Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-07

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece could be included in ECB's QE in June; 2017 will bring growth-Economy minister

[02] Anastasiades urges UN envoy Eide to make careful statements on Cyprus issue

[01] Greece could be included in ECB's QE in June; 2017 will bring growth-Economy minister

"What we are aiming for, is to have a decision at the Eurogroup on [May] 22 – don't forget that the procedure for debt relief has started – and we believe that on May 22 we will have a final agreement. This will immediately allow, a week later or in a short period of time, for Greece to be included in the quantitative easing. The decision is expected at the beginning of June," he said, adding this will boost entrepreneurship and encourage investments from abroad.

Asked about the still elusive economic growth in Greece, he said 2017 will be a year of economic development. "The real economy is showing some positive signs. It is not what we expected, we expect a lot more and this year – 2017- will be a year of real growth. There's a rise in employment – not as much as we expected – but don't forget that this happened despite the fact that the review had not concluded and there was still uncertainty," he said.

Commenting on the future of power utility PPC, as outlined in the deal with the country's creditors, Papadimitriou said the government "never wanted to sell PPC units" but the final ruling of the European Court of Justice and its ratification by the European Commission "does not leave much room for us".

[02] Anastasiades urges UN envoy Eide to make careful statements on Cyprus issue

"The less said, particularly from the side of the UN's special envoy on Cyprus, Mr. Espen Eide, the better," Anastasiades was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a charity event in Nicosia on Sunday.

"He should have learned from his predecessors who caused significant problems to either one or the other community," he said and expressed his sadness that Eide tends to adopt the positions of one side without hearing or simply conveying the different views.

"[He] should realize that statements or threats will only achieve the opposite results from the ones intended," he continued, noting that the UN envoy "tries not to see the threats against the Cypriot Republic and the climate of distrust created through the various Navtex issued and the presence of [Turkish seismic survey vessel] Barbaros [in the Cypriot EEZ]," he said, noting the "real threat" to Cyprus' sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Anastasiades said Eide is "in a rush", as he has been in the past. "I had warned him that by raising expectations, all we will bring is disappointment to the Greek-Cypriots, because in the end we found ourselves facing the intransigence of positions that do not allow us to achieve the desired result." He then attributed Eide's rush to the general elections which will be held in Norway in September.

"What I'm interested in, is for the UN's secretary-general to know that talks are being held under threats and this is unthinkable; it's a violation of international law," he said.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article