- The International Conference [...] dealt with the urgent humanitarian crisis which are currently facing religious communities and cultural entities in the Middle East region caused by ongoing conflicts, tensions and extremism.

- The participants in the Conference, Patriarchs and Primates of Christian Churches, religious leaders of the Muslim and Jewish world, as well as other prominent religious personalities, representatives of international politics, academic communities and civil society, expressed their concern about the unprecedented humanitarian situation and condemned human rights violations and acts of terrorism and violent extremism perpetrated against religious and cultural communities in the context of the protracted conflicts in the area, especially in Syria and Iraq.

- The Conference sought to contribute to raising awareness of these pressing issues and enhance international efforts for the immediate humanitarian relief of these communities, their protection from violence, persecution and discrimination, their safe voluntary return and resettlement in their ancient cradles.

- Participants stressed that every effort should be made to urgently stop the conflicts and to ensure respect of fundamental rights and religious freedom of these communities, as well as their right to remain to their ancestral land, where they have maintained a constant presence for thousand years, defending universal values such as tolerance, multiculturalism, pluralism and peaceful coexistence.

- The Conference provided an opportunity to discuss initiatives that contribute to enhance unity against violence in the name of religion or caused by intolerance to cultural pluralism, with the aim to support religious and cultural diversity in the region and establish a dialogue founded on the principles of mutual understanding and cooperation. The participants shared testimonies, interreligious experience and best practices.

- Plenary discussions also focused on ways to restore damaged infrastructure, improve health education and living conditions of these communities in terms of dignity, participation and mutual understanding, and promote development in the region after the end of crisis.

- Furthermore, the deliberate destruction and looting of religious and cultural heritage assets such as churches, mosques, religious shrines and sites, monuments and museums in the region was strongly condemned and support was provided to every effort ensuring the effective protection of these cultural treasures.

- The Conference was further enriched by the experience of already assumed international initiatives. Participants reflected on ways to further proceed, address the pressing humanitarian situation and defend the rights of these communities.

- Participants highlighted the need to remain vigilant and exchanged ideas on a Greek proposal for the establishment of a follow up mechanism in Athens, which will take the form of a Centre that would examine the situation, in terms of freedom of religion or belief and cultural pluralism, would codify the various problems and would elaborate concrete proposals and viable solutions. Participants to the International Conference will be invited to take part to the activities of this Centre.

The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis, Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, Administration and eGovernance Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Deputy Finance Minister George Mavraganis, AMNA reports.

Exiting the Maximos Mansion Hardouvelis said he briefed the two political leaders on the negotiations in Paris. “It went well. We had progress. We did not close the issues. We continue,” he said, while regarding the possible extension of the current programme he said: “there could be one for a very short period of time for technical reasons.”

The government appears certain that there will be an agreement with the troika by the end of the year. A source close to the Prime Minister stated that “those who invest in catastrophe will be disappointed as there was no wreck or destruction in Paris.”

Negotiations with the troika will continue via teleconference calls in the coming days.

Most of the haggling has been over a projected fiscal gap in the 2015 budget, protothema.gr notes. Failure to strike a deal by the December 8 deadline means that the Greek government won’t be able to keep its pledge of quitting its bailout programme by the end of 2014.

The main issues of discontent are:

- A Finance ministry official pinpointed the “number one” issue being the fiscal gap for 2015. A Greek official said that “the timetable is very tight.” Meanwhile, a European source said that the troika would like to see the new law for debt settlement in 100 installments to be scrapped altogether.

- The troika is not satisfied with structural changes in social security thus far and is seeking to see pensions immediately reduced. They also want the pension age to be lifted but believe that this should be done gradually over a five-year period.

- Troika wants businesses to be excluded from the recent law that allows for debt settlement in up to 100 installments.

- Troika believes that there should be a common salary chart for the public sector or, at the very least, a reduction of “extra” bonuses and overtime.

- International creditors are seeking to have VAT rates increase and for VAT exemptions on some islands to no longer apply. They want the reduced 6.5% and 14% VAT rates for items that are considered basic needs to be lifted.

- The troika would like to see Greek labour law to include mass dismissals and changes to the way decisions for strike action are structured as well as changes to the law on unions.

Sources said that discussions with the troika had not resulted in a date being set for the return of troika’s representatives to Athens for a review prior to the Eurogroup meeting on December 8. Nonetheless, the extension of the bailout has yet to be discussed.

The markets have been negative concerning Greece’s early exit from the program with Greek government bonds having slumped and Greece’s 10-year bond close to 8%.

A fourth tender for the construction of the 46,000-euro project in the Votanikos area will be made next month, according to the Infrastructure Ministry, Kathimerini reports, as all previous attempts have failed to attract any takers.

Kathimerini spoke to representatives of several smaller companies that had expressed an interest in the project previously and admitted they are concerned about the popular opposition to the construction of a mosque in Athens.

Only a few days after the government issued a tender for the construction of the mosque the Council of State heard an appeal against the project by Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus while residents in Votanikos have also expressed outrage for the building of the mosque.

Extremist-right party Golden Dawn has also threatened to fight against plans to build a long awaited mosque in the Greek capital.

