At 01:15 Greek time today, Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had not signed the expected interim agreement for the settlement of differences.
Shortly before 01:00 Greek time, the UN Secretary-General's spokesman Fred Eckhardt told waiting reporters that he was waiting for both sides to turn up, adding that he "hoped (the agreement) would be signed today (yesterday)."
Earlier, the scheduled meeting was postponed when, according to sources, FYROM Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski set the immediate lifting of Greek trade sanctions on Skopje as a prerequisite to signing.
According to sources, Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias was involved in consultations with US presidential envoy Matthew Nimetz aimed at clearing the stumbling block to the signing of the agreement.
Mr. Papoulias and Mr. Crvenkovski were scheduled to meet at 17:00 Greek time yesterday to sign the agreement.
The meeting was initially set back two hours, but an announcement that followed said the meeting had been postponed. No further details were provided.
During the run-up to yesterday's scheduled meeting, UN mediator Cyrus Vance and US special envoy Matthew Nimetz have held separate talks with Mr. Papoulias and Mr. Crvenkovski.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou denied that he had heard of Skopje demands that Greece lift its trade embargo on FYROM an hour before the crucial NY meeting.
"If this is proven true, then we will return home. We will not proceed with the talks," Mr. Papandreou told a news conference in Thessaloniki.
Greece has campaigned against international recognition of the former Yugoslav republic - which ceded from Yugoslavia in 1991 - under the name of "Macedonia". It says its choice of name, flag and articles of its constitution imply territorial ambitions on the northern Greek region of the same name.
The so-called 'small package', which is the basis for the interim agreement to be signed in New York, attempts to resolve the issues of the FYROM flag and constitutional articles in exchange for the lifting of the sanctions.
In New York, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Constantine Bikas said last night "the Greek side is ready to sign at any time. We are waiting for them to show up. So far they have not come along to sign."
In earlier statements, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos told the press that the government hoped the meeting would result in an agreement, "under the condition that the consolidated facts will not be overturned."
Former president of the republic, Christos Sartzetakis, strongly denounced the meeting between Greece and Skopje's foreign ministers, saying it had been "dictated" by the United States.
"Our country will be led to an incredibly humiliating concession, dressed in the acceptance by both parties of the 'small package' and will soon be followed by 'a name agreement' with our neighboring state," he said in a statement.
According to Mr. Sartzetakis, Skopje will not be bound by the "small package" agreement (to make any concessions) while Greece "is losing the only available means of pressure and defense at its disposal."
The former president urged the government to call a referendum on the "current and planned" agreements with Skopje, saying that if such agreements are made, "all parties, regardless of political color, will be regarded as accessories and therefore blamed for unreliability and national incompetency".
Former prime minister and main opposition New Democracy party honorary president Constantine Mitsotakis also criticized the meeting.
"The two ministers will come to an agreement during the next hours and will sign this agreement, which our government had prepared in May 1993, with the big difference that the name issue will be left out," Mr. Mitsotakis said.
"There is no doubt that Greece's position will be much weaker, when the name issue will be discussed, after time has passed and after (Skopje President Kiro) Gligorov has achieved everything he wants," Mr. Mitsotakis said. "I fear that I will be completely justified over the negative results... I predict, that they are giving the name 'Macedonia' to Mr. Gligorov," he said.
Meanwhile, main opposition New Democracy deputy George Karatzaferis asked for the immediate convening of the ND Parliamentary Group plenary session to reaffirm the party's position on the Skopje issue.
Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras criticized both the government and the main opposition, accusing them of ignoring the strategy agreed on by the Council of Political Leaders and leading the Skopje issue "to a humiliating and dangerous concession." "(Skopje President Kiro) Gligorov will take all and will not concede on the name issue," he said.
Communist Party of Greece Secretary-General Aleka Papariga called on the government to publicize its new positions, in the event that it no longer feels strongly about the name issue and instead believes "that a solution could be given with substantial guarantees."
"We will not criticize it (the government)," Ms Papariga said. "Our disagreement lies in the fact that the United States (is playing the role of the) conductor in the negotiations, and that the government speaks a double language."
