Canada in Thessaloniki Cultural events
NEWS IN DETAIL
Premier defends the creation of an 'open society' against critics
Prime Minister Costas Simitis gave a tough reply to critics both inside and
outside the ruling party socialist PASOK, proposing "an open society
without established and vested interests creating one-way roads".
Mr. Simitis was addressing the party's youth organisation political and
organising conference on Saturday.
Replying to complaints by PASOK's youth wing's Secretary Tonia Antoniou on
the government's social policy and the party's political orientation, Mr.
Simitis criticised the "representatives of trade unions who put forward
partisan interests at the expense of the general interest," referring to
cotton growers in Thessaly as an example.
"The Coordinating Committee of Thessaly Farmers does not express Greek
farmers, but cotton growers with large expanses of land. This is what
figures say. They receive three times the international price of cotton
thanks to European Union subsidies. Nobody has heard the poor farmers of
Sparti and Pindos," Mr. Simitis said.
"Jobs necessitate investments and the latter cannot be achieved in an
economy which is sliding, has huge fiscal deficits and resorts to loaning.
Grants and subsidies are easy and they are paid for by society at large.
Out of a thousand drachmas, 340 are paid in interest on loans of the past
15 years. These 340 drachmas could be used on education, welfare, culture
and quality of life. The other course is all of us being poorer," he
said.
Mr. Simitis stressed that the government does not fear critical thought but
dogmatism.
New appeal to teachers to end strike
Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis and Undersecretary Nikos Christodoulakis
late last night made an appeal to striking teachers to end their six-week
strike and return to classrooms.
Mr. Arsenis stressed that the strike was hurting students and said
increases granted to teachers were the highest in the public service and
that they stood to gain an annual increase of between 300,000-800,000
drachmas.
Their appeal came after a threat from the high school teachers' union
(OLME) that it would recommend the continuation of the strike at a meeting
today if there was no positive response from the government.
In the course of a press conference, OLME board members accused the
government of misleading the public on the size of their salaries, and
reiterated demands for the appointment of 6,000 new teachers and 250,000
drachmas as net starting monthly pay.
Mr. Arsenis said that discussion on institutional demands was open but that
the issue of economic demands was closed.
Lithuanian president begins official visit
Lithuanian President Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas will begin a two-day
official visit to Greece today in which he will be holding talks with
President Kostis Stephanopoulos, Prime Minister Costas Simitis and party
leaders.
President Brazauskas is expected to request Greek support for Lithuaniais
applications for European Union and NATO memberships. Talks will focus on
these issues as well as bilateral relations.
Talks on NATO membership will be of particular interest since Russia is
reacting strongly to the accession of the Baltic states.
Details of these issues will be discussed by the foreign ministers of the
two countries, Theodoros Pangalos and Algirdas Saudargas, while a cultural
agreement is expected to be signed between Greece and Lithuania.
Defence Minister to visit Belgrade in March
National Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos will pay an official visit to
Belgrade on March 5-6, according to diplomatic circles in the Yugoslav
capital.
In a meeting on Friday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Radoje
Kodic, the Yugoslav government planned the framework for the talks Yugoslav
Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic will have with Mr. Tsohatzopoulos.
The visit will take place at the invitation of the Yugoslav side and Mr.
Tsohatzopoulos will have the opportunity of holding talks with Yugoslavia's
civil and military leadership.
Turkish planes attempt to document defensive positions
Two Turkish aircraft last week attempted to take photographs of defensive
positions and monitor movements taking place in the framework of the
unified defence pact between Greece and Cyprus.
The two reconnaissance RF-4 planes, specialised in taking photos, violated
the Nicosia Flight Control Region on Thursday, flying over the area between
Rhodes and Cyprus, while for about half an hour they flew over the sea
region between Paphos and Limassol.
The planes first appeared 80 km west of Paphos and then flew 50 km south of
the British base at Akrotiri.
From the moment they entered the Nicosia Flight Control Region they were
placed under surveillance by the radar systems of the National Guard and
the Nicosia Air Traffic Control Centre.
According to information by the National Guard General Staff and the
National Defence General Staff, the Turkish aircraft were seeking out
targets to photograph which are related to the unified defence doctrine,
because programmes concerning the transfer of defence equipment to Cyprus
are under way.
The government of Cyprus has lodged a demarche with the UN over the new
provocation.
Holbrooke on Greek-Turkish relations
Former assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke accepted the
"Excellent Citizen" award from the Turkish-American Council in Washington
on Friday, stressing the importance the US attributed to the role of Turkey
and the need for a solution to Greek-Turkish differences.
