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04/10/2003

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TOP STORY
Deficit hits 7.22 bln Eight-month figures way off forecasts; military debt balloons The day after Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis presented the draft of his proposal for the 2004 general state budget, the figures related to the past eight months of this year have come to show a dramatic worsening in public finances.

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Poll suggests handouts could fail

The government appeared to be disturbed by the publication yesterday of an opinion poll which showed that, despite the social spending that it has promised, it is still trailing the New Democracy party by 7.7 percent.

Plans to allow new hotels

Top government officials yesterday discussed plans to lift restrictions on the construction of new hotels, while cutting through the bureaucratic paper chase involved in setting up large tourist enterprises, sources said.

No taxis today in Athens

Athens taxi drivers will be on strike all day today, setting the stage for a series of strikes and protests due to affect much of the public sector this coming week.

WWII aircraft raised off Leros

The well-preserved wreck of one of the most widely used German World War II aircraft was raised from the seabed yesterday by a Greek air force team, 60 years after the plane was shot down by Allied forces in the Dodecanese.

Defense Minister...

Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou (r) talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana...

Bank robbers caught dividing up their loot

A gang of Albanian robbers that exclusively targeted Greece's largest private bank has been broken following the arrest of two suspected members in the act of splitting the loot from a recent heist, police said yesterday.

IN BRIEF

Five bodies recovered on Evia, authorities seeking smugglers : Evia coast guards yesterday recovered the bodies of five drowned immigrants from a beach near Kymi...

Prosecutor calls for all charged to be tried as felons for murder : A prosecutor yesterday proposed to the Aegean Appeals Council that all those indicted in connection with the sinking of the Express Samina ferry in September 2000 be tried on felony charges...

Mob daughter ‘died of drugs, alcohol’ : The death last month of Kyriaki Grigorakou, the 36-year-old daughter of the late Athens extortion gang boss Vassilis Grigorakos, was caused by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol...

Terror list ‘stale’ : A US State Department list of 36 groups worldwide designated as terrorist organizations, whose Greek section contains November 17 and the much less-known Revolutionary Nuclei...

Roadwork : Athens-bound traffic on the Athens-Corinth national road will be restricted to two lanes from Monday for a stretch starting 84 kilometers (52 miles) outside Athens...

Telephone charges : OTE Telecom’s new, lower rates for calls from fixed-line to mobile telephones are to come into effect from tomorrow...

Bird festival : Ornithology experts and enthusiasts are to convene in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities across the country this weekend...

Dimitra Papandreou : The wife of late Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, Dimitra Liani-Papandreou, has had a series of meetings with senior PASOK officials...


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A motorist prepares...
EDITORIAL

Double standards Disappointed though the government may be in the findings of the recent opinion polls, it must try to avoid the temptation of knee-jerk reaction. It must also refrain from resorting to cheap and ill-thought remarks like the one made by spokesman Christos Protopappas, who said that he has no reason to comment on «stale opinion polls.» The brief delay in the publication of the poll findings is due to reasons Protopappas is well aware of.

COMMENTARY

PASOK’s long reign The recent opinion polls have put PASOK in a very difficult position. Six months ahead of the national polls, New Democracy is consolidating a wide lead of nearly 8 percent. The conservative lead is apparently being cemented by many factors related to voters' perception of the Socialist party and the anxiety of their own everyday lives. However, the main reason for its poor situation appears to be the party's long stay in power. A big segment of the population favors a political changeover. PASOK, they say, has been in charge for too long, thus obstructing change and fresh ideas. Faces have been virtually unchanged for 20 years while a new Socialist victory will undermine the democratic mandate of parties alternating in power.

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