Ms Papariga said the KKE would participate in a political leader's meeting if such a meeting was called, but expressed reservations about its use since, she said, NATO and the United States "run the case and the package has closed." She said she doubted whether the government's ministers were aware of "all the details which the prime minister had agreed on the Skopje issue with the US president".
Meanwhile, in Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns expressed his conviction that yesterday's meeting in New York between Mr. Papoulias and Mr. Crvenkovski, "will lead to an agreement, which will solve, forever we hope, the political and other differences between the two sides."
Asked whether such an agreement would be placed under US guarantee, Mr. Burns said: "I don't know. As you know, sometimes 'guarantee' is of secondary significance in diplomacy. The American support is complete. I am not certain that we could guarantee it. But, of course, we can support it, and both governments are aware of this."
Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos yesterday said changes in the government would soon be announced, while well-placed sources said the reshuffle would be announced today, or most likely, tomorrow.
The sources added that the prime minister's intention was to reduce the number of members of the Cabinet by about 15 in order to create a more homogenous and flexible team.
The prime minister is said to be concerned over the stated unwillingness of prominent party members to assume ministerial posts. Former deputy premier Ioannis Haralambopoulos also said yesterday he was unwilling to participate in the new government.
Commenting on Industry and Commerce Minister Costas Simitis' resignation Monday, Mr. Venizelos said that the prime minister had never asked for Mr. Simitis' resignation and had received news of Mr. Simitis' letter after it had been broadcast on the electronic media.
Referring to Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's speech in Thessaloniki on Saturday, during which he said that the strategy towards the shipyards had been inadequate, Mr. Venizelos said: "The prime minister's statement was very careful and there has not been any personal problem for any minister."
Former prime minister and main opposition New Democracy party honorary president, Constantine Mitsotakis, yesterday called on Mr. Papandreou to step down. "If he loved this country or had any sense of responsibility or was in control of his decisions, he would have stepped down from the government," Mr. Mitsotakis said.
He added that PASOK deputies were equally responsible, both individually and collectively, for "negative events that had happened and will happen in Greece".
Commenting on Mr. Simitis' resignation, the former prime minister said PASOK was suffering from "internal dissolution" and was "unable of making and applying policies."
Education Minister George Papandreou, however, said the resignation of Mr. Simitis was a symptom of a significant crisis. "It is not a pleasant development... It is a trait of an important crisis... (Of course) crises have two aspects: threats and opportunities," Mr. Papandreou said.
Former undersecretary Haris Kastanidis yesterday stated his support for Mr. Simitis and asked the prime minister to proceed to a broad reshuffle, with the appointment of 'veteran' leading members as heads of 'sectors' of ministries, including Mr. Simitis, and Central Committee Secretary Akis Tsohatzopoulos.
Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras said "the successors of the post-Papandreou era are racing (for power)," while the problems facing the Greek people have been put aside. "The people's big problems have become weapons in the hands of PASOK's organized groups (and are being used) for internal conflict," he said while visiting Thessaloniki's International Fair yesterday.
Communist Party of Greece Secretary-General Aleka Papariga described Mr. Simitis as "an advocate of privatization." "We would be glad," she added, "if PASOK and ND officials took distances from their parties based on the interests of the working class."
Commenting on a possible reshuffle to follow the resignation, Coalition of the Left and Progress party leader Nikos Constantopoulos spoke yesterday of "moves of necessity and expediency which are taking place in order to serve party and government interests."
Greece yesterday continued voicing strong criticism against ongoing NATO bombings, saying reported targeting of Serb civilians in Bosnia was an overstep of the United Nations' mandate in former Yugoslavia.
"NATO never said it had orders to attack civilians. Its supposed targets are selective military areas linked to the heavy weapons (of the Bosnian Serbs) around Sarajevo," government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos.
On Monday, the spokesman branded as "absurd" NATO's continued bombing blitz against Bosnian Serb targets despite a landmark breakthrough in negotiations between the players of the Yugoslav crisis in Geneva last week.
