Weekend drug arrests the tip of the iceberg, police say
NEWS IN DETAIL
Greece welcomes European Parliament decision to block funds to Turkey
The Europeal Parliament's decision last week to block hundreds of million
of dollars in aid to Turkey is "a good moment for Europe", government
spokesman Dimitris Reppas said today.
Reppas, however, did not want to comment on Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu
Ciller's letter to the Council of Ministers, saying only that her letter
did not respond to the joint text sent by the Union's 15 foreign ministers
on July 15.
Reppas also denied reports that Turkey had warned vessels participating in
the UNESCO cultural events not to approach Imia.
"There is aboslutely no truth in these reports," Reppas said, adding that
the programme was carried out as scheduled.
Plasvic says Karadzic, Mladic will not be tried as war criminals
The Bosnian Serbs are not prepared to hand over Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic and former military chief Ratko Mladic to the International Court
to be tried as war criminals, Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic said
in Thessaloniki today.
Plavsic, who is visiting Thessaloniki at the invitation of a local mayor,
said that under Bosnian Serb law no Bosnian Serb could be extradited for
trial.
"They're trying to corner us but we will overcome these pressures just like
we did earlier," she said.
Plavsic said that the Dayton accord "if it is applied to the letter" was "a
good medium-term solution which satisfies many of the national interests
and dreams of the Bosnian Serbs".
Asked about the economic reconstruction of the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia",
Plavsic said the war had left a "a tragic situation but that the doors are
open to investors from all nations."
"But Greece has the most advantageous position," she added.
The European Socialist Party summit ended in Budapest on Sunday with the
adoption of a joint declaration welcoming the entry of central and eastern
European countries into the European Union. During a press confer ence held
after the meeting, Prime Minister Costas Simitis stressed the confirmation
by the European Socialists of the EU's decision for negotiations for the
entry of Cyprus and Malta to begin six months after the end of the
Intergovernmental Conference ( IGC).
Mr. Simitis said what the European socialists want is not a Europe with
differentiations but a unified Europe in which there will be economic
development, employment and prosperity for all.
He said that all were agreed that speedy rates should be applied to enable
all negotiations concerning the European Union to close before the end of
the century, namely those as well which are related to enlargement, the
budget and new policies.
Outlining the results of the meeting, European Socialist Party President
Rudolf Scharping said that enlargement, which is clearly supported by
socialists and social democrats, constitutes a dynamic process from which
there will be benefits derived both for EU member-states and candidate
countries, while the EU's character will also change.
Mr. Scharping said European socialists oppose neo-conservative positions
and nationalistic and reactionary trends, for which the sole alternative
solution constitutes the deepening of European cooperation, which is aimed
at development, the creation of jobs, protection for the security of
citizens and protection for the environment and safeguarding peace.
Hungarian Prime Minister and president of the ruling socialist party, Gyula
Horn, said it should be examined how the EU can help candidate countries to
prepare themselves appropriately for entry.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis held an hour-long discussion here with his
Hungarian counterpart Gyula Horn yesterday, while a coincidence of views
was ascertai ned between the positions of Athens and Budapest on Greek-
Turkish relations and the Cyprus issue.
Mr. Simitis said afterwards that the positions of the Hungarian government
coincide with those supported by Greece, namely that whatever demands on
the Turkish side must be resolved through processes anticipated by
international law, meaning the Interna tional Court of Justice at The
Hague. On the question of Cyprus, Hungary maintains that it is time that
resolutions of the United Nations are applied.
He said that he discussed problems with Mr. Horn concerning Hungary's
potential accession to the European Union, which is the main issue
preoccupying the Hungarians at present.
Mr. Simitis said countries such as Greece, which have every interest in
increasing their influence within the framework of the EU, need allies. And
such allies can be countries such as Hungary, which has about the same
level of development and about the same population.
The Greek premier said that if we want a strong EU, the Union must
"embrace" all of Europe and must "embrace" more countries than today.
Both prime ministers also discussed bilateral Greek-Hungarian relations,
whose level is considered excellent.
On the sidelines of the European Socialist Party meeting, Mr. Simitis had
talks with German Social Democrat party leader Oskar Lafontaine on Sunday,
focusing on the global economy, Economic and Monetary Union as well as
strengthening relations between PASOK and the German social democrats.
In talks with the secretary of the Italian Democratic Left Party, Massimo
D'Alema, Mr. Simitis referred to the meeting he will have with the
leadership of the party during his visit to Rome on Nov. 20.
