Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 00-08-25

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Athens bourse to speed entry for new economy listings

[02] Budget surplus expected in 2001, Simitis tells Cabinet; educational reforms discussed

[03] Unions walk out of talks demanding written policy framework from government

[04] Education minister announces imminent changes, including controversial decision on religious studies

[05] Balkan ministers to meet at Prespes Lakes festival

[06] Archbishop Christodoulos visits Jerusalem

[07] Equities slump in thin trade

[08] Bonds end mixed in scant trade

[09] Drachma ends down vs. euro, up vs. dollar

[10] National Bank governor to head UBB of Bulgaria

[11] Teenage heiress gets scathing reply from trustees

[12] Greenpeace bureau director arrested for soya plant protest

[13] Two people die as forest fire reaches village

[14] Bulgarian national charged with killing her newborn baby

[15] Arcadia prefecture scorched by wildfires

[16] Samos man nabbed during attempt to bomb police station

[17] Egyptian, 2 local men nabbed for antiquities smuggling

[18] IOC officials satisfied with progress of Olympic projects

[19] Clerides reassumes duties after summer holiday

[20] Kasoulides to discuss in Athens issue of missing Greek soldiers

[21] Turkish Cypriots restless, oppose Ankara's interference

[01] Athens bourse to speed entry for new economy listings

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

The new economy category includes software manufacturers, telecoms companies and media firms.

The step is part of a plan to give priority to new listings in sectors that will most enrich the market, focusing on dynamic, fast-growing enterprises, said Alexakis, newly appointed to his post.

Applicants to the Athens bourse will be categorized by line of business, with financial services companies, including banks and portfolio investment firms, also expected to be eligible for the swifter entry process.

Other groups likely to fall under the category are companies being privatizated and new sectors including merchant shipping.

A separate category will be created for enterprises based in Thrace and the eastern Aegean.

Another scheme is to introduce book-building for new listings and allow underwriters to support for six months the stock price of new entrants. Sector P/E ratios will be published, and the method for calculating P/E ratios standardized.

In addition, disclosure rules for listed companies will be tighter concerning share capital increases.

Bourse authorities will also inform brokers during trade of stocks that show unusual movements and warrent attention - for example, a share that shows a sharp rise but whose transactions stem from only two or three traders.

Finally, the bourse wants to speed up procedures for launch of the New Stock Exchange for small companies. Only four firms have applied to join so far.

[02] Budget surplus expected in 2001, Simitis tells Cabinet; educational reforms discussed

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

"Our goal is to incorporate the Greek economy in European policy and for this we will fight for the sustainability of the Greek economy's achievements," he told the gathered ministers. "Our policies have now been made clear and all the citizens know where the country is heading."

He said that funds from the 3rd Community Support Framework (CSF) would be used to improve Greece's infrastructure and to support efforts for growth.

He also referred extensively to the government's plans for combating unemployment, saying that there would be extensive and open dialogue on employment issues with all the sides involved.

The government, Simitis added, would focus most of its efforts over the rest of its term on the four areas of health, education, employment and public administration.

In later statements, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said the rest of the cabinet meeting was devoted to issues concerning the Education ministry and the school curriculum.

Asked if the government was "scrapping" the controversial education reforms introduced in its last term, Reppas replied that the changes were simply adaptations and improvements to the existing policy now being implemented.

Asked if the changes were approved of by former education minister Gerassimos Arsenis (whose changes to the school curriculum had driven students to the streets in protest), the spokesman said only that Arsenis and current Education Minister Petros Efthymiou had met and exchanged views on numerous occasions and were in agreement on many things.

[03] Unions walk out of talks demanding written policy framework from government

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

Labour Minister Tassos Yiannitsis accepted the demand and pledged to have such a document ready by September 4, at which time talks would be resumed.

The climate as the two sides emerged from the meeting was bellicose, though labor ministry circles attempted to play down the differences. Trade unionists, however, refused to hold a press conference with the ministers, quipping that they "preferred the left side of the room."

Polyzogopoulos reiterated that the unions will not hesitate to withdraw from talks if the government attempts to put "labor flexibility" issues on the agenda - such as deregulating mass lay-offs, work-hour arrangements, part-time work etc.

The GSEE president said that the trade unions had come to the talks with a sense of responsibility towards the unemployed and would be at the government's disposal when it was ready for serious discussion. Until then, he added, unions would be making arrangements for the strike actions they had already announced.

One trade unionist said that if the government tried to trap or ambush the unions "it will be war," while others said that the Greek legal framework for labor was in no way inferior to those in the rest of the EU and didn't need changes for the worst but for the better where workers were concerned.

