Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-05-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Tsipras: 'In 2018, Greece will exit the memorandum programmes'

[02] Mitsotakis: Greece turning into an austerity colony with no end in sight

[03] Koutsoumbas slams government for burdening country with two austerity programs

[04] Protesters clash with police outside parliament; tear gas fired

[01] Tsipras: 'In 2018, Greece will exit the memorandum programmes'

"The review is concluding and after seven whole years we are heading toward a comprehensive agreement to extricate the country from the memorandums. We are passing to a positive agenda for the country and society," he said.

Replying to earlier criticism from main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the debate on the omnibus bill, Tsipras said ND's leader had presented the same tired arguments and had "thrown away an opportunity to change narrative".

"He brought nothing new to the arguments that he has been reproducing for some time, in spite of his supremacy in the systemic media. This supremacy is not enough because politics is more than communication. It also needs heart and mind," Tsipras said.

"In 2019 when we face each other at the polls you will have been the leader of a party that for 3.5 years predicted and asked for elections and cutters and nothing happened," he added.

ND's arguments today were that the government is bringing a fourth memorandum and the positive measures are non-existent, Tsipras said. When it has become clear that we are heading toward the longed-for debt relief and are able to stand on our own two feet, exiting the memorandums, both ND and the media would change their tune, he added.

"Now you are not saying that we are destroying the country because we are not signing an agreement. Now we are destroying it because we have an agreement and you are trying to convince us that the austerity measures are more severe than the positive measures. Your logic is that if reality does not agree with you, that's too bad for reality," the prime minister said, addressing Mitsotakis.

SYRIZA's parliamentary group formally tabled a request for a roll-call vote, both in principle and on the individual articles. A similar request is also expected from main opposition New Democracy. The voting procedure is expected to start around midnight.

[02] Mitsotakis: Greece turning into an austerity colony with no end in sight

"The homeland is being turned into an austerity colony with no end," he said, adding the country is "living a nightmare which is the result of Mr Tsipras' and Mr. Kammenos' decisions. Greece would have been a normal Eurozone country today if its path had not been interrupted.

Commenting on the omnibus bill, he criticizes the two coalition parties will approve all the tough measures without any misgivings. "This way, the cycle of the biggest fraud this country has ever lived in its recent political history will close," he added.

[03] Koutsoumbas slams government for burdening country with two austerity programs

Koutsoumbas said the measures included in the bill will support the profits of monopolies, aggravate the exploitation of employees and strengthen the concentration of capital.

The two consecutive bailouts brought by the government were enough to "shed its left-wing mask" which was "cultivated with sensationalist actions, with the prime minister visiting historical venues", he said.

[04] Protesters clash with police outside parliament; tear gas fired

Clashes between the two sides are continuing in front of the Grande Bretagne hotel.

Numerous unions and workers' groups held a protest march in central Athens earlier in the day to protest against the government's new bailout deal which is being debated in parliament.

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