Mr. Venizelos reiterated Athens' position on the Yugoslav crisis, saying a solution could only be found through peaceful diplomatic means rather than military operations. The Greek spokesman's remarks echoed Russia's growing unease over NATO act ion in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina and accusations that the Alliance was threatening Bosnian Serb children with genocide.
Russia has called on UN Security Council members to call for the immediate suspension of NATO air strikes and demand all Bosnian factions stop fighting.
Athens and Moscow reaffirmed their common views on the Yugoslav crisis during talks in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, last Friday. That meeting took place as US peace envoy Richard Holbrooke in Geneva watched Bosnian, Croatian, and rump Yugoslav foreign ministers sign a landmark agreement.
Commenting on the continued NATO raids against Bosnian Serb targets, Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras yesterday said that "the extermination of the Serb civilians, Christian Orthodox, stigmatizes both the powerful and the institutions that were established to serve man, justice and peace."
The government said yesterday it had not been officially briefed on the content of Albanian President Sali Berisha's talks during his recent visit to the United States where he was reportedly asked to permit the installation of US military bases.
Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said that Greece was interested in the course of Greek-Albanian relations "which passes through the assurance of Greek minority rights and the great financial possibilities which Greece can offer to Albanian workers (in the country) and the Albanian economy."
He added that he had no further details on the date of a planned visit to the neighboring country by President Kostis Stephanopoulos.
A White House spokesman said yesterday that President Bill Clinton had told Albanian President Sali Berisha at their meeting the US was looking to the Albanian government to respect the rights of the country's Greek minority concerning educational opportunity, freedom to practice one's religion and freedom from discrimination in employment.
Mr. Berisha's visit was aimed at enhancing relations between the US and Albania, which resumed diplomatic ties in 1991 after a 52-year hiatus during which Albania became the world's most isolated nation under its communist rulers.
The Hellenic branch of the Helsinki Watch and the Turkish Human Rights Union are to collaborate on compiling a report on the problems faced by the Greek minority in Turkey.
According to a spokesman from the Hellenic branch, the biggest problem facing the Greeks of Turkey is fear.
"...Today, the biggest problem of the Greeks of Turkey is fear... we have never come into contact with people so frightened as to refuse to speak to us or accept to speak only under anonymity," Panayiotis Dimitras wrote in a recent article which has been sent to Turkish Human Rights Minister Algan Hatsaloglu.
Mr. Dimitras also reported a number of other human rights violations, including irregularities in the education system and restrictions of religious freedom, as well as non-recognition of national identity.
The report is due to be completed in November.
National Bank of Greece (ETE) governor Georgios Mirkos yesterday announced the establishment of a six-billion-drachma Centre of Culture and Economic Development in Thessaloniki.
The centre will be set up on the premises of the former Yfanet textile factory, jointly with the Thessaloniki 1997 Cultural Capital Organization and the General Secretariat of Expatriate Hellenism, which will also participate in its use.
It will include a modern art museum, likely to house the Macedonian Museum of Modern Art, a training centre for business and banking executives from the Balkan and Black Sea regions, as well as the permanent premises of the Council and Assembly of Expatriate Greeks.
The centre is projected to be ready by mid-1997.
Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras, accompanied by his wife, yesterday visited the 60th Thessaloniki International Fair.
"The successful and internationally-acknowledged course of the Fair is the best proof of the competitive role Thessaloniki can play as capital of the Balkans," he told reporters during his visit.
He said there was a need to deal with the "void caused by an absent government and main opposition". Political Spring could fill this void, he said, with "truth, specific proposals and the courage demanded by the circumstances".
Mr. Samaras was also accompanied by Eurodeputy Katerina Daskalaki, deputies Stefanos Stefanopoulos and Nikitas Venizelos and the party's general director Manolis Kalamidas.
Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Secretary-General Aleka Papariga told a press conference in Thessaloniki yesterday that Greece was governed by the "Brussels Directorate" with the consent of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.
Ms Papariga attributed "confrontation within the government" to the government's failure to convince the people of the correctness of its policies.
As a result of this, Ms Papariga said, the government is "trying to rescue this policy through attributing responsibility to other people, while others disassociate themselves from this policy."
