In Athens a new airport and new highways are under construction. And myriad
sporting facilities, from baseball stadiums, to equestrian facilities, to
weight-lifting complexes, will need to be built, at a cost of tens of
millions of dollars.
Dimitris Karagkounis, the small shareholders' president, calls this a new
page in the history of the Athens exchange.
The Athens stock market average is currently at 1663 points. Investor
Kostas Dada-mAnis expects it to reach 2000 in the banking, manufacturing,
and metallurgical sectors in the near future.
OLYMPICS
Athens successful bid to host the 2004 Olympics shows that Greece can
successfully compete in the international arena.
Those were the words of prime minister Kostas Simitis, who addressed
thousands of people in central Athens Sunday night. They had all gone to
celebrate the IOC's decision to give the 2004 Games to the Greek capital.
Prime minister Kostas Simitis told the thousands of people who gathered
from around the country that Athens' success in landing the 2004 games is a
great honour for Greeks everywhere.
The Games coming to Athens is also a tribute to peace, friendship,
cooperation, and the Olympic ideal.
The eastern Mediterranean is a troubled region, he explained; the Games are
an opportunity for us to get that message of peace and cooperation out to
the nations of the region.
The Athens Games are also an opportunity and a challenge to Greece, added
Simitis. The winning bid shows the country can play a prominent role in the
global arena; now it's up to all Greeks to make use of the games to project
the country and its values of peace and friendship.
"We can now show we can create", said the prime minister. The Olympics will
mean infrastructure projects. It will mean developing tourist facilities.
And with much work to be done, the Games mean jobs for Greeks.
Simitis congratulated the woman who did much to ensure the 2004 Games were
given to Athens. Ianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki, head of the Athens 2004
committee, followed the prime minister at the podium.
She called the Athens success a victory for the capital, for Greece, and
for young people. She said that when the committee set out on its campaign
to get the games, it wanted to make everyone proud of Greece. Struggles
unite Greeks, and the battle for the games was well worth it.
"We live in a beautiful country", she said to applause. "We promise the
best Games ever".
Athens mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos sees the 2004 games as a sort of
homecoming. After a century, the Olympics are coming back to the land where
they were born.
OLYMPICS - ZAPPIO
After the speeches, came the fireworks and the music. The VIPs and the five
thousand other people at the Zappion Gardens in central Athens Sunday night
celebrated the games coming to Greece in festive fashion.
Yianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki, head of the Athens 2004 committee celebrated
the success with a folk dance.
Then the professionals took over. Giorgos Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, and
Christos Nikolopoulos used their music to give voice to the emotion filling
the hearts of many Greeks.
OLYMPICS - AIRPORT
Before the celebrations in central Athens Sunday night, the Athens 2004
committee members received a hero's welcome at the airport.
Hundreds of people were on hand to congratulate them.
Committee chair Yianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki and Athens mayor Dimitris
Avramopoulos and the rest members of the Athens'bid committee promised the
Greek people that Athens will organise the best Olympics ever held.
From the airport, the committee members were taken to the prime minister's
residence, where they gave Kostas Simitis the official IOC document
awarding Athens the 2004 Olympics.
Prime minister Simitis and the committee members said the celebrations will
be followed up by hard work.
OLYMPICS - MITSOTAKIS
Former prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis called Athens successful
Olympic bid a victory for the nation.
In Crete, Mitsotakis said that Greece's unsuccessful bid to host the 1996
Olympics, a bid made when he was prime minister in the early 90s, helped
this time around.
Mitsotakis believes the IOC members felt sorry for not giving Athens the
1996 games, an error they made up for by handing it the 2004 Olympics.
Prime minister Kostas Simitis disagrees with that assessment. He says the
IOC's decision on 2004 was purely the result of the fact that Athens made
the most attractive bid.
Whatever their disagreement there, both men agree with Mitstotakis's view
that the capital is more ready than ever to host the games. The the new
Athens metro and international airport will be open for the games.
Mitsotakis also says that Greece's former king, Constantine, an honorary
IOC member, did what he could to back the Athens bid this time, just as he
had when the 1996 bid was in the works.
FAIR
More belt-tightening overall, coupled with more money for health, education,
and welfare - that's the government's budgetary game plan for 1998.
Prime minister Kostas Simitis gave his annual speech at the outset of the
international trade fair in Thessaloniki.
The speech is Greece's equivalent of the state of the union address.
In his speech inaugurating the 62nd annual trade fair in Thessaloniki, the
prime minister outlined for basic axes in his economic policy for next
year.
The goal of Greek participation in European Union monetary union; the
investment and development drive in the Balkans; modernisation; and the
strengthening of the welfare state are the guding principles behind his
policy thinking.
Rejecting the view that deep cuts in state spending amount to more
austerity measures, prime minister Simitis pointed out that between 1994
and 1997, real wages rose by 2.7 per cent. That's about the same as the
rise in GNP over the same period.
