Antenna: News in English (PM), 98-12-09

Antenna News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

Last Updated: Wednesday, 09-Dec-98 21:20:08

CONTENTS

[01] Arsenis-education system

[02] Simitis:Greece will meet the criteria to join EMU

[03] Tcohatzopoulos-Turkey-Nuclear weapons

[04] EU leaders meet in Vienna

[01] Arsenis-education system

Education minister Gerasimos Arsenis stood firm after meeting with the prime minister Wednesday.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis gave his backing to Arsenis as students around the nation staged rallies and marches in opposition to the changes to the school curriculum.

After meeting with the prime minister, education minister Gerasimos Arsenis told the press he will not back off of a decision to expand the number of subjects students will be assessed in when applying to university.

Students are upset because they say the new system has caught them by surprise, and means they will now have to work harder in more subjects to get into college.

Under the old system, an applicant's university chances were based on a small core of subjects related to his or her intended major. Now their grades in non-major related high school courses will also be weighted.

Defending his changes, Arsenis said that they're necessary to upgrade Greece's high school diploma, which under the old system was sub- par compared to those from othre European countries.

Arsenis also said that he will communicate with the nation's high school students on a web site, to make it clear to them that they have nothing to worry about from the new

system.

[02] Simitis:Greece will meet the criteria to join EMU

With eleven EU members ready to launch the euro on January first, Kostas Simitis said Tuesday that Greece is on course to join European and Economic Monetary Union in 2001.

Speaking at a conference on the prospects of the Greek economy, prime minister Simitis said the numbers are all encouraging.

"Already in 1998", he noted, "the ratio of the fiscal debt to GNP is 2.2 per cent - that's well below the single currency criteria of three per cent. According to EU agreements, that ratio should drop continually, and ours is falling".

Simitis added that the only criterion left for Greece to meet is inflation of 2.5 per cent by the end of 1999. Inflation is currently running at 4. 7 per cent, and the forecasts from the government and the Bank of Greece are that it will be at or below the target figure by the end of next year.

Simitis is calling on businesses to show restraint in pricing to help ensure the inflation target can be met. Related Sites: Cyber Thesis (http://cthesis.com)

[03] Tcohatzopoulos-Turkey-Nuclear weapons

During meetings with the Indian prime minister and

foreign minister, Tsochatzopoulos also said there's no cause for alarm over the nuclear prospects he'd raised.

What's needed, he said, is careful observation of what Turkey is doing, and to guarantee that Greece is prepared to deal with any future threat.

During his talks, Tsochatzopoulos said Greece backs India's bid to become the sixth permanent member of the UN security council.

He added that closer relations between Greece and India will be beneficial to Europe and Asia.

Tsochatzopoulos and his Indian counterpart signed an agreement calling for the two countries to hold joint naval exercises.

[04] EU leaders meet in Vienna

The economically weaker of the existing EU members - among them Greece - want to see the EU's budget expanded, to ensure they aren't the losers when funds are channelled to help prospective candidates in eastern Europe.

The European Union's net contributors and net benefactors are at odds over whether or not the EU's 100 billion dollar annual budget should grow or not.

Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, and Sweden say they're already paying enough into the common treasury, the funds of which are used to help finance infrastructure projects and development in the Union's weaker states: Greece, Ireland Portugal, and Spain.

While the net contributors want the budget to increase by no more than inflation, the net benefactors want it to grow by 23.6 billion dollars

by the year 2006, when the first of the new members could be admitted.

Cyprus and five eastern European nations recently began accession talks; the weaker EU states fear that aid to those countries will drain funds away from them unless the EU budget expands notably.

European Commission President Jacques Santer says the funding formula to facilitate the European Union's eastward expansion must not be at the expense of special aid for poor EU members.

The EU is based on the principle of solidarity, he argues.

Another issue of special interest to Greece that will be on the summit agenda is Turkey. The EU's foreign ministers agreed Monday that before it can move closer to the EU, Turkey must address its poor human rights record and democracy deficit.

In their document the foreign ministers stress the importance the EU attaches to the way Turkey treats its minorities.

The document is different from the previous statements for joint approval submitted by Austria, the current EU chair. Earlier statements make no reference at all to human rights and democracy.

(c) ANT1 Radio 1998

Antenna News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article