Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-01-07 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] Greek government works hard for positive outcome on Cyprus, gov't sources [02] We will not accept IMF's unreasonable demands, Labour Min Achtsioglou says --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] Greek government works hard for positive outcome on Cyprus, gov't sources The government and more particularly the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras are working hard to achieve a positive outcome on the Cyprus issue, according to government sources on Saturday. "The Greek government and the prime minister are working hard and will continue to do so ahead of the Geneva conference in order to achieve a positive outcome in the negotiations on the Cyprus issue. The Greek government is ready to respond positively and to be represented at the highest level in Geneva, if so decided by the Turkish side," the same sources said. [02] We will not accept IMF's unreasonable demands, Labour Min Achtsioglou says Labour Minister Effi Achtsioglou on Saturday in an interview with Real News newspaper sent a clear message that the government will not accept unreasonable demands from the IMF on labour relations outside the European regularity, such as legislating austerity measures for the period after the completion of the programme in 2018. She underlined that she will insist on keeping the threshold for mass layoffs stable while she left open the way that the IMF will participate in the Greek programme. The Greek Labour Minister also said that it is impossible to meet the 0.5 percent primary surplus in 2016 and estimated that the automatic contingent mechanism will not be activated.