GREECE’S participation in Nato has not managed to respond to the significant threat represented by Turkey, Foreign Minister Stavros Dimas told a special event held to mark the 60th anniversary of the country’s membership of the military bloc on February 16. “Since the mid-1970s, Greece has been facing a standing threat by one of its [Nato] allies, Turkey.

 

Nato’s silence since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus has been deafening. The systematic dispute of Greece’s sovereign rights by Turkey is, and is being treated by the Greek people as, a real and direct threat. In that light, Greece’s membership has not managed to respond to this significant threat,” the foreign minister said.

 

Also addressing the event, organised by Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (Eliamep), was Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in Athens for the anniversary. Replying to a question on the Cyprus issue, he said that the non-resolution of the problem was a cause of concern and has negative consequences not only for Cyprus and Greek-Turkish relations, but also for Nato-EU relations. He called “on all sides” to make every effort to resolve the Cyprus issue, and soon at that, under the auspices of the UN. “The existing plans appear to be very close to what apparently both sides can accept,” the Nato chief added.

 

 

PRESIDENT Karolos Papoulias has given up his salary in a symbolic gesture of support for recession-hit citizens. Papoulias receives an annual income of 283,694 euros for the job. His term of office expires in 2015. The 82-year-old president announced his decision at a meeting with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on February 15, three days after parliament slashed the minimum wage as part of a drastic new austerity package. “This is an action of honour, Mr President. It’s a symbolic gesture when the Greek people have been called upon to make such sacrifices. The country’s first citizen is giving up his salary,” Venizelos said. “This is very important and symbolic initiative, for which I thank him and will inform the prime minister and cabinet.”

 

 

 

COCA-COLA Hellenic (CCH), the world’s second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola soft drinks, posted a 27 percent drop in 2011 net profit, hit by austerity in Greece and Italy and higher commodity costs. “In 2012, we anticipate further input of cost pressures and slowdown in eurozone growth, leading to uncertainty and volatility in most of our EU markets,” CCH said on February 15, adding it would continue to cut costs. CCH said comparable net profit fell to 330m euros, in line with forecasts and before restructuring costs of 60m euros. The Athens-based company, with operations in 27 countries in Europe and also in Nigeria, has suffered from weak demand in many of its markets since a global credit crisis in 2008. Adding to its blues are wage cuts and tax hikes in Greece since 2010 and in struggling Italy last year, two of CCH’s biggest markets, along with a double-digit percentage rise in raw material costs. CCH said it would invest 1.45bn euros in 2012-14 to boost its brands, including ahead of this year’s European Soccer Championships and Olympic Games. 

 

 

 

THE COUNTRY’S battered public finances got a minor boost from the European Union on February 16 when the bloc’s executive said it would repay 35m euros it wrongly fined Greece for errors in its EU farm payments. In a statement, the European Commission said the decision followed a European court ruling in September, which partially annulled fines imposed in 2005 over irregularities in EU payments to Greek arable, livestock and fruit farmers. The commission also announced a fine of 30m euros for Britain for inadequate enforcement of EU environmental rules for farmers, known as cross-compliance. The Netherlands was handed a similar fine of 15m euros. 

 

 

 

THREE PEOPLE, including a 47-year-old senior navy officer, were arrested in Athens on February 15 for possession of child pornography. The other two persons arrested were a 34-year-old and a 54-year-old. According to the police, the arrests came after an investigation carried out by its cybercrime unit.

 

 

 

RAIL OPERATOR TrainOSE recorded a first in its history in the last month of 2011 by producing a surplus, the company said on February 14. In a statement announcing its financial results for 2011, the operator said that it had produced a surplus of 60,402 euros in December. Overall, the state-owned company said it managed to sink its deficit to 33m euros, a reduction of 82 percent on 2010, when its deficit was 187m euros. The company now believes it is on track to break even in 2012. “TrainOSE now predicts it will not represent a burden for the Greek state or taxpayers in 2012,” the statement said. The operator added that the company’s improved economic performance in 2011 can be attributed to a recovery plan consisting of transferring staff out of the company, restructuring routes and upgrading other services. 

 

 

 

A QUARTER OF factories operating in Greece in 2008 has fallen victim to the financial crisis, while manufacturing production in the same period has shrunk by almost the same percentage, a survey based on data released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (Elstat) showed on February 15. The biggest declines in production have been seen in the non-metal minerals (58.3 percent), clothing (53.9), textile (55.3 percent) and printing (42.6 percent) sectors. The pharmaceutical sector reported a 20.4 percent increase in production, helped by strong exports.

 

 

 

THE DEPUTY minister of environment, energy and climate change, Yiannis Maniatis, will begin a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on February 19. He will be in Abu Dhabi for meetings with senior executives of energy companies in a bid to attract interest in tenders for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in Greece. The minister will be visiting the UAE capital at the invitation of the assistant minister for foreign affairs and CEO of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s pioneering renewable energy initiative launched in 2006, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. Maniatis will meet with Carl Sheldon, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), which is active in 41 countries, and with Mubadala Oil & Gas CEO Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, among others.

 

 

 

A TICKET CLERK on the ilektrikos, the green metro line run by ISAP, was praised on February 15 after she handed over a bag she found on a train that contained a small fortune in cash and cheques. The bag, containing 18,000 euros in cash, another 60,000 euros in cheques and various personal documents and items, had been forgotten by its owner at Nea Ionia station. The bag was then handed over to police at Omonia police station, who are now tracing the owner. ISAP management said it would reward the clerk for her integrity and honesty and “giving a lesson in humanity”.

 

 

 

ELECTIONS FOR the governing boards of four universities were prevented on February 15 by protesting students in what was seen as a blow to the educational reform bill passed by parliament last August. The universities affected were those of Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Thessaly and the Peloponnese. In Thessaly, groups of students actually occupied the rooms where ballot boxes were set up and blocked professors from entering.

 

 

 

DEMONSTRATORS in Thessaloniki took to the streets last weekend as part of  co-ordinated protests across Europe against a controversial anti-piracy agreement. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) was launched to protect content creators amid increased levels of online piracy. Demonstrators say Acta will limit freedom of speech online. The treaty has already been signed by 22 EU members and a debate wil take place in June before it can be ratified by the European Parliament 

 

 

 

A FIVE-HOUR drama involving a couple who threatened to jump from the office where they worked in protest at being fired ended well on February 15. 

 

The couple are facing unemployment because the state agency where they work is being shut down. At around 11am, the man and wife, both of whom work for the Workers’ Housing Organisation (OEK), climbed out onto the second-floor balcony of the building and said they would jump. The couple, who have a child with disability, said they weren’t able to cope financially.

 

The fire brigade, police and a special negotiator arrived at the OEK building, located at the corner of Patision Ave and 60 Solomou St, shortly afterwards and persuaded the man not to jump. After hours of negotiations, the woman eventually came in from the balcony at around 4.30pm. OEK, which provides affordable housing to low-income families, is one of the many state agencies slated for closure under the new troika memorandum.

 

On February 13, employees occupied its Athens headquarters. The impending closure of the agency was criticised by the European Federation of Public, Cooperative and Social Housing (CECODHAS). “We must express our deep concern that the disappearance of the affordable housing sector in Greece will add to the dramatic situation in which tens of thousands of Greek workers are now put in and will likely undermine one of the most fundamental elements that could have been the basis of a future recovery,” said its president, Vit Vanicek. “It is also a harsh setback on the implementation of the right to housing as a basic social right promoted by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights,” he pointed out.