NEWS IN DETAIL

EU accepts Greek initiative in Albanian crisis

Earlier in day, Foreign Undersecretary Yiannos Kranidiotis said Greece's proposal envisaged an ad hoc meeting of the EU Working Group on the Balkans and an emergency meeting of the EU's Political Committee to discuss the crisis and propose measures to d efuse the tension. He added that Athens had also proposed that a special report be compiled by the ambassadors of the EU's 15 member-states in Tirana.

In addition, the foreign ministry announcement stated that the meeting of the EU Political Committee has been scheduled for Thursday. The committee will also discuss the ambassadors' report.

Meanwhile, Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou said that Greece proposed a few days ago a meeting in Athens of the Royamont Group for stability in the Balkans, comprising the foreign ministers of the EU, the US, the Balkan nations and Russia,to discuss the situation in Albania.

The alternate minister said no extra precautionary measures would be taken at Greece's borders, since those already in place were considered sufficient to contain illegal immigration.

Mr. Kranidiotis, commenting further on the crisis in Albania, advised Albania's ethnic Greeks to keep calm, noting that there had not been any attacks against the community, nor had there been any increased movements of people towards the Greek border.

Dutch EU presidency accepts Greek, Italian proposal

The presidency announced that it had contacted its EU partners in order to assess at what level the meeting would take place.

It is envisaged that the issue can be discussed at the level of a special working group for the Balkans of the Council of Ministers, and by the Political Committee - the directors of the foreign ministries of the '15'.

It is likely that the committee will meet tomorrow or Thursday to discuss the situation in Albania on the basis of the findings of a committee of experts of the Council of Ministers, which visited Tirana on Friday, and on the basis of reports by the amb assadors of the '15' in Tirana.

It is also expected that the issue will be discussed by the European Commission in its weekly session tomorrow. The Commission is empowered to adopt a position and undertake an initiative regarding an urgent Community response, coordinating its proposal s with the actions of the Dutch presidency.

Albania pulls plug on western TV broadcasts

Tony Naetes, head of Eurovision News Services in Geneva, told Reuters that the EBU, the only organisation providing satellite television feeds to the outside world from Tirana, halted its work as of 7:30 p.m. after ordered verbally by the Albanian authorities.

Kaklamanis: developments in Albania 'a cause for concern'

"On the contrary, they justify the imposition of measures in order to avert a massive wave of economic refugees from entering Greece and encourage ethnic Greeks to remain in their homes," he said.

Mr. Kaklamanis said European partners should realise that Greece is directly interested in developments in the Balkans, especially in neighbouring countries such as Albania.

He added that Greece was the only stabilising factor in the Balkans and called on the European partners to realise that at this time

"Our country's position is clear...we don't wish to have any involvement in the domestic situations in our neighbouring countries," he said.

He added, however, that the existence of an ethnic Greek community in Albania calls for a special Greek interest in developments in the neighbouring country.

"As a democratic country we are sensitive to human rights, not just in Albania due to the ethnic Greeks in the country, but also in other countries such as Turkey," Mr. Kaklamanis said.

Striking teachers request new meeting with minister

Teachers' representatives met with Education Undersecretary Ioannis Anthopoulos and asked for another meeting with Education Minister Gerasimos Arsenis.

Mr. Anthopoulos assured striking teachers that he would convey their request to the minister, who was expected to return from abroad late last night.

OLME's administrative council was due to meet last night in order to decide whether it would submit proposals during today's teachers general meetings, to be held throughout the country, for the stike to continue for the eighth consecutive week.

Teachers are to take the final decision today, and it will be ratified tomorrow during the general meeting of local union presidents, due to be held in Athens.

Cyprus-EU accession issue discussed

Speaking after a meeting with Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Mr. Michaelides expressed regret at the joint effort by Germany, France and Britain to include the Turkish Cypriots in the accession talks.

Mr. Michaelides said this effort was subject to various interpretations and did not comply with the spirit of the March 6, 1995 decision, according to which accession talks for the island republic will begin six months after the end of the Intergovernme ntal Conference.

Mr. Papandreou said he had already visited Italy, "I am to visit France tomorrow (today) and I am to visit other countries in our effort to promote the Cyprus issue," he said.

Special border patrol units in Evros announced

Mr. Romeos, who made the statement at the border checkpoint of Kipoi during his two-day tour of the prefecture, said excellent cooperation exists between police and the military in guarding the border and tackling the problem of illegal immigration. He said the aim of his ministry is to have the new units manned by local residents.

Referring to the problem posed by illegal immigration in general, Mr. Romeos said it was serious, adding that he arrived in Evros to discuss the issue with responsible services, and primarily police officials, as well as to take measures to crack down on illegal immigration.

He said his ministry spends 300 million drachmas a year to hire vehicles to deport illegal immigrants and a further 1.5 billion drachmas a year alone in spare parts for equipment, primarily vehicles.

OTOE anticipates changes in employment,remuneration at banks

The correlation between traditional work at counters is expected to be overturned in favour of specialised work in sales and consulting. At present, 40 per cent of bank employees work at counters, 45 per cent in promotion work and only 15 per cent in sales and consulting. The last figure is expected to reach 45-50 per cent in the next few years.

Secondly, the traditional system of remuneration through salaries contained in collective labour agreements and time maturity is expected to be overturned in favour of the system linking remuneration with productivity and the competitiveness of each emp loyee, the so-called merit system.

According to a study prepared by OTOE, the 35-hour working week will protect employment, and increase productivity by 3.7 per cent.

Trade unionists argue that such measures will have disastrous results for employment, since a decrease in working time coupled with a decrease in salaries will objectively lead bank employees to finding a second job, resulting in the loss of jobs for young people, the swelling of the informal economy and losses in contributions for insurance funds.

GSEE warns gov't over rumoured package of labour measures

General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) President Christos Polyzogopoulos said yesterday that the ministry is doing everything it can to see that social dialogue never begins.

Mr. Polyzogopoulos spoke of initiatives implemented in Britain during the Thatcher government in the 1980s, saying such tactics cannot be transferred to present-day Greece and that ministers must learn not to take each other by surprise.

He reiterated that if reports are confirmed, GSEE will not enter into dialogue and will opt for mobilisations.

Conference covers Greek-Romanian trade, investment opportunities

Romanian Youth and Sports Minister Sorin Stanescu told a conference on opportunities for Greek businesses in Romania that this economic programme included a wide-ranging plan to privatise state-run organisations in all economic sectors.

Mr. Stanescu said the Romanian economy was well on the way to deregulation with restrictions on trade being abolished, pricing interventions being cut back and new incentives being developed in the property market for foreign investors.

These positive reforms, he added, were confirmed by the expected signing this year of economic agreements between Romania, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union.

Greek tourism promotion campaign in Canada

The campaign will tour 25 cities and it is expected draw approximately 4, 500 travel agents.

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