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Athens News Agency: News in English, 96-10-08

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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


NEWS IN ENGLISH

ATHENS, Greece, 08/10/1996 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

  • Turkish fighter plane crashes into eastern Aegean
  • Numerous violations of Athens, Nicosia FIRs by Turkish fighters
  • Parliament president re-elected
  • Prime Minister begins consultations with ministers prior to presenting his govt's policy statement
  • President of the Republic leaves for official visit to Finland
  • Eurochambres sign agreement giving Mediterranean a high profile
  • New Spanish magazine for Athens

    NEWS IN DETAIL

    Turkish plane crashes in eastern Aegean

    A Turkish F-16 fighter plane crashed into the sea region 15 miles southwest of the island of Hios in the eastern Aegean at approximately 3 pm today.

    Greek navy helicopters and vessels which sped to the area rescued the pilot, who bailed out of his plane in time.

    The Turkish plane had earlier violated Athens FIR when it and another F-16 had accompanied four Turkish F-4 planes.

    The planes were intercepted by two Greek Air Force Mirage 2000. The plane crashed as the F-16 was leaving.

    Turkish FIR violations

    Turkish aircraft continued to violate Athens and Nicosia air space today, reports said.

    The reports said nine pairs of Turkish fighter planes had violated air traffic rules so far today.

    Greek fighter planes intercepted the planes on all occasions.

    Yesterday Turkish fighter planes engaged in large scale violations of the Athens and Nicosia FIRs between Rhodes and Cyprus, violating air traffic regulations on 25 occasions and harassing Greek aircraft taking part in joint Greek and Cypriot military exercises.

    Meanwhile, the joint Greek-Cypriot 'Nikiforos '96' military exercise concluded today, with the final phase watched by the leadership of the Armed Forces.

    Kaklamanis re-elected Parliament President

    Apostolos Kaklamanis was today re-elected as President of the new 300- member Parliament that emerged from last month's general elections in a second round of voting.

    Kaklamanis, a leading member of the ruling PASOK party, was elected with 154 votes, against 94 votes for main opposition New Democracy (ND) candidate Anna Psarouda-Benaki, and 39 blank votes.

    Kaklamanis failed to win the 151-vote absolute majority required in the first round of secret voting. A simple majority of the MPs present was required in the second round.

    He received 150 votes in the first round from the 294 MPs present, against 95 for Psarouda-Benaki, 46 blanks and 3 invalid ballots. Two of PASOK's 162 MPs were absent from the vote, while four of the 108 ND parliamentarians were also absent, which means 10 PASOK and and 9 ND deputies did not vote for their party's candidate during the first round.

    The PASOK absentees were Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, who is accompanying the President of the Republic on a state visit to Finland, and former Health Undersecretary Franklinos Papadellis, who is recovering from a stroke he suffered while campaigning for the September 22 general elections.

    The House endorsed a small delay between the two rounds to enable MPs who had departed in the meantime to return for the second round.

    In the second round, Kaklamanis recieved 154 votes from the 159 PASOK MPs present, and Psarouda-Benaki 94 votes from the 98 ND deputies present.


    Prime Minister Costas Simitis last night began meetings with top ministers in view of a debate in Parliament on the government's policy statements, which will begin on Thursday evening.

    Sources said the government is highly concerned with the drafting of the 1997 budget, as a significant increase in revenues will be required without the imposition of new taxes, one of PASOK's pre-election campaign planks.

    It is considered that the policy statements will provide ample indication of the government's intentions regarding economic policy in 1997.

    The budget was also discussed at a meeting at the finance ministry.

    One of Mr. Simitis earlier meetings was with Agriculture Minister Stephanos Tzoumakas at the Maximos Mansion.

    Mr. Tzoumakas said afterwards that issues concerning his ministry were discussed in connection with the government's policy statements.

    Replying to a question on his statements concerning instances of mismanagement of certain sectors by the ministry, Mr. Tzoumakas said he has given several files on the matter to a judicial investigator, which will be examined by court officials.

    Gov't pondering political restrictions for ministries' secretary-generals, utility heads

    Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said yesterday that Prime Minister Costas Simitis is entertaining the thought of setting political restrictions for ministerial secretary-generals and heads of organisations in order to combat a clientele system and prevent high-ranking officials from exploiting their positions.

    According to the Constitution, secretary-generals of ministries have to resign six months before their four-year period of office is up if they wish to participate in elections.

    Referring to the heads of public organisations, and their general directors in particular, Mr. Reppas said such executives are chosen with objective criteria through international tendering. The process, he said, starts with the Hellenic Telecommunicati ons Organisation (OTE) and will continue with other public utilities.

    The government spokesman added that criticism against the appointment of individuals failing to be elected to Parliament at the head of public utilities is unfair, saying this does not mean they cannot be utilised.

    Papadopoulos meets with ADEDY leadership

    Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation Minister Alekos Papadopoulos held talks yesterday with senior officials of the Civil Servants' Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY), who raised the issues concerning the upgrading of public services, a new salary scale, initiation of collective negotiations and the civil servants' code.

