National Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis yesterday expressed strong concern over developments in Bosnia but said there were still margins for a peaceful settlement.
Upon his return from a visit to the US, Mr. Arsenis told reporters he was "not at all optimistic because the crisis is a very deep one and we are at a very dangerous cross-roads". But he said that attempts at diplomatic initiatives to ease the tension had not yet been abandoned.
"I am not very optimistic on my return from the US because the crisis (in Bosnia) is deep and the problem is at a very serious and dangerous cross-roads," Mr. Arsenis said. Still, he added, "I hope things will take a turn for the better". Mr. Arsenis leaves today for Paris for an emergency meeting of NATO and EU defence ministers on the crisis.
Mr. Arsenis reiterated Greece's "firm position" of non-participation of forces from neighbouring countries in the UN Protection Force in former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR). Speaking about Greece's contribution to efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Bosnia crisis, Mr. Arsenis said: "You do not need to deploy troops in order to have an opinion."
Apart from developments in Bosnia and the Balkans, he said his US talks had focused on the activation of NATO headquarters in Greece. Mr. Arsenis said Athens would raise the issue of activating the NATO headquarters in Greece during next Thursday's meeting of Alliance defence ministers in Brussels.
He said the failure to activate the headquarters was "a problem between NATO and Turkey, and raises a question of the Alliance's credibility." Mr. Arsenis said he was not very optimistic on the issue since Turkey, "despite the pressure it is under to lift its veto, has not shown any signs of backing down." Replying to questions, Mr. Arsenis said no issue was raised in his US talks of confidence-building measures in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey.
France will suggest "dynamic action" in order to avert the spreading of the Bosnian crisis during a meeting of EU and NATO defence ministers in Paris today. At the meeting the ministers will be asked to show their determination to impose measures in the framework of activities assumed by the European Union, the Contact Group and NATO.
The meeting will take place with the participation of ministers from Germany, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Spain, the United States, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden and Turkey.
Representatives from the United Nations, the Western European Union, NATO and UNPROFOR will also participate in the meeting which will focus on ways to reinforce UN peacekeeping forces in former Yugoslavia. Greek National Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis will represent Greece at the meeting.
Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias yesterday said his talks with the Slovakian leadership in Bratislava had been "very good and very encouraging." His visit, the first paid by a Greek minister to Slovakia, "constitutes the start to a new chapter in Greco-Slovakian relations," Mr. Papoulias said.
Mr. Papoulias held talks with Slovakian President Michal Kovac, Parliament President Ivan Gasparovic and his counterpart Juraj Schenk. He briefed his interlocutors on Greek national issues and Greece's relations with Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey.
The Slovakian side reaffirmed that its stance on a solution to the Cyprus issue had not changed, reiterating that it favoured a solution based on UN Security Council resolutions and expressing willingness to provide its services at a diplomatic level in the effort to resolve the issue.
It was agreed that Greece's past agreements with the former united Czechoslovakia be examined, revised and supplemented and when the Slovakian foreign minister visits Athens soon two important agreements will be signed on avoiding double taxation and protecting investments. It was also agreed that there was great scope for developing Greco-Slovakian relations in the trade, economic and cultural sectors.
Mr. Papoulias announced that Greece will soon open its embassy in Bratislava, after the impending ratification of the relevant law. Mr. Papoulias reiterated to his interlocutors that Greece always supported and supports Slovakia's rapprochement and accession to the European Union.
Referring to NATO enlargement, another issue discussed, he said it was not directed against anyone, but added NATO needed changes and reforms allowing for a greater performance in the political sector. He also said Russia's role in European security was "substantive and irreplaceable." The crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina was discussed and Mr. Papoulias said the views of the two sides coincided.
European Union foreign ministers gathered here yesterday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Messina conference which laid the foundation for their grouping. Greece is represented at the celebrations by European Affairs Minister George Mangakis.
"The past... should encourage us to pursue bold ambitions, especially now that Europe is no longer divided into two opposing blocs and can proclaim at large its identity," Italian Foreign Minister Susanna Agnellis told the ministers.
Forty years ago, France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries laid the foundations for the old European Economic Community. The result, in March 1957, was the Treaty of Rome, which turned the six -- then part of the European Coal and Steel Community -- into the European Economic Community.
