December 7, 1952
MARKEZINIS’S POLICY: Yesterday at 9 p.m. the minister for coordination, Mr Spyros Markezinis, speaking on Athens radio, announced to the Greek people the (Papagos) government’s economic program as well as various measures being taken or that will be taken to ensure it is completely successful. Markezinis’s speech, which covered all sectors of economic life, can be summarized as focusing on improvements to the following: the restoration of public administration, bearing in mind its purpose; decentralization is a main goal along with broad reform; moral and material improvements for civil servants and simultaneously a purge of the civil servant class; preservation of currency stability; credits for the agricultural economy and control of imports; reduction in indirect taxes; an improvement in the banking system; restriction on interventionism; lower production costs and better goods transport; a rise in the living standards of the masses and the securing of new markets for national products. KARAMANLIS INITIATIVE: The prime minister (Alexandros Papagos) yesterday met with Public Works Minister Constantine Karamanlis who briefed him on the situation in which he had found his ministry and the policies he intends to follow. GREECE-USSR: The foreign minister, Mr Stephanopoulos, yesterday received the charge d’affaires of the Soviet Embassy, Mr Chernichev.