Yiannitsis, asked whether the government's document will include the three controversial points singled out by the unions, said only that the government would outline its ideas and views on paper and GSEE can do the same.

He also stressed that 17.5 trillion drachmas were available from the 3rd Community Support Framework (CSF), which were tremendously important for employment. All sides, he added, will be held accountable for their behavior and contribution to this discussion that concerns 500,000 unemployed.

Also participating in Thursday's meeting were National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis, Deputy Finance Minister Christos Pahtas and Deputy Labour Minister Christos Protopappas. The first round of talks will be concluded in meetings with SEB, GESEBEE and ESEE, representing employers and industrialists associations.

[04] Education minister announces imminent changes, including controversial decision on religious studies

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

At a press conference on Thursday, Education Minister Petros Efthymiou said that pupils in the final two years of school would have only 10 subjects on which they will be tested during the General Examinations in June, instead of 14 as until now. Deputy Education Minister Philippos Petsalnikos, meanwhile, said that all proposals submitted to the education ministry converge in recommending that the subjects of Religious Studies, Principles of Philosophy, Introduction to Law and Political Institutions and History of Science be dropped as examinable subjects in those years.

On the controversial subject of religious education in particular, where the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece has expressed strong objections to its relegation to a non-exam subject, Efthymiou stressed that the decision on which subjects were to be dropped from the exams was taken on strictly educational grounds.

The Church has argued that religious studies will become marginalized and ignored by students cramming for their university-entrance exams.

Efthymiou countered this argument by saying that religious studies are taught in Greek schools for 12 years, and the status of a subject cannot be linked to the general exams.

The education ministry has also decided to reduce the number of written exams taken during term, saying that exams cannot take up one third of the school year, and to make the curriculum for classes the same as that for exams so that pupils will know on what they will be examined on from the start of the school year.

Changes have also been introduced at other levels too, such as increasing the number of all-day kindergartens and primary schools, making Technical School degrees equivalent to those of universities and the creation of adult education institutes.

The education minister said that all the changes he announced on Thursday had been approved by a meeting of the Cabinet a few hours before, and that they would be fully announced by September 10.

[05] Balkan ministers to meet at Prespes Lakes festival

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

Among the dignitaries will be New Democracy leader Constantine Karamanlis and his wife, Natasha, who will arrive on Saturday morning and are visiting the festival for the first time.

Government ministers will be using the festival as an opportunity to meet with visiting politicians from the Balkans. Among them Interior Minister Vasso Papandreou, who is scheduled to meet the Interior and Public Order minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Dosta Dimofska, and Albania's Vice-President and Labour Minister Makbule Ceco at the Florina Museum of Modern Art on Saturday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Deputy National Economy Minister Yiannis Zafiropoulos will be meeting his counterparts from FYROM and Albania.

On Sunday, Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos and Deputy Culture Minister George Floridis will meet their counterparts from Balkan countries, while in the evening Pangalos will inaugurate the Prespes Library at Aghios Germanos.

The opening ceremony for "Prespes 2000" will take place on Sunday evening at Aghios Achilleios, under Macedonia-Thrace Minister George Pashalidis.

The festival's program includes concerts by Socratis Malamas on Friday, Dimitris Mitropanos on Saturday, Maria Farandouri, Elli Paspala, Savina Yiannatou and Florina tenor Sotos Papoulkas on Sunday, gypsy artist Ferous Moustafov on Monday, as well as a night of Bulgarian poetry, again on Monday.

Among Friday's events will be a lottery for worker housing, while on September 8-9 there will be a Pan-European Judo Championship at Amyntaio.

[06] Archbishop Christodoulos visits Jerusalem

JERUSALEM 25/08/2000 (ANA - M. Papoutsaki)

The Archbishop attended a Te Deum service at the Church of the Resurrection and then made his way to the hill of Golgotha where he read an excerpt from the New Testament.

Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem greeted Archbishop Christodoulos at the Patriarchate where a welcoming ceremony was held with the participation of representatives of other dogmas as well.

The Archbishop in his address noted the important role of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which, he said was in harmony with the other religious which also had a presence in the city. The Archbishop sent a message to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, conveying his best wishes for the consolidation of peace in the region. The two men are due to meet on Friday.

[07] Equities slump in thin trade

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 2.17 percent down, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index for medium-sized shares finished 1.72 percent lower.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalization stocks closed 1.87 percent down.

Of 348 shares traded, declines led advances at 279 to 56 with 13 issues unchanged.

[08] Bonds end mixed in scant trade

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 6.037 percent from 6.043 percent in the previous session.

