after the end of the Eurogroup meeting on Friday in Valetta.He called the agreement "balanced" because despite the additional fiscal effort that Greece is called to make in 2019 and 2020, there is the prospect of a package of offset measures that are very important for the support of the social groups stricken by the crisis. [03] PM Alexis Tsipras meets with British FM Boris JohnsonPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras met on Friday with visiting British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson at the Maximos mansion.Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and the British ambassador to Greece Kate Smith participated in the meeting. According to government sources, the talks focused on bilateral issues, the Cyprus issue and the course of negotiations between Britain and EU on the Brexit as well as the developments in the region of eastern Mediterrenean and the refugees crisis. Johnson did not make any statements after the end of the meeting. [04] German President Steinmeier: Greece has not reached the end destinationGreece still has not reached the end destination. It will take additional reforms, even if economic indicators are improving. The end objective is that reforms bring long-term economic growth and, at the same time, social cohesion, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday said in an interview with Kathimerini newspaper."I believe that the Federal Government acknowledges the reforms that Greece has already implemented and how much effort is involved in this. This is something that I too want to acknowledge with my visit here," he said to Kathimerini and added: "I know that the lengthy crisis, the reforms and the cuts have resulted in hardship for many people in Greece." Although he repeated Berlin's positions on the issue of war reparations, the German president voices hope that Greece and Germany will work together on forging a shared historical memory. Despite criticizing Turkey's "unacceptable" rhetoric, he said we must not burn the bridges that bring the two sides together. Steinmeier explained to the Greek newspaper that Germany is home to millions of citizens of Turkish descent – many of them have German passports, while others have Turkish passports. "We do not want political polarization, which has taken on alarming dimensions in Turkey, to obstruct the coexistence of these people in German cities and communities, creating divides between them. It's hard to explain the rhetoric of the previous weeks, which has in some cases been unacceptable and indecent. In spite of all this, we in Germany and the European Union remain closely connected to Turkey," he underlined. [05] PPC reports significant increase in 2016 profitsPublic Power Corporation (PPC) on Friday reported a significant increase in its 2016 profits (from losses in 2015) and said its liquidity problem was at its height and was expected to be improved shortly. PPC also said the corporation was making preparations to adjust to the new environment created by structural measures (selling of electricity production units) demanded by the country's creditors.PPC said its pre-tax earnings totaled 169.1 million euros in 2016 from a loss of 106.6 million in 2015, while excluding one-off impact pre-tax earnings totaled 255.2 million euros. EBITDA amounted to 1.063 billion euros up 257 million from 2015 reflecting lower bad debt provisions (by 512 million). Turnover fell by 478 million euros to 5.25 billion euros as PPC due to a loss of market share, lower prices and a rising phenomenon of electricity theft. �nvestments rose to 867 million euros in 2016 from 753 in 2015 and net debt fell by 262 million euros to 4.5 billion. Manolis Panagiotakis, chairman and CEO, commenting on the results stressed the importance of rising profitability, lower debt and higher investments and added that the most significant problem for PPC was a reduced cash liquidity and noted that other problems -needed to be reexamined- were covering deficits in renewable energy sources account and an energy crisis in December-January which burdened the corporation by at least 70 million euros. He noted that a significant number of customers avoid paying their debts to PPC and announced that the corporation will hire specialized companies in its effort to significantly improve collection of debt. Panagiotakis said PPC was expecting a significant improvement in revenue from the sale of a 49 pct of ADMIE. He said that PPC was preparing a plan to set up the first subsidiary company of PPC customers to be offered in the market and was working systematically to draft a strategic plan in the framework of new conditions expected in the market to meet a goal for a smaller PPC (in the electricity market) but stronger and larger through a diversification in new product and services and expanding in ew markets. PPC's board plans to skip dividend payment for 2016. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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