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FRONT PAGE NEWS |
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 Deficit enters danger zone |
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| Greece is closing in on a budget deficit close to the 3 percent of GDP limit set by the EU, joining the company of France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, all of whom have deficits of close to 3 percent or more.
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| Quake manslaughter, bus murder |
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| The owners and the builder of an Athens factory that collapsed in the 1999 earthquake, killing eight people, were acquitted yesterday of the draconian charge of «murder with possible malice aforethought» by a court that found three of the defendants guilty of manslaughter alone.
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| MEPs fault Spaniards on Prestige |
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| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU Parliament yesterday criticized Spain for its controversial handling of the 2002 Prestige oil tanker disaster, following a special inquiry.
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| EC steps in to protect birds |
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| Greece's failure to properly implement the European Union's oldest piece of nature conservation legislation - the 1979 Wild Birds Directive - by not creating sanctuaries for wild birds and protecting endangered avian species, led to court action from Brussels yesterday.
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| Civil servants... |
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Civil servants employed on short-term work contracts demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry building...
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| Extra police for ‘most civilized city in world’ |
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| While billing Athens as «the most civilized city in the world,» the capital's mayor promised yesterday to have over 600 municipal police officers on the streets from July...
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IN BRIEF |
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Greek, Portuguese officials discuss security for Games, Euro 2004
: Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis and Portugal's sports minister, Jose Luis Arnaut, yesterday discussed security... |
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Valid passport, residence permit will be necessary, minister says
: Immigrants living in Greece who are planning to return to their homelands for Easter must have certain valid documents... |
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Transport hub to be set up in Greece
: A coordination center for marine transport, which will provide the European Union with transport capabilities for military operations, is to be set up in Greece... |
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Health hirings
: At least 9,477 extra staff are to be recruited into the health sector before the end of 2005... |
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Olympic briefing
: Athens 2004 Organizing Committee President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki yesterday briefed Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis... |
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Contraband cigarettes
: Customs officials in Thessaloniki have confiscated 2.4 million packets of following an inspection... |
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Easter food
: The Easter spread will be cheaper this year than last year... |
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Roadworks
: Athens-bound traffic will be disrupted on the section of Iera Odos between Thivon and Kifissou avenues... |
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ELA trial
: The estranged former wife of Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) terrorism suspect Angeletos Kanas is to testify today... |
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Ex-king on Crete
: Constantine, the former king of Greece, will be spending Easter in Elounda, northeastern Crete... |
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After extensive repairs...
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EDITORIAL |
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Long-term policy for hospital debts
The total debt of state clinics at the end of 2003 hovered at 1.8 billion euros, Health and Social Solidarity Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis told a press conference yesterday. The debt issue is expected to be dealt with in the summer through a parliamentary bill on the purchase of hospital equipment.
The new government must be careful not to perpetuate the problematic relationship between the State and state clinics. |
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COMMENTARY |
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Hollow rhetoric
Like a spell no one believes in anymore, we have for years been producing platitudinous reassurances that «Cyprus decides and Greece backs her up.» But though we often repeat these words, we hardly mean them. Neither party leaders and party cadres mean them, nor the media commentators, nor TV journalists. And now, once again, in response to Kofi Annan's plan and the looming referenda, we are rehashing the familiar mantra: «Cyprus decides and Greece backs her up.» But once again, we don't really mean what we say.
Perhaps, to our calls for sobriety and farsightedness, we should also add a call for responsibility, meaning the genuine, sincere relationship between the most profound thoughts of a politician and his public statements. |
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