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Greek EU presidency to focus on growth, migration, energy

11 December 2013, 16:53 CET
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(ATHENS) - Greece's upcoming six-month turn as EU president will focus on fostering growth, regulating immigration and promoting maritime issues with emphasis on undersea energy exploration, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said Wednesday.

"The Lithuanian (EU) presidency set as a priority, among others, fiscal stability alongside growth and employment. We will continue this twin target," Samaras said after talks with visiting Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, who currently holds the rotating presidency.

Priorities would be "to complete the banking union, dealing with migration flows... and an across-the-board maritime agenda including policies to develop undersea energy wealth", the prime minister said.

Grybauskaite said that European parliament elections on May 25 would place pressure on Greece to make quick decisions during its tenure.

"I am sure that (Greece) will be able to manage this goal," she added.

Mired in recession, Greece has key internal issues to address alongside its EU presidency duties.

It is due to hold local elections on May 18 and 25 in which the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn could bolster its strength, despite an ongoing criminal investigation against its leadership.

Golden Dawn has remained the third most popular party in polls, despite its implication in the murder of an anti-fascist musician in September.

Athens is also holding delicate talks with its international creditors -- the EU, IMF and European Central Bank -- to obtain the release of promised bailout loans.

Talks, which were supposed to have been completed in December, have stalled due to disagreement over a forecasted financing gap for 2014 and the measures that need to be taken to cover it.

Discussions are also reportedly stumbling on the issue of a new property tax, debtor property auctions, layoffs in the state sector and the slow pace of privatisation.

Greece's 2014 budget foresees a 0.6 percent growth in GDP after six consecutive years of recession. The latest jobless figures released in October show unemployment at 27.6 percent.


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