Ms Papariga said the KKE wanted the government and its "anti-popular" policy to fall short of its targets, since such a failure would result to "the formation of conditions of popular intervention, resistance and counter-offense."
Commenting on Greece's economic convergence with the European Union, Ms Papariga said economic indicators showed that the Community had achieved its goals in Greece, focusing on the penetration of multinational companies in the country.
On the issue of unemployment, Ms Papariga said the government should change its policy and focus on rescuing Greece's developmental possibilities.
She added that the issue of unemployment could not be dealt by investments in the Balkan countries.
Concluding, she suggested the establishment of a Balkan Economic Union Cooperation pact which would be an independent entity from the EU and give priority to national growth.
Fifty-one foreigners serving time in Greek jails have been released in line with recently-adopted legislation, Public Order Ministry sources said yesterday.
They said the convicts were freed according to legislation allowing their early release from prison after serving a quarter of their sentence.
The law applies to foreigners serving sentences of up to five years and for Greek nationals sentenced to up to 12 months in prison.
Public Order ministry officials said the 51 foreigners were released, together with 20 Greek nationals and said an estimated 200 prisoners in total would be freed. The 51 foreigners will be deported.
A 35-year-old Greek woman gave birth to quadruplets yesterday in the northeastern Greek border town of Alexandroupolis.
Two boys and two girls, weighing an average of 2kgs each, were in good health and expected to leave the state-run Alexandroupolis Women's Clinic after a few day's observation.
The quads were delivered by cesarean section in the 35th week of pregnancy, obstetrician Kostas Sgouromallis told reporters.
The parents - Anastasia and Constantinos Arabatzi - said they had tried for children unsuccessfully for fourteen years before the birth of their son, Apostolos, three and a half years ago. They said his birth proved to be a good omen for them.
Five petroleum companies and a number of businessmen and customs officials have been prosecuted for smuggling fuel, false confirmation and moral complicity.
The companies are "Tank Marine Service", "Chrysinas Oil S.A.", "Petrelaio Attikis S.A.", "Filgo EPE" and "Star Efodiastiki S.A." The business people are Vassiliki Repoulia, George and Kosmas Laoutaris, Vassilis Dendrinos and Nikos Tsovilis.
Three customs officials, whose names were not disclosed, were also charged with facilitating the companies to send smuggled transit oil to non-existent ships abroad and yachts anchored at the marinas of Zea and Floisvos.
According to information gathered by judicial authorities, the defendants had sold quantities of smuggled oil accounting, in January 1995 alone, for tariff evasion estimated at 350 million drachmas. They also demanded the confiscation of all oil receipt and delivery vouchers over the past five years.
In another development, the small motor-ship "Theano" was seized at the port of Mesta, Hios, carrying 12 tons of smuggled oil as it was illegally pumping a quantity of oil to a truck driven by Christos Monieros, 50, who was arrested. Port authorities had been shadowing the vessel for days before making the seizure.
The Commercial Bank announced that as of October 1, 1995 it will reduce its lending rates by one percentage point as follows:
-The main financing interest rate (working capital) will decrease from 19 per cent to 18 per cent.
-The main lending rate (average and long-term) will drop from 20 per cent to 19 per cent.
In parallel, the special investments interest rate will fall from 15 per cent to 14 per cent.
European Commissioner responsible for Competition Karel van Miert said yesterday the Commission would not accept any postponement of the deadline for privatization of the Skaramangas shipyards which expires today.
In statements to the ANA, Mr. van Miert stressed that "the Greek government has exhausted all margins of elasticity on the part of the European Commission", and "now has to face its responsibilities".
The Belgian commissioner said Athens had communicated with him by telephone, asking for a week's extension to the deadline because of the power vacuum created by Monday's resignation of Industry Minister Costas Simitis.
He said he had rejected the request, pointing out that the contacts he had had lately had been with Alternate Industry Minister Christos Rokofyllos, and stressing that "it is an affair lasting three years, with successive postponements, which have ended nowhere".
"The issue will be discussed in tomorrow's (today's) session of the European Commission, and I have no other option than to recommend Greece's referral to the European Court," he said.
