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Papandreou to hold talks with Nicola Sarkozy

Prime Minister Giorgos Papandreou is to meet French President Nicola Sarkozy on Wednesday to discuss common action against the attack on the Euro by profiteers. The issue will further be discussed by an extraordinary EU council summit on Thursday. The possibility of a European bailout through a euro bond is expected to be tabled during Papandreou's meeting with Sarkozy.

European commissioners are due to hand over posts on Tuesday. Incoming monetary and economic affairs commissioner Oli Rehn is expected to mention Greece in his address and according to information is looking into placing an overseer in Athens to closely monitor the government's adherence to austerity measures for economic recovery.

Meanwhile, European Central Bank president Jean Claude Triche appeared certain that Greece will meet its fiscal targets, speaking after a G7 summit in Canada.

Katseli says exit from the crisis will come from this government's stability program

Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping Minister Louka Katseli, in a statement issued on Sunday on latest developments in the economy, said that "we shall tackle the challenges of the difficult conjuncture based exclusively on our own forces. Every initiative by our EU partners to handle profiteering attacks and the stabilisation of the euro is certainly welcome."

The minister added that monetary restructuring, the rewarming of economic activity and the country's production restructuring will come about as a result of the implementation of the government's economic stability and growth program.

Meanwhile, the government is preparing its three year privatization program, which aims to meet the target set in the 2010 budget for revenues of 2.5 billion euros. Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou is set to present his proposals in the next few days.

Citizens' majority believe in the need for harsh measures, poll shows.

64,1% of citizens believe that harsh measures are needed for the economy, according to a poll publicized yesterday by the newspaper TO VIMA TIS KIRIAKIS.

The majority of citizens agrees with the announced measures for the economy, however, most of them disagree with the fuel tax hike and raising pension age limits.

Responding to a question on whether they trust political leaders, 58,6% of the participants said they trust the Prime Minister's efforts for the country's exit from the economic crisis while 57,3% applauded main opposition New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras for the conditional support of the government's initiatives.

Tax and public administration reforms top Cabinet meeting's agenda

The government is to finalize its tax system reform plan and announce changes in the public administration salary system in a cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister today.

Evidence of income criteria for everyone and cash registers everywhere were just two of the upcoming tax measures unveiled by Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou in a newspaper interview yesterday.

The minister also mentioned the abolition of separate tax rates for certain sources of income and said the government intended to abolish early pension privileges and unfair salaries in the public-sector.

Meanwhile, government vice chairman Theodoros Paggalos chaired a meeting with ministers Giorgos Papaconstantinou, Andreas Loverdos and Charis Paboukis ahead of the tabling of the social security system reform plan by the Labor Minister tomorrow.

Tsipras accuses government of entering a "conservative" alliance

Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Parliamentary group leader Alexis Tsipras attacked the government yesterday, saying that PASOK has entered a grand conservative coalition in order to gain consensus for policies that would "level" Greek society.

SYRIZA's leader said that this conservative alliance would soon find itself facing a great social alliance, made up of forces from the entire range of the country's political life but chiefly from those of the Left that were fighting to give to Greek people an alternative plan for exiting the crisis.

Deputy Foreign Minister leads humanitarian mission in Haiti

A Greek mission led by Deputy Foreign Minister Spyros Kouvelis departed yesterday for Haiti. The plane, a 747 jumbo jet carried 50 tones of humanitarian aid including pharmaceutical supplies, food and tents as well as members of the Greek branch of Medecins du Monde and the Greek rescue team.

Mr. Kouvelis will also deliver a letter by PM Papandreou to his Haitian counterpart. The letter will refer to the Greek aid- already sent through the World Food Organization-, the historic relations between the two countries and the Greek government's commitment to continue supporting Haiti.

Greece's next initiative is to support the reconstruction of buildings such as home shelters for children.

In the meantime, people interested in making donations for the victims of the quake can still do so until the 15th of February at banks around the country. The can also call 90111171717.

Farmers vote once again for the blockades

The tail end of the farmer protests continued to cause problems at the Greek-Bulgarian border crossing in Promachonas on Sunday, where hardline farmers voted to once more close the border post to truck traffic.

The blockade at Promachonas is the last in Serres after the road blocks at Strymonikos and Kerdyllia dispersed on Friday morning.

Only the passage of trucks is being blocked at present, with cars and buses free to cross the border in both directions.

Earlier on Sunday, in a meeting held at Tyrnavos in Larisa, farmers taking part in the 12 remaining road blocks in Thessaly and Macedonia decided to stay put until the government backed down and met their demands.

They will meet again this afternoon at Nikaia.

Civil Servants Union announces strike

Civil servants union ADEDY is to hold a 24 hour strike on Wednesday in protest to the government's plans to freeze salaries and abolish bonus payments in the wider public sector.

Hospital doctors and nurses also go on strike this Wednesday.

Regjizori i filmit "Mali Perballe", Vasilis Duros,kompozitori Dasho Kurti dhe aktori Karafil Shena ne Athina9,84FM dhe Athina104

Nga 11 shkurt në kinemane Filip filmi greke "Mali Perballe" me regji te Vasilis Douros. Një film për ksenofobin, respektin reciprok dhe kontaktet njerëzore. Kontaktet qe humbasin, dhe frika nga i huaji,me kombesi të ndryshme, nuk lejon një kontakt më të thellë kulturor dhe qasje ndër-fetare, e cila do të ndihmojë në pranimin e te tjereve si të barabartë dhe jo si inferiore.Diten e Hene ne daten 8  Shkurt ne oren 18.00 regjizori Grek Vasilis Duros Kompezitori i talentuar i filmit bashkeatdhetari yne Dasho Kurti dhe aktori Karafil Shena do te jene te ftuar ne mikrofonin e Athina 9,84FM, ndersa ne oren 19.00 ne Athina 104.4FM me Bardha Mancen.

Mandatory coverage para sa mga OFW, pinalawak ng Pag-IBIG

Pinalawak ng housing finance ng gobyerno ang kanilang mandatory coverage upang maisa ang mga manggagawang Pilipino sa tinatawag na formal at informal na sector dito sa bayan at sa labas ng bansa.