Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] Development and use of new technologies is a matter of democracy, say Pappas and Ansip

[02] Works in former airport at Elliniko to proceed rapidly, reassures FinMin Tsakalotos

[03] I want your children to have jobs, ND leader Mitsotakis tells pensioners

[04] Tour to the buildings of the so-called Athens trilogy

[05] Greek unemployment rate eased to 23.2 pct in February

[01] Development and use of new technologies is a matter of democracy, say Pappas and Ansip

"We see the great potential of the country for a definitive transition to fair and sustainable growth in this portfolio," Pappas stated.

Addressing the Vice President, Pappas said that compared to the EU average, Greece is about 1/3 of the EU average, as a percentage of enterprises that take advantage of new technologies.

"I want to assure you that the first priority of this government and of the Greek Parliament is that no Greek will be left behind in technology issues," he stressed.

Addressing the parliamentary committees, Ansip spoke about digital developments in Greece and the EU and highlighted the benefits of the Digital Single Market and the need to remove high-cost barriers of the products.

"But it is not just a matter of money, it is a matter of democracy, fundamental rights," said the Vice-President of the European Commission, referring to the role of digital technology.

Especially for Greece, the recent developments in the digital sector are promising, but it has to do even more with creating friendly digital services, because digital investments can help Greece save money for other sectors. "Greece has improved its performance last year by 8.6 pct," Ansip said, but stresed the improtance of further efforts to create a friendly environment to stop the "brain drain."

[02] Works in former airport at Elliniko to proceed rapidly, reassures FinMin Tsakalotos

However, he said that there cannot be a specific timetable of the completion of the works.

Answering to Democratic Alliance deputy Odysseas Konstantinopoulos question, Tsakalotos explained that it is not possible to have a specific date because there are issues that do not lie within the government's control.

The independent authorities involved in the work need some time to issue their decisions.

Tsakalotos noted that the problems with the Archaeological Service and the Forestry will be solved very soon and also said that the staffing of Elliniko offices has already started.

[03] I want your children to have jobs, ND leader Mitsotakis tells pensioners

He stressed that his aim is that everyone is employed.

"I want your children to find jobs. I want you to have a decent pension and not to feed your children because they can't find employment. This is not my vision for Greece," he said adding that his party must explain to the citizens and mostly to the pensioners what will happen after the voting of the fourth memorandum.

Mitsotakis said that there is "another policy" adding that "sooner or later this government will leave and another one will come, I hope with a strong mandate, which will not deceive the citizens."

"I will not stand before you and say that I will bring your pensions back to the level they uses to be because I can't do it and I will not lie to you. I will only say that when the economy restarts for good and growth returns, our social security system will be in a better condition."

[04] Tour to the buildings of the so-called Athens trilogy

For three consecutive Saturdays (13,20 and 27 May) from 11:00 to 12:30, Professor of the History of Arts Dimitris Pavlopoulos and post graduate students of the school will tour the Athenians and the tourists to the three historic buildings.

The three buildings are the first public buldings of Athens and of the modern Greek state of the 19th century that are reprsentative of the special architecture, sculpture and painting and indicative of the classical type buildings that thrived not only in Greece but in the whole of Europe in that period.

"It is an initiative for the Athenians and not only to get acquainted with the history of these extraordinary building of the 19th century that harmonically combine the architecture, the sculpture and the painting" stated Professor Pavlopoulos to Athens Macedonian News Agency adding that "the buildings are the successful result of the cooperation of local and foreign artists based on the funding offers by Greeks of the diaspora and formed the image of the capital of the newly established Greek state".

[05] Greek unemployment rate eased to 23.2 pct in February

The number of unemployed people totaled 1,104,604 in February, down 43,387 from the same month in 2016 (a decline of 3.8 pct) and down 6,915 compared with January 2017 (a decline of 0.6 pct).

The number of employed people totaled 3,656,783 in February, up 0.2 pct from the same month last year and up 0.2 pct from January 2017. The economically non-active people (out of work and not seeking a job) totaled 3,263,180, unchanged from February 2016 but down 0.1 pct from January 2017.

The unemployment rate among women was 27.5 pct in February, from 28.4 pct in February 2016, while among men it was 19.7 pct and 20.3 pct, respectively.

The 15-24 age group recorded the highest unemployment rate (47.9 pct from 50.6 pct in February 2016), followed by the 25-34 age group (30.4 pct from 30.5 pct), the 35-44 age group (20.3 pct from 20.6 pct), the 55-64 age group (19.7 pct from 20.2 pct), the 45-54 age group (18.2 pct from 19.8 pct) and the 65-74 age group (14.8 pct from 11.2 pct).

Among the country's regions, Epirus-Western Macedonia recorded the highest unemployment rate (27.6 pct in February from 28.4 pct in February 2016), followed by Thessaly-Central Greece (24 pct from 26.5 pct), Peloponese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands (23.8 pct from 23.1 pct), Macedonia-Thrace (23.3 pct from 24.6 pct), Attica (22.8 pct from 23.3 pct), Crete (21.3 pct from 25.6 pct) and Aegean (17.7 pct from 15.5 pct).

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