Commenting on the latest developments in the issue of the shipyards, New Democracy party spokesman Vassilis Manginas said yesterday that "only the non-existent Papandreou government could end up in such utter confusion, holding the country to ridicule in the European Union with its amateurism, begging for a new deadline".
"The government does not believe in the policy it is attempting to exercise, has no clear-cut aims, and is confusing privatization with the sell-out".
Political Spring party spokesman Notis Martakis accused the government of not adopting the only feasible solution of the partial privatization with the participation of workers. "The government today is forcing Greece and the workers to pay the heavy price of its incoherent policy," he said.
Labor Minister Ioannis Skoularikis said yesterday that the government was to allocate 20 billion drachmas to the state budget as of this year to contribute to the struggle against unemployment.
Elaborating on measures announced by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou at the weekend, Mr. Skoularikis said that the entire package put together by the Labor Ministry would amount to 20 billion drachmas.
The cost, he said, would be covered by the Organization for the Employment of Human Resources (OAED), the European Social Fund and the state budget appropriation. As of September 1 this year, Mr. Skoularikis added, unemployment benefits would increase by 10 per cent, to be followed by a further 10 per cent increase on January 1, 1996. In January 1996, the period during which unemployed persons over the age of 50 are entitled to benefit will be increased on a rising scale according to age, Mr. Skoularikis said.
In addition, the measures for the early retirement of 5,000 unemployed will be put into immediate effect, at a cost of 15 billion drachmas.
At the same time, Mr. Skoularikis said, the government hopes that its policy of subsidizing new hirings will result in the creation of thousands of jobs.
The aim of the measures, he added, is to considerably reduce unemployment over the next two years and to prevent the "phenomena of social exclusion" appearing in the country.
A special general assembly of shareholders of the Organization for the Rehabilitation of Ailing Enterprises (OAE) on Monday approved the sale of the Skalistiris (S.A. Enterprises) complex in Mantoudi, Evia, and "Makedonikon Lefkolithon" in Halkidiki to the Alfa-Biolignit joint venture.
Alternate Industry Minister Christos Rokofyllos and Finance Undersecretary Nikos Kyriazidis were present as state representatives.
The price was set at 1.5 billion dr. - to be paid off in installments - while the new proprietors are committed to making investments amounting to 1.5 billion drachmas over a five-year period. They are also bound to create 220 jobs in the first year which they will increase to 300 in five years.
The Alfa-Biolignit joint venture is also bound to operate units in two months' time after the finalized contract is signed and keep them in continuous operation for at least five years.
The contract contains a penalty clause in the event commitments are not honored.
Alternate Trade and Industry Minister Christos Rokofyllos yesterday tabled in Parliament a draft bill on new financial and credit institutions.
The bill provides for the setting up of mutual guarantees companies and tackles oversights that have appeared in the legislation regarding venture capital, factoring, and leasing.
The provisions regarding leasing extend current legislation to cover the use of buildings as premises for businesses.
Education Minister George Papandreou yesterday announced the creation of a school library network as part of ministry plans to modernize the country's educational system.
Fifty school libraries will be ready by March 1, 1996 and will constitute a "pilot" for the creation of another 450 in the 1995-1999 period.
The first 50 school libraries will open in the Evros, Thessaloniki, Cyclades and Ioannina prefectures and in underprivileged regions in the Attica prefecture.
Libraries will operate in schools of all categories and all specialties, such as schools for the handicapped, minority and technical schools. Preparations will also start soon for 150 school libraries which will open in other regions of the country.
Mr. Papandreou said libraries would be created in the earthquake-struck regions of Grevena, Kozani and Aigio after the programme for repairing damage to school buildings is completed.
Replying to questioners, Mr. Papandreou denied there were teaching vacancies at schools, adding that more teachers had been appointed than at any other time over the past 12 years and increased credit had been provided to hire teaching staff.
In another development, the Federation of Secondary School Teachers (OLME) said the state should show its interest in education by increasing credit through the new budget and called for increased monthly salaries for teachers otherwise "teachers will speak with actions."