Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-02-01 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras meets president of the Serbian National Assembly Goykovich [02] Debate in Parliament on loans to parties and media [03] The Parliament will not vote for extreme measures demanded by IMF, says its President Voutsis [04] Ryanair cuts flights to Athens; adds two new routes [05] End of roaming charges: EU negotiators agreed on wholesale prices --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] PM Tsipras meets president of the Serbian National Assembly Goykovich Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the president of the Serbian National Assembly Maya Goykovich in a meeting on Wednesday discussed the strengthening of the Greek-Serbian relations and more specifically of the existing cooperation between the two parliaments. According to government sources, both of them focused on the friendship and cooperation of the two peoples. [02] Debate in Parliament on loans to parties and media The parliament plenary will convene on Wednesday, at 13.00, to discuss the ruling of the investigation committee regarding the legitimacy of loans granted to political parties and media. [03] The Parliament will not vote for extreme measures demanded by IMF, says its President Voutsis Provided that the euro and the EMU continue to exist, there is no issue of Greece's unilateral withdrawal from the eurozone or return to a national currency, the President of the Parliament Nikos Voutsis on Wednesday said adding that this is also the position of the SYRIZA party. In statements to SKAI TV, he said that there is a part of the global society who believes that the single currency has no future as well as a part of the creditors, without a balance of power, that seeks Greece's exit. On the measures demanded by the IMF, he said that by no means will the Parliament vote for such measures. He also ruled out the possibility of elections or a referendum even if the creditors insist on extreme measures and expressed his optimism that the negotiation will be concluded as Greece's lenders will meet their commitments. [04] Ryanair cuts flights to Athens; adds two new routes Ryanair added another two routes in its current winter schedule from/to Athens, namely, to Katowice and Krakow in Poland. However, Ryanair announced that it will make a reduction of Athens traffic by 22 percent for the winter 2017 as a result of delays in the construction works at the runway of Thessaloniki airport and the absence of response by the Greek government to Ryanair's development proposals. The commercial director of the low cost airline, David O' Brien, expressed the hope that the Greek government will not repeat the mistakes of the past and suggested the extension of the contract of the Athens International Airport aiming at the increase of tourist arrivals. He also estimated that Athens could receive a further 20 million customers and 5 million tourists provided that it exploited its prospects. [05] End of roaming charges: EU negotiators agreed on wholesale prices As the last step towards the end of roaming charges by 15 June 2017, representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed on how to regulate wholesale roaming markets (the prices operators charge each other when their customers use other networks when roaming in the EU). EU negotiators agreed on the following wholesale caps: 3.2 cents per minute of voice call, as of 15 June 2017 1 cent per SMS, as of 15 June 2017 A step by step reduction over 5 years for data caps decreasing from €7.7 per GB (as of 15 June 2017) to €6 per GB (as of 1 January 2018), €4.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2019), €3.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2020), €3 per GB (as of 1 January 2021) and €2.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2022).