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Antenna: News in English (PM), 99-03-03Antenna News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Antenna <www.antenna.gr/> - email: webmaster@antenna.grCONTENTS
[01] State DepartmentTwo weeks after a Kurdish leader was arrested after leaving the Greek embassy in Kenya, the United States has reaffirmed that it has excellent relations with Greece, and dismissed Turkish claims that Greece backs terrorism.The US state department also says that Washington has every confidence in the Pasok government's ability to keep running the country and manage the tensions in Greek-Turkish relations. [02] MitsotakisA former Greek prime minister says he's extremely worried about Greek- Turkish relations. Constantinos Mitsotakis also says his concern leads him to conclude that the priority for Greece's political parties right now should be forging national unity.New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis has been calling on the prime minister to resign since the Ocalan crisis erupted. But Mitsotakis, honorary New Democracy president, takes a different view. Mitsotakis, who met with foreign minister Giorgos Papandreou Wednesday, said in a written statement that the government is "weakened and politically crippled, but we need to work with it in getting through a critical time, beacuse Greek- Turkish relations are at their lowest point in decades". That means, Mitsotakis added, that the opposition parties need to refrain from trying to exploit the government's troubles for their own gain. The facile accusations" being hurled at the government over Ocalan's capture need to stop. Foreign minister Papandreou is currently briefing the opposition party leaders on recent foreign policy developments. Mitsotakis says that's essential to forging the climate of national unity the country needs in dealing with major foreign policy issues. [03] SimitisThe government maintains that the people responsible for the Ocalan debacle are those who smuggled the Kurdish leader into Greece at the end of January.At a press conference in Milan Wednesday, the Greek prime minister said those who took Ocalan to Greece illegally had placed the country in danger. Kostas Simitis's comments came after he was asked to comment on an adulterated Swedish press report - adulterated to quote former foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos as saying that Greece gave Ocalan over to the Turks. The journalist himself acknowledged that his report had been altered - Pangalos had said no such thing. The journalist also said that the story was doctored after it was released by the Swedish News Agency and sent to Athens. Simitis said the distortion of the report is an attempt to destabilise Greece, as was the smuggling of Ocalan into Greece even though Athens had made it clear to the Kurdish leader that his presence in Greece was deemed undesirable. The prime minister added that there are some people who don't seem to understand that Greece is in a sensitive geographical region, and the national interests must be protected. [04] VenizelosThe development minister and businesspeople have reached a gentleman's agreement to fight inflation throughout 1999.The government wants business to show pricing restraint to help Greece meet the 2.5 per cent inflaton rate criterion for joining the single European currency. And business is responding to the appeal. Development minister Evangelos Venizelos said Wednesday there will be no hikes in the wholesale prices of basic consumer goods for the remainder of the year. The government hopes to work out similar deals with business to cut the cost of bank transactions; and companies with government contracts have agreed to minimise hikes in the amount they charge for their services. (c) Antenna 1999Antenna News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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