Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-06-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] PM addresses Parliament on unemployment among women

[02] Govt plan on banks' pension issue will not burden IKA, FinMin says

[03] Greece launches tourism office in Beijing

[04] New detox centre for Athens and survey on drug-use among young presented at Zappion

[01] PM addresses Parliament on unemployment among women

The government's efforts drew criticism, however, from KKE General Secretary Aleka Papariga, who said that they only benefited a very small percentage of women.

"We need programmes to boost women's employment and not women entrepreneurs," she said, while criticising the government for failing to take measures to protect women workers from abuse and exploitation by employers.

During the debate, the prime minister also referred to the government's plans to change shop opening hours, underlining that there was no question of shops opening on Sunday.

"We are not talking about liberalisation but of regulation of shop opening hours, so that these are harmonised on a nationwide basis," he said.

Karamanlis also defended the government's planned reforms, stressing that these were inspired by common sense rather than ideology and sought to change those things that "do society an injustice and keep the country in a rut".

[02] Govt plan on banks' pension issue will not burden IKA, FinMin says

Speaking to reporters, after a meeting with the presidency of the Union of Greek Banks to discuss the sector's pension issue, Alogoskoufis categorically stressed that the government was not negotiating the basic elements of the proposed legislation.

The Greek minister, however, left the door open to changes in technical issues of the plan saying that a dialogue, currently underway in parliament, "is an dynamic process".

Alogoskoufis dismissed talk and reports over the impact of the government plan to resolve banks' pension problem, saying that IKA was not burdened by the plan. The minister said that Greek bankers did not have a unified view on the government plan.

[03] Greece launches tourism office in Beijing

In his address, Avramopoulos said his talks with Chinese tourism officials were excellent and particularly his meeting with his Chinese counterpart and stressed the two countries would sign a complete bilateral agreement on tourism soon.

The Greek minister said that bureaucrary in issuing visas to Chinese tourists has been eliminated and that visa procedures were completed in 24 hours. Avramopoulos said Greece was seeking to host a World Tourism Council annual assembly in Greece next year and to host ABTA's annual meeting in November.

He said that National Tourism Organisation's president Ar. Kalogeropoulos was in talks with Air China's officials to discuss ways to establish direct flights between China and Greece.

Speaking to reporters, Avramopoulos reiterated his optimism over this year's tourism season in Greece. Avramopoulos inaugurated an international tourism exhibition "BITE" in Beijing, with Greece the honourary country.

[04] New detox centre for Athens and survey on drug-use among young presented at Zappion

The plans for the new detox centre were presented by Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni and other officials at a press conference in Zappion, which was also used to present the results of a survey on drug use among young people aged 15-29.

The survey was carried out in June by Kapa Research, using a sample of 1,370 individuals in Attica, and highlighted that illegal drugs were easily available to young people, while information and help for those in trouble was not.

Participants were also questioned on their attitudes toward drugs and drug users, with the majority showing a tolerant attitude to drug use by others.

Over half (52 per cent) of those questioned said that they had been offered marijuana at some point in their lives, while 79 per cent said that drugs were easy to find if one had enough money.

Asked whether they had used drugs during 2005, 12 per cent said that they had used marijuana, 2 per cent had used heroin and 2.6 had used crack or cocaine. The results also showed that drug use was higher among boys than girls, while 5.9 of those that had used drugs were in secondary school. One in three (32 per cent) of young people said that they did not know where to go for help or information on drug use if they needed it.

Asked whether 'soft' drugs should be made legal, 74 per cent were against and 25 per cent were in favour.

Questioned on whether they would try some drug if 'soft' drugs were made legal, 78 per cent answered 'no', 14 per cent answered 'maybe' and 6.6 per cent answered 'yes'.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Bakoyianni said it highlighted the need for discussion on the problem of drugs and for it to stop being a taboo subject for Greek society.

Referring to the city's initiative for the new drug detox centre, the mayor said that this would operate as a farm where young people could gain skills and a new outlook that would help them get away from drugs.

The centre will be housed in a site donated by ERT, while Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis on Wednesday pledged to provide money to run the centre via funding for KETHEA.

Other speakers at the press conference included government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos and ERT president Andreas Panagopoulos.

KETHEA president Nikos Paraskevopoulos outlined the municipality's plans for an integrated, multi-stage detox programme operating on five levels: an advisory station in Athens that would immediately accept drug users without a waiting list, a physical detox centre with 30 beds in Avlida, a therapeutic community hostel with 50 beds, also in Avlida, where residents will be able to stay for up to nine months, a social rehabilitation centre in Athens that will accept residents for 8-10 months and a Family Support Centre for the families of drug users.

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