On the sidelines of the events, a group of EU officials will meet today to draft the agenda for next year's revision of the Maastricht treaty. Greek Ambassador Stephanos Stathatos will represent Greece at the meeting which will focus on "challenges, principles and objectives." The group will hold another 13 meetings before the end of this year and will discuss such issues such as European nationality, EU enlargement, common foreign policy and security policy.
Coalition of the Left and Progress party leader Nikos Constantopoulos opened the Balkan Forum of the Left yesterday, bringing 16 party delegations from the Balkans and 12 from Europe together in Athens to discuss crisis and co-operation in the Balkans. The two-day forum, called "The Balkans on the way to 2000", is organised by the Coalition of the Left and Progress.
In his opening speech, Mr. Constantopoulos said that an all-Balkan declaration on the inviolability of borders would contribute to the peace process in the region. "Such a declaration," he said, "will reinforce security in the Balkans and could serve as the starting point for a Helsinki-type procedure in the region."
Mr. Constantopoulos reiterated his party position that no Balkan country should engage in military operations in former Yugoslavia, including Greece. He also referred to the need for economic and cultural co-operation amongst the Balkan countries and the need for respect of human and minority rights which would contribute to forming a climate of trust and co-operation in the region.
Akis Tsohatzopoulos, secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) supported the inviolability of the borders principle and said the Greek government's policy contributed to peace and stability in the region.
Nato's Supreme Headquarters for Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE) yesterday announced that four Alliance countries -- Greece, Italy, Turkey and Holland -- together with two Partnership for Peace member states, Bulgaria and Romania, would hold a joint search and rescue exercise in the Black Sea.
The exercise, under the code-name "Cooperative Rescue '95", will be held on June 7 and 13 in the territorial waters of Bulgaria and Romania respectively. The aim of the exercise is to strengthen co-operation between NATO and the armed forces of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Greece will be sending the frigate "Adrias" to participate in the exercise.
Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos yesterday described as "cautious" statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Erdal Inonu on the Greek parliament's ratification of the international Law of the Sea convention.
Mr. Venizelos added that Mr. Inonu's statements were "low-key" and showed that he did not misconstrue Greece's "clear" stance. Early Thursday, Parliament unanimously ratified the convention which gives Greece the right to extend its territorial waters from six to twelve miles.
Despite repeated threats in the past to the contrary, Turkey said Greece's ratification of a treaty allowing it to extend territorial waters was not a reason for war, but that it might be another matter if Athens actually claimed new waters.
"In any case, Greek practice is known and consistent with regard to this issue," Mr. Venizelos said, underlining that "it is our country's sovereign right to exercise the right to extend our territorial waters to twelve miles, and it is up to Greece to make any decision on the matter."
Mr. Inonu told reporters in Ankara that "the whole story is nothing else but the ratification of the convention of the Law of the Sea by the Greek Parliament, which Greece has already signed." "You already know our position," Mr. Inonu added. "We have said that extension to 12 miles or more than six miles will be perceived as a move against Turkey. But Greece said it won't do it."
Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias, here for an official one-day visit, said yesterday that many of the actions and statements of the Turkish government concerning Greece were for Turkish domestic political consumption.
Mr. Papoulias was commenting on Turkish reactions to the Greek Parliament's ratification of the convention of the Law of the Sea. "Such actions by Turkey do not contribute to progress and normalisation of relations between the two countries," he said.
"The extension of national waters is Greece's inalienable right," Mr. Papoulias added. He said that Greece had the right to extend its waters before it signed the convention but that the existence of an international convention now regulated and concluded the exercising of the right by all signatory countries.
He noted that Turkey had exercised such a right in the Black Sea. Turkey is not a signatory to the convention. "Greece has claimed and continues to claim the right to extend its territorial waters is inalienable, when it will exercise this right is at its discretion," he said. Mr. Papoulias reiterated that he and his Turkish counterpart Erdal Inonu agreed at their recent meeting that the climate between Greece and Turkey was negative and that an effort to change it was necessary.
President Kostis Stephanopoulos yesterday received the five ethnic Greeks at the centre of past tension between Athens and Tirana. Vangelis Papachristos, Theodoros Bezianis, Iraklis Sirmos, Panayiotis Martos and Costas Kyriakou, all members of the ethnic Greek 'Omo-nia' organisation in southern Albania, had requested a meeting with the president.