Mr. Holbrooke said he believed US policy towards Turkey had dramatically
changed by the steadfast promotion it gave to Ankara's new image, while the
European Union's decision to proceed with a customs union with Turkey was
the result of strong US pressure.
"Many of you are aware that it was my personal hope, immediately after
Bosnia, to turn my attention to the eastern Aegean, the eastern Mediterranean
and maybe Cyprus. I stated this publicly many times at the end of 1995.
Unfortunately, 1996 was not a year in which our dreams could be materialised.
(There were) Political problems in Athens due to the illness of Prime
Minister Papandreou and a long period until his replacement and a political
situation in Ankara which was also fragile. These problems rendered the
tackling of issues in the eastern Mediterranean to the necessary level
more difficult," he said.
Mr. Holbrooke said two important allies of the US in NATO, Greece and
Turkey, must remain allies of the US in NATO while it is being enlarged
towards eastern Europe, and must also create a more natural relation
between them.
"A stable and economically powerful Greece is in the interests of Turkey. I
was pleased to hear that the Greek Ambassador Loukas Tsilas attended the
dinner today. I think that it was very polite on his part and maybe a
little courageous. Issues between Greece and Turkey are real. But I wish to
stress that the present tension is unjustified," he said.
Meteora international airport plans unveiled
The general business plan for the first private airport in Greece, the
international regional airport of Meteora, was presented at a hotel in
Kalambaka yesterday.
The project will be constructed by the "Meteora Airport S.A." company and
"Daimler Benz Aerospace" with the cooperation of the firm Faulen Bach da
Costa Airport.
The head of the Greek research team Haralambos Gotsis said the creation of
the airport will facilitate a change in agricultural production in the
region of Thessaly from cotton to perishable goods which will be able to be
transported to central Europes peedily.
The president of the board of "Meteora airport S.A." Mr. V. Sommer assessed
that work on the new airport will start in 1997 and will be completed in
two years' time. It will be fully operational in 2012 and its construction
will cost 105 billion drachma s.
Electronic info system for Kavala airport
The international "Alexander the Great" airport in Kavala will obtain a
special electronic information system. The relevant study was presented by
the governor of the Civil Aviation Service Dionysis Kalofotos.
Thousands of Greeks and foreign tourists will be able to obtain useful
information through an audiovisual system on archaeological regions, sights,
beaches, hotels, fiestas organised for tourists and other information
useful to tourists.
Canada in Thessaloniki Cultural Capital events
Canada will officially participate in events this year celebrating
Thessaloniki's tenure as Cultural Capital.
Stressing the strong ties linking Canada and Greece, Eleni Bakopanou, a
federal MP of Greek descent, said Canada's participation would be
significant.
A message from Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy noted that Canada considered
Greece to be a country which safeguarded the peace and security of the
Balkans, due to its position in the European Union and NATO.
Pianist Alain Lefevre, Greek-Canadian artist Paul Soulikias, dance troupes
Gala des Etoiles and Dancemakers, the Tafelmusik Baroque Ensemble, the New
World Symphony Orchestra, Nexus, the Smith Gilmour Theatre Company,
Canadian Brass Quintet and guitaris t Liona Boyd are some of the acts to
perform in Thessaloniki.
Call for EU financial support for less-spoken languages
Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos has asked the European Union's Council
of Culture Ministers to financially support the creation of special
programmes to bolster Europe's less-spoken languages.
In a related development, the minister on Saturday announced that annual
funding for teaching of the Greek language had been increased to 200
million drachmas this year, from 45 last year.
The minister was speaking at a meeting of Modern Greek studies institutes
from Europe, Australia and America in Thessaloniki.
WEATHER
Sunny with some local cloudiness throughout Greece. Southerly winds light
to moderate with steady temperatures. Athens will be sunny with few light
clouds and temperatures between 7-16C. Same for Thessaloniki with
temperatures between 5-15C.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Closing rates - buying US dlr. 262.136
Pound sterling 424.536 Cyprus pd 519.510
French franc 46.009 Swiss franc 177.766
German mark 155.387 Italian lira (100) 15.719
Yen (100) 213.478 Canadian dlr. 192.567
Australian dlr. 203.112 Irish Punt 413.942
Belgian franc 7.530 Finnish mark 52.040
Dutch guilder 138.344 Danish kr. 40.757
Swedish kr. 35.361 Norwegian kr. 38.966
Austrian sch. 22.086 Spanish peseta 1.838
Portuguese escudo 1.54
(C.E.)