The Greek paper's yield spread over German bunds was 81-83 basis points from 83 basis points a session earlier.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system was 12 billion drachmas from 88 billion drachmas the day before.

Buy orders accounted for 8.0 billion drachmas of trade.

[09] Drachma ends down vs. euro, up vs. dollar

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

At the central bank's daily fixing, the euro was set at 337.470 drachmas from 337.390 drachmas in the previous session.

Also at the fix, the dollar was set at 374.680 drachmas from 377.520 drachmas a day earlier.

[10] National Bank governor to head UBB of Bulgaria

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

UBB's shareholders in Sofia also elected Apostolos Tamvakakis, National's deputy governor, as deputy president of the Bulgarian bank.

[11] Teenage heiress gets scathing reply from trustees

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

Heiress Athina Roussel, the teenage grand-daughter of Aristotle Onassis, sent a letter to the board of the "Alexander S. Onassis" Public Benefit Foundation earlier this week, asking them to stop attacking her family.

Relations between the Foundation's board and Athina's father Thierry Roussel are notoriously acrimonious, involving litigation and cross-accusations of mismanagement, greed, nepotism and worse.

Onassis Foundation Chairman Stelios Papadimitriou warned that Athina would not automatically walk into the presidency of the foundation when she comes of age (21 years old) in 2006, but would have to be elected.

Responding to the letter, Papadimitriou described it as "libellous, aggressive, provocative but above all useful," and said it gave the board an opportunity to present the truth.

"We have no reason to conceal the truth," he added and invited Athina to come to Greece on her own and ask for any information she wants and draw her own conclusions.

He also criticised the tone of Athina's letter as "anti-Greek and offensive" and asked her to apologize.

"Greece owes her nothing, she owes Greece," the foundation president stressed, pointing out that Athina had not even learnt to speak Greek.

According to Papadimitriou, her failure to learn the Greek language could prove a serious obstacle to her taking over the foundation's presidency.

"If Athina wants to become president of the Foundation she must pay the price. How can she preside if her Greek is nonexistent and she makes inane statements?" Papadimitriou stressed and urged Athina to take back her words "or take on her responsibilities."

Based on the will of Aristotle Onassis who set up the foundation and its constitution, the presidency of the foundation is not simply inherited. If an heir exists who is over 21, the board of directors must judge whether he or she is qualified to serve the interests of the foundation.

[12] Greenpeace bureau director arrested for soya plant protest

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

The arrest of Nikos Haralambidis brings the number of Greenpeace members taken into custody at 13.

Twelve Greenpeace activists on Wednesday were arrested for a second consecutive day on charges of blocking access at the large soya processing plant. They are due to face a Halkida, central Greece, prosecutor in the evening.

Police identified seven Greek citizens and five foreign nationals who on Tuesday chained themselves to the gates of the Soya Hellas plant in north-central Evia, the country's second largest island that's located just east of mainland Greece.

The 12 Greenpeace activists, who had remained chained to the gates overnight, were extricated from the main gate on Wednesday and taken to a local police station for an initial arraignment.

Greenpeace, in a letter to Soya Hellas this week, demanded that the company clarify its position on the issue of genetically altered organisms in foodstuffs, as well as to state its intention on whether it will secure unmodified soya for stock breeders, other foodstuff industries and the public.

The company, a leading soya importer in Greece that also imports corn, wheat and other cereals, replied that it strictly follows all legal import procedures in accordance with Greek and European Union laws.

[13] Two people die as forest fire reaches village

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

The two victims were an elderly couple in the village of Aghia Marina. By nightfall the fate of another four inhabitants of the village was still unknown.

The couple, identified as Christoforos Kyritsis, 80, and his wife Maria, 78, were found burnt to death in the yard of their home.

The fire started on Albanian territory and crossed the border, spreading out of control.

[14] Bulgarian national charged with killing her newborn baby

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

Authorities recovered the body of a newborn boy inside a plastic bag under the woman's bed, only hours after she collapsed in a nearby vineyard from extensive hemorrhaging. It was physicians at a maternity ward in the port city of Kavala that later discovered the 25-year-old woman had given birth only a few hours earlier.

According to police, the Bulgarian national lived with her companion, also from Bulgaria, in a rented room at the Orfani community of the Kavala prefecture, east of Thessaloniki.

Additionally, a coroner in the town of Serres ruled that the newborn baby died from massive head injuries resulting from the woman's bashing it on the floor, reports state.

Police said the woman also told them she already has two children by her companion, aged five and two, living with her mother in Bulgaria.