    According to ADEDY President Yiannis Koutsoukos, Mr. Papadopoulos warned that hirings in the public sector will be very limited, but avoided any commitment on whether the ratio of departures and hirings will be five to one or three to one.

    Mr. Papadopoulos reportedly appeared to agree with ADEDY on the issue of transfers, which will be postponed. He also told union officials that a new code will be ready in six months.


    Main opposition New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert yesterday voiced dissatisfaction over reports that he will be the party's leader temporarily until an ND congress takes place early next year.

    Replying to a question on whether the congress will take place as planned, Mr. Evert said "the congress will take place as anticipated by the charter, and what is being written and said about my being a provisional (leader) is absurd, and if that was th e case neither would I be here nor would the party's vice-president."

    Some deputies interpreted the statement as reaction to statements by ND deputy Costas Karamanlis, who in an interview in Sunday's "Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia" newspaper, alluded his possible candidacy for the main opposition's leadership at a congress u nder certain conditions.


    President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos leaves for a three-day official visit to Finland today, at the invitation of his counterpart Martti Ahtisaari.

    Discussion is expected to centre on bilateral relations, the situation in the Balkans and developments in the European Union.

    Problems and prospects facing Greek industry discussed

    The problems and prospects in the development of Greek industry were discussed at the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) yesterday, during an event organised on the occasion of a report prepared by the "Industrial Review" magazine, in collabor ation with the Ecomomist Intelligence Unit.

    The government was represented by Development Undersecretary Anna Diamantopoulou, who in a brief address, reviewed problems facing Greek industry as related to size, management and the organisation of units as well as its general infrastructure.

    She stressed that a constructive cooperation between the state with the private sector would constitute the basic factor in the future development of Greek industry.

    In his address, Association of Greek Industries president A. Kannelopoulos stressed that labour-intensive and low-technology investments were the main structural problem in Greek manufacturing.

    "Industry in our country needs to be strengthened through mergers and strategic alliances so as to create large competitive units," he added.


    An agreement signed here yesterday between Eurochambres and the Associations of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME), which together represent thousands of European firms, stresses the role of the Mediterranean in European unification and calls for the strengthening of the European Union's Mediterranean policies.

    The agreement, signed in the seaside resort of Vouliagmeni on the eve of the 4th international conference of European Union industrial chambers and Eurochambres annual general assembly, recognises the important role Greece has to play as both a Mediterr anean country and EU member.

    ASCAME aims to accelerate the transfer of Community funds to the less- developed southern Mediterranean countries and to promote Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in sectors such as development initiatives, tourism, transport, culture and the environment. Among its goals is the linking of databases of chambers in Mediterranean ports as well as investigating ways to cooperate with chambers in Black Sea countries.

    The conference officially begins today and ends on Wednesday, under the theme "The firm in the 21st century: Technical assistance and support from chambers", with the participation of more than 400 European entrepreneurs. The conference will be opened by Greece's European Commissioner for small and medium-size enterprises Christos Papoutsis.

    First Spanish magazine in Greece

    The first ever Spanish-language magazine to be published in Greece was presented to the Greek and foreign press yesterday as part of an effort to further promote relations between Greece and the Hispanic-speaking countries.

    The 48-page monthly ''El Sol de Atenas'', prologued by the Spanish Ambassador in Athens Jose Cuenca Anaya, deals with economic, political cultural and tourist affairs in Greece, Spain and the countries of Latin America.

    The magazine hopes to keep the numerous nationals from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Santo Domingo, Uruguay and Venezuela living and visiting Greece abreast of the local happenings.

    " It is an effort to help deeper and better understanding between Greece and Spain, both members of the European Union, especially in the cultural sector, which has several common elements,'' said Theodoros Benakis, the publisher and editor of the magazine.

    Begonia Castiella, a member of the editorial board and Athens corresponding of the Spanish newspaper ABC, said that the magazine would also present the activities of the Hispanic-speaking community in Greece and of the Greek communities in the Hispanic countries.

    Benakis said that the magzine was ''a necessity due to the increasing number of Spanish-speaking tourists'' to Greece and the ''increasing number of Spanish companies doing business'' in Greece.

    WEATHER

    Sunny to partly cloudy in most parts of the country with temperatures ranging from 16-24C in Athens and from 15-20C in Thessaloniki.

    FOREIGN EXCHANGE (Buying)

    U.S. dlr 240.905, Can. dlr.176.828, Australian dlr. 190.133, Pound sterling 376.906, Irish punt 384.942, Cyprus pd 514.552, French franc 46.418, Swiss franc 191.628 Belgian franc 7.629, German mark 157.117, Finnish mark 52.642, Dutch guilder 140.049 Danish Kr. 40.987, Swedish Kr. 36.404, Norwegian Kr. 36.943, Austrian Sh. 22.344, Italian lira (100) 15.844 Yen (100) 216.170 Spanish Peseta 1.868, Portuguese Escudo 1.551.

    (M.P.)


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