50 Years Ago Today
LEAVE FOR EXILED DEPUTIES: Yesterday evening a government source announced that following an agreement between Messrs. Venizelos and Plastiras mediated by EPEK deputy G. Kartalis, the prime minister has authorized the interior minister, Mr. G. Athanasiadis-Novas, to grant a 15-day leave to exiles belonging to the United Democratic Left who have been elected to Parliament, so that they might come to Athens and defend themselves in person before the electoral court. The deputies in exile are K. Gavrilidis, Ilias Iliou, E. Proimakis, Ioannis Imbriotis, S. Sarafis, T. Tsechas and M. Hadzimichalis. The convicts who were not given leave are Manolis Glezos and A. Abatielos. STOCK MARKET RISE: Over the past week, the official stock market made a considerable recovery. On the very first day of the week, bond prices began to gain ground, headed by national loan bonds, whose prices in London and Paris have remained 100-200 percent higher than at home. Public companies, particularly banks, made considerable investments in bank shares this week in drachmas. Shares in which the most interest was expressed were those of the banks of Athens, National and Commercial, the electric railway, ETMA, General Securities and the hippodrome company. The governments of the last two decades are hugely responsible for this as they have used EU subsidies to serve their supposedly social but essentially electioneering policies rather than investing them properly so as to proceed with the much-needed radical changes in the rural economy. The end of these subsidies, which is in sight as a result of EU enlargement, means that the government has to reverse a trend which will inevitably entail painful consequences for the country’s agrarian community and the citizens’ quality of life in general.