The five were arrested in April last year after a gunman killed two Albanian soldiers in a conscript camp near the border. Their arrest and conviction in August rekindled a simmering feud between Athens and Tirana over the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania, estimated by Athens at 400,000. Albanian President Sali Berisha released one of the five on Christmas Eve and the remaining four, on appeal to Albania's Supreme Court, had their sentences reduced and suspended.
President Kostis Stephanopoulos will observe part of the Greek Navy exercise code-named "Kataigis 1/95" on Monday.
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou met yesterday with ruling PASOK party deputy and Executive Bureau member Stephanos Tzoumakas for talks on current issues. Mr. Tzoumakas did not disclose whether he will resign from offices he holds to date, but said a discussion in PASOK should open on matters of principle concerning the limits of conflicts within the party.
Mr. Papandreou was also briefed by National Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis on results of his talks in the US.
The condition of Greek ferryboats guarantees the safety of the six million passengers which travel on them annually to and from the Greek islands, the Merchant Marine Ministry said in an angry response to a report broadcast by the German television channel ARD yesterday.
In a statement, the ministry underlined that Greek ferryboats transported an enormous number of passengers, even by European stan-dards, without any serious accident having occurred in the last ten years.
"The condition of the vessels engaged in Greek coastal shipping... needs no advocate, nor does it fear accusers," the ministry said, adding that "the attempt to discredit Greek coastal shipping by circles abroad is nothing new." On the contrary, it said, such attempts were made at regular intervals, particularly by private institutions, television stations and publications of German origin. Citing similar "investigations" in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993, the ministry said that in all cases, it had given detailed replies and provided all the information requested.
Commenting on the ARD programme, the ministry said that it had been made by a film crew which had visited a large number of Greek passenger vessels on the pretext that they were making a documentary aimed at promoting Greek coastal passenger services.
Of all the vessels it visited, the ministry went on, the film crew singled out three, without clarifying if its impressions from the other vessels had been satisfactory. The ministry said that it would investigate the seriousness and validity of the charges levelled against these three vessels as soon as it acquired a video recording of the programme.
Describing the way in which the programme had been made as "de-ceitful", the ministry expressed "deep concern as to the motive behind this latest attack against Greek coastal shipping." The ministry also drew attention to the fact that the three vessels singled out for criticism in the ARD programme had undergone the annual inspection required by national rules and international conventions two months earlier, in addition to the unscheduled inspections to which they are liable, without any deficiencies or anything untoward having been ascertained.
Starting a new information campaign, the Health Ministry will organise a "National week against AIDS", beginning June 6-10. The week will start at 10.30pm on Tuesday with a 55-minute televised programme in co-operation with the ET, Antenna, Mega, Sky and Star TV networks.
TV channels co-operating in the campaign will televise programmes of up to two hours duration every day on AIDS until Saturday June 10.
The ruling PASOK party yesterday opened a two-day conference in Athens on next year's European Union intergovernmental conference. The broad range of issues to be posed include European integration, the possibility of a two- or more tiered process, the Union's federal character, the implementation of economic and monetary unification and its progress so far.
Central Committee secretary Akis Tsohatzopoulos welcomed the delegates on behalf of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who expressed the wish that the conference may signal the beginning of an open dialogue between the party and society at large.
In his speech, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said that efforts had to made to avert the creation of a two-tier Europe and to safeguard the rights of European citizens. Enlargement with the countries of central and eastern Europe had to be pursued with caution, so as not to cause any upheavals, while the momentum of Cyprus' and Malta's association with the Union had to be maintained, he added.
Eurodeputy Paraskevas Avgerinos posed a number of questions on the basic issues to concern the Conference. He said it was historically and morally indefensible to oppose the enlargement of the Union, but that it had to be accompanied by an increase in its own resources if it were not to be achieved at the expense of its southern member states.
He added that the equality of members had to be safeguarded and the adoption of an "institutionalised mechanism of differentiated integration enforced by majority rule" rejected. He also spoke against the abolition of the right of veto in the Council of Ministers on issues requiring ratification by national parliaments.