“If a mosque is constructed for Islamist criminals in Greece, a front of 100,000 Greeks headed by Golden Dawn will be created,” Ilias Kasidiaris, spokesman for the far-right party, told supporters at a rally in May, AFP reported.

Athens is one of the few European Union capitals without a mosque.

The mosque  will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

It will have an area of just over 1,000 square meters and the capacity to accommodate 400 people, according to news reports.

Muslims in Greece are left to pray in basement apartments, garages or underground basements, as the Greek government has stalled for over a decade in building an official mosque.

In the first four months of the year the balance of the budget showed a deficit of EUR 2.425 billion against a deficit of EUR 9.148 billion in the same period last year and a target for a deficit of EUR 5.74 billion this year.

The primary deficit amounted to EUR 306 million, down from EUR 1.73 billion in the January-to-April period last year and a target for EUR 3.613 billion this year. Net state budget revenues came to EUR 15.743 billion in the year to end-April, posting a rise of EUR 786 million or 5.3% from the target of 4.957 billion.

The revenues from the Public Investments Programme posted an increase of EUR 655 million from the target, reaching up to EUR 1.715 billion. State expenditure came to EUR 18.168 billion, posting a considerable decline by EUR 2.53 billion from the target set by the budget, and of 28.2% or EUR 7.123 billion from the same period last year, when Greece paid interest for the bonds included in the debt restructuring (PSI).

Meanwhile, Finance Ministry sources told tovima.gr that the troika representatives are expected to return to Athens on the 4th of June for the next evaluation.

The EUR 4.2 billion loan installment that Greece collected last Friday was used to pay off bonds worth EUR 5.6 billion on Monday that the European Central Bank held.

FinMin Yannis Stournaras is focusing on collecting the remaining 3.3 billion euros loan, which has conditionally been approved by the Eurogroup. The three conditions are to submit a detailed plan for combating corruption, a new plan for indebted households and the deregulation of the energy market.

However, the recent European Commission’s report indicates that the Greek government has not implemented many of the agreements. Of the 420 necessary actions stipulated in the terms of the third bail out loan (December 2012) 139 of them have not implemented, a rate of 33%. The Ministries of Labor and Health have the highest “fail” rates.

The government’s financial staff has a lot to prepare for in time for the troika visit, such as reducing the number of tax offices to 140 for the entire country, voting in the new law on the taxation of real estate property (by the end of June) and increasing the jurisdiction of General Secretary of Public Finances.

“If a mosque is constructed for Islamist criminals in Greece, a front of 100,000 Greeks headed by Golden Dawn will be created,” Ilias Kasidiaris, spokesman for the far-right party, told supporters at a rally late on Sunday, AFP reported.

The threat came as a letter sent via post to the Muslim Association of Greece last which threatened Muslims in Greece with bloodshed giving them a month time to evacuate the country.

Police said they were examining the note, written in Greek, Arabic and English and on its backdrop carried the logo of the far-right party.

The Muslim Association condemned the letter saying that: “Every Muslim is any time ready and fearless to defend his faith, not caring for his life. Human dignity is challenged along with the sense of mutual respect and coexistence.”

Naim El Ghandour, president of the Muslim Association told Alyunaniya.com concerning the note that “even if we hypothesize that the note is 99 percent a provocation who can guarantee the remaining 1 percent?”

Golden Dawn, whose logo is reminiscent of a swastika, gathered enough votes to win almost 20 seats in the Greek parliament. Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against immigrants.

Meanwhile, the Greek government has stalled for over a decade the building of an official mosque leaving its 700,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

Earlier this month, the Greek Ministry of Education announced that it will allocate the sum of EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund the construction of the controversial mosque in Athens.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

Athens Mayor George Kaminis, a supporter of the controversial mosque that some critics such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party are trying to block has said that the pending opening of the first official mosque in Greece, being built in Athens by the government, will pave the way for more, as many as two or more in each district of the city.

According to the hard copy of the letter obtained by Alyunaniya.com, Golden Dawn gives Muslims of Greece until June 30 to evacuate the country or else they will start ‘butchering Muslims like chickens’. The threat appears authentic as the logo of the party was printed on the letter.

The Muslim Association of Greece in a statement condemned the letter stating that Muslims are ready to defend their faith.

“Every Muslim is any time ready and fearless to defend his faith, not caring for his life. Human dignity is challenged along with the sense of mutual respect and coexistence,” the Muslim Association said.

The Association called on the state to take action and ensure that all citizens of the country share equal rights under law.

Golden Dawn, whose logo is reminiscent of a swastika, gathered enough votes to win almost 20 seats in the Greek parliament. Members of Golden Dawn have been accused of carrying out acts of violence and hate crimes against immigrants.

In a related development, the Greek Ministry of Education announced last week that it will allocate the sum of EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund the construction of the controversial mosque in Athens.

The Greek government has stalled for over a decade the building of an official mosque leaving its 700,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos.

Earlier, Athens Mayor George Kaminis, a supporter of the controversial mosque that some critics such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party  are trying to block has said that the pending opening of the first official mosque in Greece, being built in Athens by the government, will pave the way for more, as many as two or more in each district of the city.