The suspect, identified as Panayiotka Dimova, is due to appear before a local prosecutor, while her companion will reportedly be deported.

[15] Arcadia prefecture scorched by wildfires

The worst blaze was reported in the region surrounding the village of Kastanohori, which was being evacuating at press time, and near the Kotylio communities of Gortyna municipality. A new wildfire also sprung up during the early afternoon in a forest at the picturesque coastal district of Kynouria, authorities said.

Additionally, the fire brigade announced that a firefighter was injured while combating a wildfire at the Sarkini site.

Strong winds were hampering efforts to extinguish the wildfires, reports state.

In northwestern Greece, meanwhile, two firefighters were slightly injured during efforts to extinguish a blaze at the Ano Pedina site of Zagorio district. Another blaze near the Haravyi community of Konitsa district, near the border with Albania, was continuing to destroy forestland.

[16] Samos man nabbed during attempt to bomb police station

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

Police said Stylianos Tsesmelis was apprehended moments after he tossed a small, home-made explosive device outside a precinct in the town of Karlobasi.

[17] Egyptian, 2 local men nabbed for antiquities smuggling

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

Shoe-maker Efstathios Feretos, 59, auto mechanic Andreas Stasinopoulos, 33, and Egyptian merchant Robert Sislian, 63, were apprehended during a police raid, where several rare artifacts, allegedly up for sale, were confiscated.

A tip-off reportedly led authorities to Sislian and the other two men. Among the items recovered are numerous marble, clay and metal figurines, pottery, as well as clay stamps, which local archaeologists termed unique and priceless.

All three suspects are scheduled to appear before an Athens prosecutor.

[18] IOC officials satisfied with progress of Olympic projects

Athens, 25/08/2000 (ANA)

"We are very satisfied with the progress of works and with the close cooperation we have with the minister (of public works Costas Laliotis) and his department," said IOC Vice-President Jacques Rogge who is heading a delegation. The delegation includes IOC General Secretary Francois Carrard.

Earlier, Laliotis unveiled plans for 18 major roads, which will cost 390 billion drachmas, and radically change traffic conditions in Athens and ease access to all the sports installations during the Games.

Five of the projects will be completed by the end of 2003 and the remainder in May 2004, four months before the start of the Olympic Games.

They concern arterial roads and major flyovers.

The delegation also met with Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos, who predicted that the Athens Olympic Games will be the best ever held, saying that the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organizing Committee is on the right path.

Rogge said that Avramopoulos is called upon to play a leading role in preparing the city to receive the tens of thousands of visitors and the athletes who will come to Athens for the Games in four years' time.

"Mr. Avramopoulos will receive the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics this summer and will bring it to the Greek capital ... Athens will host many leaders and celebrities and this is a further responsibility for the mayor," Rogge added.

The IOC officials later also met with Deputy Culture Minister responsible for Sports Giorgos Floridis.

[19] Clerides reassumes duties after summer holiday

NICOSIA 25/08/2000 (CNA/ANA)

The president arrived at Larnaca marina earlier on Thursday and headed for Nicosia without making any statement to the press.

Next week the Cypriot president will chair two meetings of the Council of Ministers, the weekly regular cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the presidential residence in the Troodos mountains and on Thursday a special meeting, at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, to discuss the state budget.

President Clerides, accompanied by Foreign Minister

Ioannis Kasoulides, leaves on September 1 for London and on September 3 he leaves for New York to participate in the UN Millennium Summit and have contacts with other world leaders.

The president will stay on in New York after the summit for the UN-sponsored Cyprus peace talks, which resume on September 12.

The UN has already conducted three rounds of proximity talks with the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides in preparation for meaningful negotiations.

President Clerides has made it clear that talks should now become substantive negotiations to help break the current impasse in efforts to solve the Cyprus question.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37 per cent of its territory.

Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou leaves for New York on September 10.

[20] Kasoulides to discuss in Athens issue of missing Greek soldiers

NICOSIA 25/08/2000 (CNA/ANA)

"The foreign minister will meet next week in Athens with Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos to discuss exclusively this issue, taking into account that a substantial number of relatives have not given blood to the blood bank," government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said here on Thursday.

Kasoulides leaves early next week for Athens to meet his Greek counterpart George Papandreou and the defense minister before returning home to fly to London and New York, accompanying the president to the Millennium summit.

The Greek National Command should take some measures towards this goal, the spokesman added.

"Relatives of missing live all over Greece and perhaps it has not been made abundantly clear to them how important it is to engage in this process of giving blood to help establish the fate of their loved ones," Papapetrou said

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