Referring to the issue of federal Europe, he said the idea was premature for decision. EU Commissioner Christos Papoutsis said the need for a revision of the Maastricht Treaty emanated from the end of the era of bipolarity and the new European reality. He said that enlargement had to be accompanied by in-depth unification and not be used as alibi for institutional differentiations. Let there be no new walls inside the European Union, he added.
Concerning the Economic and Monetary Union, Mr. Papoutsis said an overall assessment was needed to ascertain where there was real convergence. Industry Minister Costas Simitis said European unification was certain, and that the options to be made for the conference would prove decisive for everyone's future. He spoke in favour of safeguarding the principle of equitability, and called for continuous contacts with other countries to secure a dynamic presence in the negotiations.
Former European Affairs Minister Theodoros Pangalos said Europe provided Greece's vital space and the institutionalisation of European borders, requiring the consolidation of a common external and defence policy, should be our foremost aim.
Former EU Commissioner Vasso Papandreou said she was in favour of enlargement and a limited revision of the Maastricht Treaty, as a thorough one would be unfavourable to Greece. Former deputy foreign minister Yiannis Kapsis said what ought to especially concern Greece was the safeguarding of European borders, noting that it should press for full guarantees for territorial waters and all provisions of the Law of the Sea convention.
"The prime minister and the government are abusing their right for the adjournment of Parliament's present plenary session. Last year's session was extended so as to complete the political persecution of the government's opponents. All this goes to prove that the government does not respect the institutions and Parliament, but is using them to further its petty party interests and expediencies," main opposition leader Miltiades Evert told the prime minister in a letter, New Democracy party spokesman Vassilis Manginas said yesterday.
Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis officially announced Wednesday the summer recess would begin yesterday, several days before the expected date. Mr. Manginas said the government's decision was unacceptable, stressing that his party had asked for a special debate concerning the recession and unemployment. "It is obvious that the government cannot take dialogue," he added.
Responding, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said Mr. Evert did not possess the right to transform his party's inadequacy in policy and programme, the most acute internal problems, and his irritation into an undermining of the country's parliamentary institutions.
He added that Parliament had effectively been in session for 20 consecutive months, and the main opposition had ample time at its disposal to say all it wished and was able to. Its problem was not connected to procedure, he said, but to the substance of its positions and the alternative proposal which it has not been able to put forward.
Six European communist and left-wing parties will meet in Athens over the weekend to exchange views on the 1996 intergovernmental conference and the possibility of joint action on the issue. The meeting, held at the initiative of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), will be attended by the French Communist Party, the German Party of Democratic Socialism, Italy's Party of Communist Refoundation, the Spanish Communist Party and the Portuguese Communist Party.
The Public Order Ministry believes that Albania is involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics from Skopje, according to a confidential report.
In a written reply to a question tabled in Parliament by main opposition New Democracy deputy George Sourlas, Public Order Minister Sifis Valyrakis said that opium was being grown in the area of Chimarra, southern Albania. According to the report, Albanians were selling the opium to Skopjans for one million drachmas per kilo for processing into heroin in illegal laboratories located in the triangle formed by the towns of Gevgeli, Prilep and Pristina.
The same report also speaks of information that narcotics were being smuggled from Turkey via Skopje, as well as a flourishing illegal arms trade from the southern areas of former Yugoslavia, particularly Skopje and Kosovo, to Greece and other countries of western Europe.
In these areas, the report says, there are a number of drug-processing laboratories, while the high percentage of the population of Albanian origin and Moslems has precipitated the formation of drug and arms traffickers with direct links to their Turkish counterparts or with Albanians.
The report pinpoints Skopje, and in particular Pristina, where most of the illegal narcotics laboratories are located, as the co-ordinating centre of these activities. A confidential Foreign Ministry note revealed last week contained serious charges about the production of hard drugs in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
The note said that heroin was being produced near a military camp in Kousanovo and inside one in Krivolak. Chemicals used in the production of heroin were being manufactured by a Skopje-based company.
Inflows of shipping exchange rose by 35.3 per cent in the first two months of 1995 to total 327 million dollars, compared with 241.7 million dollars in the corresponding period last year. In February, shipping exchange inflows amounted to 159 million dollars, compared with 123.4 million dollars in the same month of 1994, marking an increase of 28.8 per cent.