The Greek Ministry of Education will allocate the sum of  EUR 946,000 to the Ministry of Growth to fund construction of the controversial mosque in Athens, according to To Vima.

Until recently, the Ministry of Education did not have the funds to finance the project.

The Greek government has stalled for over a decade the building of an official mosque leaving its 700,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

However, legal obstacles hamper the construction too. According to To Vima, the Council of State must first rule over objections to the mosque including objections by the Metropolitan Bishop of Piraeus Seraphim and some local residents who say they don’t want muslims to have a sanctioned place of worship.

However, if the objections are overruled then funds are now in place to begin construction.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in Votaniko. The project was designed by the architectural bureau of Alexandros Tombazis that has created some of the most beautiful mosques in the world.

Erdogan recently announced that he had offered Turkish help for the building of the house of worship, while adding that Samaras was “warm” to the idea.

However, Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Costas Tsiaras noted in Parliament that the building of the mosque would be done entirely by using the country’s own financial resources.

“Greece is making progress in overcoming deep-seated problems in the midst of a very serious and socially painful recession. The adjustment challenges facing Greece in 2010 were daunting,” the IMF said.

“However, insufficient structural reforms have meant that the adjustment has been achieved primarily through recessionary channels, with unequal distribution of the burden of adjustment. Three problems stand out:

- Very little progress has been made in tackling Greece’s notorious tax evasion. The rich and self-employed are simply not paying their fair share, which has forced an excessive reliance on across the- board expenditure cuts and higher taxes on those earning a salary or a pension.

- While labour market reforms are causing a notable decline in nominal wages, this has only to a very limited degree been reflected in lower prices, because of failure to liberalize closed professions and more generally open up to competition. This is another reason for why too much of the burden has so far fallen on those earning wages and pensions.

- While the rebalancing of the economy has been associated with a surge in unemployment in the private sector, not least among the young, the over-staffed public sector has been spared, because of a taboo against dismissals,” IMF added.

Parliament passed last week the omnibus bill of measures agreed with troika inspectors by 168 votes to 123, opening the door for the first wave of public sector layoffs and settlement of €8.8bn of bailout funds.

About 2,000 civil servants will be laid off by the end of May, with another 2,000 following by the end of the year and a further 11,500 by end-2014, for a total of 15,500.

The troika has already approved the payment of €2.8bn in rescue loans. The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers will then meet on May 13 to release a further €6bn.

The Board of Indianapolis Athens College and its holding company, UIndy International, LLC, have decided to discontinue all undergraduate and graduate academic programs with the exception of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) cohort programme that is provided under special contract. According to an announcement, UIndy Athens will continue to seek to develop similar contract-based programmes.

The college is set to establish a Transfer and Counseling Center, in the building on St Ypatias in central Athens for current students on the Athens campus who have not completed their degree programs. Counselors will help students transition and have offered them options that include online courses or transferring to the Indianapolis campus.

According to a message e-mailed to university staff, faculty members and students by Robert L. Manuel, President of the University of Indianapolis, “the Indianapolis Athens College plans to continue operations in Greece by offering the Master of Business Administration cohort program, and to use it as a model for developing new programs in rebuilding the Athens Campus presence in Greece… This decision to reevaluate the breadth of programs we offer has been difficult because of all of the good work of our faculty and staff over the years.”

Greece is in its sixth year of recession. It  has been kept afloat by rescue loans from European partners and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for harsh austerity measures.

“The Muslim Association of Greece welcomes the next step of the government for the construction of a mosque in Athens, “ the association said in a statement.

“We believe that our country will be able to recognize the necessity of religion to all the citizens, as these are  messages we have been receiving all these years since 2006 during our collaboration with relevant bodies topped by the Ministry of Education. The mosque in Athens will be a place of Greek Muslims can pray or to visit anyone.”

The construction of the mosque puts an end to the critics against Greece for leaving its 300,000 Muslims to pray in more than 120 basements and garages in Athens.

The mosque will have no minaret, in order to adopt to the surrounding environment and it will be built in Votaniko. The project was designed by the architectural bureau of Alexandros Tombazis that has created some of the most beautiful mosques in the world.

“We also want to emphasize that the idea of a pure state mosque in Athens was our solid and constant demand form the beginning, as we have aimed to live equally, independently and with respect to our country, although at times we have read that belong to other countries. These reports intend to disorient and take advantage of the crisis that has brought chaos. They are hate fireworks with ulterior motives. But it is always one-sided hatred and characterizes those who feed it.”

“The mosque issue is a matter of fairness and humanity, values that are non-negotiable for Greece, and should not be associated with the immigration policy, or with the relations between Greece and other countries.”

However, as the Greek government readies to build the country’s first official mosque, the Council of State is to hear today an appeal against the project by Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus who says he doesn’t want muslims to have a sanctioned place of worship. The bishop’s appeal has been backed by a philosophy professor at the University of Athens, two doctors at the Athens Naval Hospital and a cultural association based in Votanikos, where the mosque is to be built, and five local residents.

Athens is the only European capital without an official mosque.