The Greek delegation participating in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) summit, which ended here Friday with the signing of the Moscow
Declaration, has expressed its satisfaction over the declaration's call for
all member-states to fulfill the ir financial obligations for establishment
of a Black Sea Commericial and Development Bank.
The bank is scheduled to operate in Thessaloniki at the beginning of next
year.
Athens has decided to provide loans as a form of economic assistance for
economically weaker members, such as Armenia and Moldova, which have asked
for Greece's help.
Meanwhile, only three countries, Albania, Greece and Romania, have said
they can meet their financial obligations at present.
As the bank can begin operating with 51 per cent of the founding capital,
Russia has decided to accelerate its internal procedures so that the bank
does not begin operation without Moscow's contribution. According to the
National Economy secretary-ge neral and president of the bank's temporary
organising committee, Nikos Zahariadis, Russia has made it clear that it
will make efforts to pay its share within three months, including the
relevant funds - roughly US$23 million) - in its 1997 budget.
During the summit in Moscow, Greece also officially stated its wish for one
of the bank's two or three vice-presidents to be a Greek national.
According to the Moscow Declaration, BSEC member-states also called on
European funding organisations, such as the European Investment Bank and
the European Reconstruction and Development Bank, to participate as members
in the Black Sea Commercial and Development Bank or to jointly fund
investment programmes in the region.
Overnight stays down by 10 per cent
A dramatic fall in hotel rates to 1990 levels was not enough to keep
overnight figures for the current tourist season from falling 10 per cent,
the Halkidiki Union of Hoteliers said today.
The association's president Andreas Andreadis said the number of overnight
stays throughout the country had shown a 20 per cent drop over the last two
year, while in the northern Greek resort of Halkidiki, the drop had been
contained at 15 per cent, fuelling hopes for a better performance in the
near future.
This year's smaller fall in visits was due to double the number of Russian
and Yugoslav tourists visiting Greece this year.
Of the 700,000 foreign tourists visiting Halkidiki this year, 100,000 were
from Eastern Europe, with 80,000 of that number from Russia and the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, against 40,000 in 1995.
The association said, however, it was hopeful of an increase for the next
season, saying pre-bookings with Britain (which comprise 5-10 percent of
the whole) were up by 50 per cent.
It said that the fall in visits was due to the continuing "hard drachma"
policy, a lack of infrastructure, marketing and long-term tourist
planning.
Weekend drug arrests the tip of the iceberg, police say
Police in this northern Greek city say they are on the trail of a major
drug smuggling network working out of Bulgaria.
Thessaloniki drug squad police have already arrested two members of the
ring and say that more arrests are imminent.
Stelios Tsingelidis, 33, a farmer, and Ioannis Bosanli, 34, unemployed,
were arrested early on Saturday near the Greek-Bulgarian border, near
Serres, in possession of 10 kilos of hashish and one kilo of heroin.
A search of Tsingelidis's home revealed 23 kilos of Bulgarian hashish and a
handgun.
The two men will be charged today.
WEATHER
Sunny in most parts of the country with rising temperatures to range from 8-
19C in Athens and from 6-16C in Thessaloniki.
SPORTS
Weekend results of the Greek First Division soccer matches:
Athinaikos - Olympiakos 0 - 1
Aris - Panathinaikos 0 - 0
Ionikos - Pyrgos 1 - 1
AEK - Apollon 2 - 1
Panahaiki - PAOK 2 - 0
Kastoria - OFI 0 - 1
Xanthi - Kalamata 0 - 0
Edessa - Veria 2 - 0
Kavala - Heraklis to be played today
Standings after 6 games:
Olympiakos 16 points
Pyrgos 14
Panathinaikos 13
AEK 13
Panahaiki 13
Ionikos 12
OFI 12
Xanthi 9
PAOK 8
Veria 7
Kalamata 6
Aris 5
Athinaikos 4
Edessa 4
FOREIGN EXCHANGE (Buying)
U.S. dlr 236.562 Can. dlr.176.140, Australian dlr. 187.424 Pound sterling
377.059, Irish punt 381.067, Cyprus pd 511.872, French franc 46.047, Swiss
franc 188.267 Belgian franc 7.554, German mark 155.570 Finnish mark 51.782,
Dutch guilder 138.696 Danish Kr. 40.569, Swedish Kr. 35.986, Norwegian Kr.
36.694, Austrian Sh. 22.107, Italian lira (100) 15.460 Yen (100) 209.798
Spanish Peseta 1.848, Portuguese Escudo 1.542.
(M.P.)