His tight economic policies, he continued, have had nothing to do with
reducing working people's buying power.
Simitis was pleased with the overall performace of the economy last year,
even though certain targets were not met.
And the drive to reduce the size of the deficit has got to continue.
The government, mindful of EU monetary union targets, aims to bring
inflation down from its current 5.5 per cent rate to 2 per cent by 1999.
"Next year", he said, "we'll be at a critical point. Inflation must come
down, and the deficit must be reduced to 3 per cent of GNP. The rate of
Growth must increase. These are tough but necessary goals".
YIANNOPOULOS
The Greek government says Turkey's failure to get European Union funds
because of its refusal to take its claim to the isle of Imia to the
International Court, is not a Greek-Turkish issue.
The European Union has told Turkey that if it wants closer relations with
the EU, it should take its claim on the Greek isle, if it insists on making
it, to an arbiter.
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas reacted strongly to Turkish
foreign minister Ismail Gem's plea that EU funding of Turkey be quote
separated from Greek-Turkish relations, unquote.
Reppas corrected Gem, saying that the EU recommendation that Turkey take
its Imia claim to court is NOT a Greek-Turkish issue - and if Turkey
doesn't abide by the EU request, then it's so much the worse for Turkey in
its relations with the EU.
Reppas also cited the recent slew of aggressive statements by Turkish
officials as proof that Ankara is not adhering to the guidelines set out by
the recently-signed Greek-Turkish non-aggression pact. That agreement calls
on each side to refrain from words and deeds that could antagonise the
other.
Prime minister Kostas Simitis has warned that any Turkish move to force a
change in the status quo in the Aegean will be taken as an act of war.
Greek justice minister Evangelos Yiannopoulos expressed his exasperation
over Turkish behaviour in a recent speech. He pointed out that numerous UN
resolutions calling for Turkey to get its troops out of Cyprus, have
amounted to nothing.
MISS EUROPE
A 19 year old Greek beauty won another distinction for her country this
past weekend winning the title of Miss Europe 1997.
After being crowned Greek Woman 1997 in this year's Star Hellas Beauty
Pageant, sponsored by Antenna, Isavella DAra entered the European pageant
in Kiev, Ukraine.
19 year old beauty Isavela Dara told Antenna after it was all over, "The
competition was tough, but the support of the people at Antenna helped me a
lot, even in Kiev".
The first bouquet of flowers that arrived at Isavella's home were from
Antenna president Minos Kyriakou.
Arriving in Athens Monday, Isavella was welcomed by her parents, and
Antenna public relations director Lola Daifa.
Isavella comes from a family of artists. Her mother, who is French, is a
sculptor, and her father is a writer and director.
Isavela is also quite talented. She is a ballet dancer, an actress, paints,
and is active in sports. But her real love is modeling and piano. Being a
pianist she also writes her own music. She aspires to be a classical
composer and conductor.
She told Antenna the jury members heard her playing the piano, and she
believes it was her musical abilities that swung the jury in her favour.
Daifa agrees, at least partly. She thinks that in Kiev it was a combination
of beauty and personal accomplishments that swayed the judges.
And what about the future? Dara says she wants to continue to work as a
model, and to keep studying music.
This is the second time Greece has won the Miss Europe title. Marina
Tsindikeedou won it in 1992.
SOCCER
In soccer, Greece has taken another step toward qualifying for the 1998
world cup finals in Paris. And it does it with a road win over Slovenia
Saturday night.
After a scoreless first half, Greece draws first blood in the 54th minute,
with a goal from Alexios Alex-andris.
With time winding down, that goal seems to be all Greece needs, but it gets
some late insurance from a header by Konstan-tinides.
That comes in the 90th minute, but there's more... as Nikos Maklas makes it
3-nil with a goal in injury time.
With the victory and one match left in the qualifying round, Greece is now
tied for first in its world cup qualifying group. There are nine qualifying
groups in the European zone altogether. The first-place finishers and the
best second- place team all advance autamatically to Paris. The other eight
second-place teams will play for Europe's other four slots in the finals.
For Greece, much hinges on its final qualifying match, against Denmark.
That contest is slated for October 11th.
SOCCER
Another crucial match for Greece in its drive for first place and automatic
qualification for the world cup, is that between Denmark and Croatia on
Wednesday.
If Denmark wins that contest at home, then Croatia will be out of the
running, and the battle for first will come down to that final match
between Denmark and Greece in Athens.
CLIMBER
And finally, a story with a happy end. 30-year-old Dimitris Georigiou was
climbing steep rocks on the outskirts of Athens when he got stranded in a
gorge.
There was no safe way out, either up or down for the climber on this
incline, and he sat there, lost for two days.
Luckily, special forces put an end to his ordeal, coming to his rescue
Monday morning.
© ANT1 Radio 1997
