Bank of Greece Governor: Full confidence in Government

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) Georgios Provopoulos, the Governor of the Bank of Greece’s, said (on February 22) – in an interview with Bloomberg in Athens – he is confident that Greece will achieve its “very ambitious” deficit-reduction goals and avert further credit-rating downgrades.
Rating agencies “want evidence that the plan is being implemented on target” and “some time will have to pass before they can form a better judgement,” said Provopoulos, who is also a European Central Bank council member.
“I have full confidence in the government meeting its goals. They have to succeed.
And they will, I’m sure of that,” he stressed, adding that he takes the commitment of European governments to stand by Greece at face value. The lack of a detailed rescue plan isn’t disappointing, he said. 
Bloomberg.com: Provopoulos Confident Greece Will Meet

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Greece Returns Two Stolen Frescoes to Italy in ‘Symbolic Move’

(www.minpress.gr / Bloomberg.com, 23.03.09) ) Greece handed over to Italy two pieces of art, in the spirit of cooperation on the battle against smuggling antiquities. They were two thirteenth century frescoes, which had been found in 2006 on Schinoussa Island by Greek authorities conducting an anti-smuggling operation.   Initially, these fragments, depicting two saints, were part of wall paintings from a chapel at Grotta delle Fornelle, in Italy’s southern Caserta region near Naples. They were removed in 1982.  Greek Minister of Culture, Mr. Samaras pointed out that through this symbolic gesture, Greece intends to continue the process of retrieving artifacts illegally transported to other countries, thus strengthening collaboration with Italy on the fight against art theft.  Italy and Greece launched a joint battle some years ago to crack down on trafficking and reclaim smuggled works from museums around the world. Read more…