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Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-07-22
CONTENTS
[01] PM chairs cabinet meeting on waste management
[02] Tsipras meets Siemens staff
[01] PM chairs cabinet meeting on waste management
The interior ministry proposals concerning solid waste management were
unanimously approved during the inner cabinet meeting chaired by Prime
Minister Costas Karamanlis on Tuesday. Interior Minister Prokopis
Pavlopoulos underlined the importance of the issue and pointed out that
it has both environmental and social dimensions, adding that the goal
was to shut down roughly 3,000 landfills and "enter the waste
processing era". The approximately 3,500 hectares of land that will be
recovered as a result will be reserved for alternative uses while
upgrading of the environment, Pavlopoulos stressed. Notable progress
in waste management will have to be made by the end of 2008 for Greece
to stop being answerable to the EU, while by 2020 the issue will have
to be completely settled following the example of the rest EU
countries, he stated. Deputy Interior Minister Thanasis Nakos
commented that by the end of 2008 a total of 2,500 landfills will be
closed while other 490 will also be shut down soon. "Making this
progress we will have adequate arguments in our favor in the European
Court to avoid penalties," Nakos said. Government spokesman Theodoros
Roussopoulos stated that the country is entering a new era after the
decision to adopt modern forms of waste management and the
establishment of integrated waste management industrial plants.
Roussopoulos stated that the construction of four such industrial
plants will get underway immediately while similar projects will soon
be undertaken across Greece. Caption: ANA-MPA file photograph of
Maximos Mansion, which houses the premier's offices and where cabinet
meetings are held.
[02] Tsipras meets Siemens staff
Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) leader Alexis
Tsipras met Tuesday with the Association of Siemens (Hellas) Employees,
after which he warned that hundreds of people who have been working at
Siemens for decades were today at immediate risk.
"Siemens is not as generous towards its employees as it has apparently
been with the authority and its political cadres," Tsipras said.
He said that hundreds of employees who have been working for decades at
Siemens were currently at immediate risk "because the parent company
has decided to change direction and reduce its production activities in
our country".
Tsipras said that the government must assume its responsibilities, but
added, however, that "we have a government that is incapable of solving
any problem whatsoever, and a prime minister who is outside the realms
of reality, and who goes to burnt Ancient Olympia for youth fiestas,"
referring to premier Costas Karamanlis' address to the ruling New
Democracy (ND) youth organization ONNED's annual conference and Youth
Festival, which took place in Ancient Olympia this year.
Replying to a question on economic policy, Tsipras said that economy
and finance minister George Alogoskoufis was unable to tackle the major
problems of the economy, adding that society was in a crisis, but
despite that the government insisted on "the same tried and failed
recipes".
Tsipras further predicted that the social crisis would sooner or later
turn into an 'explosion'.
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