Funds released to ease healthcare crisis
By June 17, 440 million euros of funding will have been released to cover hospital and medicine costs, caretaker Health Minister Christos Kittas said on Wednesday, as hundreds of Greeks continued to queue for drugs that pharmacists are refusing to provide on credit.
Kittas said 310 million euros would be given to the National Organization for Healthcare Provision (EOPYY), which is responsible for providing healthcare to some 9 million people, while another 130 million euros would go to public hospitals, which have had trouble paying their suppliers.
“We have to put people - patients and those around them - above all,” said Kittas.
Although the release of the money will help EOPYY settle an outstanding bill for medicines provided by pharmacists to patients insured with the fund, it is not clear if it will provide a solution for Greeks trying to get hold of expensive drugs such as cancer medication. Pharmacists have so far received 200 million euros for medicines provided on credit this year but are still owed 70 million from March.
They have vowed to continue refusing to provide drugs on credit until EOPYY settles its account in total. Kittas denied that he was withholding the final payment until the pharmacists back down. “I do not engage in party politics or bartering with others,” he said. “I am here for a month and will not change my beliefs.”
Hundreds of people continued to queue for medicines at state-run pharmacies yesterday and Kittas suggested that 150 private pharmacies could help provide some of the drugs being demanded. This proposal was rejected by pharmacists, who have seen pharmaceutical companies gradually reduce the supply of drugs available on the Greek market since 2010.
As a result, shortages of some 170 medicines have been recorded.
Greece has also introduced an electronic prescription system to cut back on waste and corruption in the sector. About half of prescriptions are now issued electronically. Almost 11,000 pharmacists and more than 37,500 doctors are using the scheme.
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_06/06/2012_445701
May revenues post 10 pct drop
State revenues posted a decline of just over 10 percent in May compared with the same month last year, but this was far better than the preliminary data, which had pointed to a drop of over 20 percent in the first three weeks of the month.
The first issuance of revenue data for last month served to calm the fears of the political leadership at the Finance Ministry, whose officials now expect revenues to post an annual decline of about 1 billion euros in the year’s first five months.
The distance from the target set by the ministry is significantly smaller, though, as the government had calculated its monthly revenues depending on the receipts it expected from each source month by month over the course of the year.
Still, the delays in the submission of tax statements by individuals and corporations and shrinking value-added tax revenues have made the ministry all but kiss its original targets good bye.
Hence caretaker Finance Minister Giorgos Zannias stated that he is mostly focusing on the receipt of outstanding debts.
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_06/06/2012_445700
Delays killing jobs in cruise tourism
Some 300,000 more people could be working in sector today had liberalization been completed
By Nikos Bardounias
Greece has lost some 300,000 jobs in the cruise sector over the last few years due to delays and retractions in changes to the institutional framework for the liberalization of the market for non-European Union ships, as well as due to the lack of a flexible policy as regards yachting, the president of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, Giorgos Gratsos, said on Wednesday.
Addressing an event on cruise and maritime tourism in the context of the Posidonia shipping exhibition, Gratsos stressed that besides the delays in opening up the cruise sector, the current policy is now pushing away yachting tourism as well. “If we had had the right policies, Greece would have been a paradise and we might have not been talking about unemployment and an economic crisis today,” he stated.
The head of the shipping chamber referred to the inadequate infrastructure regarding maritime tourism development and accused the state of being unwilling to comprehend the significance of the maritime tourism sector.
“We have lost more than 300,000 jobs in maritime tourism and yachting alone, while Croatia and Turkey are competing to offer the most and best possible conveniences so as to attract the yachting activity that Greece is pushing away,” Gratsos stated.
Similarly, the vice president of the Cruise Ship Owners and Shipping Agencies Association (EEKFN), Michalis Lambrou, noted the considerable delay in the liberalization process for the cruise industry, but stressed that Greece is now entering the plans of the world’s major operators. “The popularity of Greek destinations will prove beneficial to the country’s economy as the European cruise industry carries a particularly high number of passengers which will likely grow further as it is known that cruising is growing at a geometric rate,” he said.
Caretaker Development and Merchant Marine Minister Yiannis Stournaras noted that cruise passengers in Greece soared from 2 million in 2005 to 6 million last year. Each cruise passenger spends some 100 euros at the departing port, while spending about 50 euros at each port of call, the minister added.
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http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/56088
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| Tsipras talks with G20 envoys |
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 | 6 Jun 2012 |
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| The Syriza chief, pictured here during his meeting with the G20 envoys. (photo:Eurokinissi) |
Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) leader Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday fielded dozens of questions by envoys of G-20 countries who attended a closed-door meeting in central Athens, following a public address delivered by the leftist leader.
The questions focused on what decisions that will be made by Syriza, if it wins the June 17 election and if it forms a government, on the Memorandum, Greece’s participation in NATO and the western institutions in general.
Most of the questions and the discussion itself focused on the negotiating framework cited by Syriza, considering that it has made it clear that it will proceed with the termination of the memorandum.
According to reliable information, Tsipras wished to communicate with the senior foreign diplomats to outline to them his party’s political positions and priorities, respond to their questions and, this way, help in overcoming or correcting any misinterpretations or possible vagueness.
Tsipras repeated that Syriza will table, in Parliament, draft laws reversing reforms in labour relations, minimum wages, layoffs, etc, and will make "decisive moves" toward a new and fair taxation system, as he said, expressing a hope that the EC-ECB-IMF troika will respond positively to the invitation for new negotiations.
He said a Syriza government will work methodically to preserve Greece’s place inside the EU and the Eurozone but within a new negotiating framework, one aimed as he said in stopping the disastrous course followed by the country and avoiding a nationally painful humanitarian crisis.
Tsipras stated that his party’s position, namely, that NATO should dissolve and Greece should leave the Alliance, still stands. However, he was clarified that the country’s disengagement from NATO will not be raised in the "present phase".
He stressed that Greece will not participate in conflicts where NATO is involved, either directly nor indirectly, and underlined the need to have a nuclear-free Middle East, pointing out that Syriza will work for peaceful co-existence in the region.
Syriza sources later clarified that the party’s negative stance as regards the country’s participation in any possible conflict in Iran or elsewhere does not mean that it supports authoritarian or anti-democratic regimes.
According to the same sources, Syriza supports the launch of negotiations on EEZ delineation between Greece and Turkey, and in the Mediterranean in general, in order to avoid future tensions.
Referring to the burgeoning military cooperation between Greece and Israel, Tsipras said it is under discussion within the framework of a multi-dimensional foreign policy that will be followed by a possible Syriza government. (AMNA)
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