Greek election items from Venizelos and Samaras - and closing thought from PM L- Pap

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55264

Pasok turns guns on Left

2 May 2012

Venizelos has attacked Syriza head Alexis Tsipras, accusing him of wanting to transform Greece into Albania. (file photo) Socialist officials are sharpening attacks on Left wing opponents in the final days of campaigning, hoping to win back 2009 voters hit by the financial crisis.   Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos lashed out at Alexis Tsipras, the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) leader, saying his policies would turn Greece into Albania.   "Mr. Tsipras - and I regret to say this - has lost it. He is a political slanderer, and his behaviour has nothing in common with the standing of the Left," Venizelos said in his main pre-election news conference.   "His party's positions with certainty would lead Greece out of the eurozone and the European Union, they would cause a collapse of the banking system, the loss of bank deposits, and create at least 2 million unemployed. The country's productive capacity would collapse, imports would be suspended, leaving Greece isolated and turning it into Albania," he said.   "This is the epitome of political opportunism."   Syriza was in third place in the final opinion polls, published in April 20, with 10.3 percent according to a Rass survey for the Eleftheros Typos newspaper, and is in line to receive an exploratory mandate if New Democracy and Pasok fail to resolve the expected election deadlock. (AthensNews/gw) and.... http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55254 Samaras pledges to halve unemployment 2 May 2012 New Democracy will halve unemployment in three years, its leader, Antonis Samaras, promised on Tuesday in Lavrio (Eurokinissi) Speaking to an indoor audience of employed and unemployed people on Tuesday, the New Democracy leader said that fighting unemployment will be his party's "absolute priority" if elected to government.   Antonis Samaras promised the meeting at Lavrio, in eastern Attica, to "reduce unemployment by half in three years, through the implementation of growth policies".   He said that "our absolute priority is to stop … the nightmare of unemployment", adding his party, through EU structural funds, could increase growth by "9 percentage points of GDP".   "Many tens of thousands of jobs will be created," he emphasised. (AMNA, Athens News) and... http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55263 Papademos oversees last cabinet meeting before elections 2 May 2012 Outgoing Prime Minister Lucas Papademos oversaw the last cabinet meeting of his government on Wednesday. (file photo) The results of the upcoming general elections on Sunday will determine the future of the country in coming decades and its strategic orientation, not just which government will come to power, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos stressed while addressing the last cabinet meeting to be held by the current government on Wednesday.   "For this reason, I believe that public debate must focus on a better understanding of reality. But I am certain that the decisions of the citizens will look toward the future, not the past," he added, thanking the ministers for their cooperation and the work that was carried out.   According to Papademos, the government's main mission had been achieved and Greece had avoided the imminent risk of default while at the same time establishing the best possible conditions - though even these were extremely difficult - for continuing the effort to restore and restructure the economy.   The prime minister stressed that the present government had also proved that ideological and political differences were set aside for the good of the country and he noted that the government's achievements included 48 acts of legislation, with 70 percent of Greece's obligations under the Memorandum completed by the end of April, another 25 percent on the verge of completion barring a few details and only 5 percent not carried out.   During its final meeting, the cabinet formally ratified an Act of Cabinet allowing the Financial Stability Fund to sign contracts with the EFSF for a bridge recapitalisation of Greece's four largest banks (National Bank, Alpha Bank, Eurobank and Piraeus Bank), who will be offered funds worth 18 billion euros in the form of EFSF bonds. This capital will be used to allow banks to maintain access to the European Central Bank’s funding operations. At a later stage, this capital will be replaced with common shares or convertible bonds, depending on the final decision of a bank recapitalization plan.   The cabinet meeting was followed by an inner cabinet meeting focusing on reforms in public administration, during which Administrative Reform and e-Government Minister Dimitris Reppas outlined the progress of a public-sector evaluation by French consultants. (AMNA)