Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 99-09-15

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

ATHENS, GREECE, 15/09/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Alternate FM Kranidiotis, 5 others die in airplane accident
• Simitis, Clerides confer on Cyprus
• Death toll reaches 135 from Sept. 7 quake
• Experts: Athens' tallest buildings the safest during quakes
• Bank of Greece, Onassis Fountation donations to quake-stricken
• Liability in defective products' suits envisioned by EU
• July overnight stays increase
• Stocks hit new high despite profit-taking
• Papantoniou welcomes bourse's restrained rise
• Budget shows Dr 319.4 bln surplus
• Thessaloniki-based school honours Dukakis
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis was killed in a freak accident shortly before midnight yesterday when a plane carrying a Greek diplomatic mission to Bucharest plummeted some 17,000 feet in the air prior to landing.

A total of six people died in the accident, including the minister's 25- year-old son. The plane dropped from an altitude of 23,000 feet to 6,000 feet, before pilots landed the aircraft safely at the Bucharest airport.

According to reports, the plane lost altitude as it entered an air pocket, fatally injuring six of the passengers on board the Falcon commuter jet used by the Greek premier for his official travels abroad.

A total of 13 passengers were on board the plane. Besides the 52-year-old Kranidiotis and his son, the victims included Nikos Assimakopoulos, a police lieutenant; Dimitris Pantazopoulos, a reporter for the state-run ERT network; Nina Assimakopoulou, a reporter for the state-run radio broadcaster (ERA), and flight engineer Mihalis Papadopoulos.

Two passengers sustained serious injuries, Grigoris Papadopoulos, the head of the minister's office; Panayiotis Poulos, a cameraman, while flight attendent Anna Velissariou was reported as slightly injured.

The remaining four individuals on board the jet, including the two pilots, were unhurt.

The Greek alternate FM was on his way to a six-nation Balkan foreign ministers' meeting in the Romanian capital, focusing on regional cooperation.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis expressed what he called his deep shock over the alternate FM's death and of five other passengers on board the jet.

"The tragic news of Yiannos Kranidiotis' death has shaken all of us deeply. Yiannos Kranidiotis, tireless in his duty, sternly defended with success and without sparing efforts and personal costs, the interests of Hellenism in every corner of the world.

"He represented Greece with knowledge, skill and determination...His sudden and unjust loss today creates a large and irreplaceable vacuum. We will remember him as a friend and close associate, among the most capable, for whom we will always be very pro ud. To his family I would like to express my sincerest condolences.

"Our grief is also great for the death of the members of the mission, who lost their lives while on duty. We will remember them and honour their memory. I would like to express my sincerest condolences to their loved ones for their great loss."

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos issued a statement shortly after confirmation of Kranidiotis' death, stressing that the "...accident that caused so many deaths shocked all of us".

"The loss of Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis takes away from the nation a valuable man who has rendered great services...Let me express my condolences to the families of the victims," the statement read.

Foreign Minister George Papandreou stressed: "We are shaken, the whole government, the whole ministry. I cannot believe it. We lost people who gave the battle for peace in the Balkans. Peace lost a friend, I lost a friend, the most capable colleague in the ministry. Greece and Cyprus lost a tireless worker for the national interests...We offer our condolences to the families of the victims, who were so unjustly lost."

Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas called Kranidiotis' death a "national loss", stressing that he defended Hellenism's interests the world over. He also expressed his condolences over the deaths of the other five passengers on the plane.

Main opposition New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis called Prime Minister Costas Simitis and offered his condolences.

Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI) leader Dimitris Tsovolas stated: "We would like to express our condolences for the unexpected death of an outstanding government cadre, Alternate FM Yiannos Kranidiotis, his son, the journalists and the other members of the Greek diplomatic mission".

Yiannos Kranidiotis was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1947. He graduated from the Athens Law School while his post-graduate studies included international relations and international law at Harvard, Sussex University and the Dimorcritos University of Thrace, in northern Greece. Kranidiotis was married to Katerina Boura and had one son, Nicholas, who was also killed in the plane mishap. His father, Nikos Kranidiotis, had served as Cyprus' ambassador to Athens for a number of years. Kranidiotis was a founding member of Cyprus' EDEK Socialist party and a member of Greece's ruling PASOK since 1976.

From 1981 to 1984 he was an adviser on the Cyprus problem to late Greek prime minister Andreas Papandreou, while from 1984 to 1989 he served as foreign ministry special secretary for European issues.

From 1988 to 1990 he was the director of the Greek Centre of European Studies, while from 1991 to 1992 he taught as a professor of international relations at the University of Thrace.

He became deputy foreign minister on July 8, 1994 and in January 1995 he took Christos Papoutsis' seat at the Europarliament when the latter was appointed as Greece's European Commissioner. On Feb. 3, 1997 he was once again appointed deputy foreign minister and in February 1999 he assumed his latest government post, as alternate foreign minister. Kranidiotis was also the author of several books and articles focusing on European, Cypriot and Greek affairs.

Simitis, Clerides confer on Cyprus

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides met in Athens yesterday to discuss the latest developments to resolve the longstanding occupation and division of a third of the island republic.

The talks, with the participation of foreign and defence ministers and the spokesmen of both countries, were held ahead of expectations of a new round of intercommunal talks on the issue in November. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr. Simitis underlined the "intense interest" of the international community in a resolution of the problem and pointed to the readiness of the Greek Cypriot side "to come to these talks without preconditions, in the framework of UN decisions."

The meeting also examined military cooperation between the two countries, in the framework of the joint defence pact.

Death toll reaches 135 from Sept. 7 quake

The death toll from the strong earthquake that hit the Athens area on Sept. 7 stood at 135 persons at press time yesterday, while 10 persons are still listed as missing in the ruins of the Ricomex plant.

Rescue teams were continuing efforts at the site where nine people were pulled out alive.

Out of 70,000 buildings inspected, 6,700 are to be demolished; 24,000 were judged as needing repairs, and 37,000 were judged as unaffected.

Experts: Athens' tallest buildings the safest during quakes

Strange though it may sound, Athens' tallest buildings are the safest place to be in if the Mount Parnitha fault causes another earthquake, experts noted yesterday.

A Thessaloniki-based Institute for Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (ITSAK) stated that an analysis of accelerograph recordings bore out this conclusion, while officials from the organisation would present their findings in a report to the environment, town planning and public works ministry.

"The Mount Parnitha fault gives rise to earthquakes which cause great ground acceleration over a long period of time," ITSAK director Vassilis Lekidis said.

"These accelerations cause damage at low levels, up to four or five storey high buildings, leaving higher storeys intact."

Protecting Athens from the fault will entail increasing the plasticity and resilience of lower buildings so that they can absorb this acceleration without damage, experts said.

Bank of Greece, Onassis Fountation donations to quake-stricken

The Bank of Greece yesterday decided to provide one billion drachmas in support of earthquake-stricken residents, while the amount will be made available following consultations between the central bank's administration and the government.

In order to facilitate bank funding of sufferers, the Bank of Greece decided to exclude from restrictions imposed on banks to contain credit expansion, loans being granted as of Sept. 8, 1999 to private persons or businesses included in relief programmes for earthquake sufferers.

The Onassis Foundation yesterday said it had donated 300 million drachmas (approximately one million US dollars) to the fire brigade and to a fund set up to alleviate the suffering of quake victims.

Another 100 million drachmas will be credited to the fire brigade for the foundation to purchase on its behalf any form of equipment needed for the force.

Liability in defective products' suits envisioned by EU

The European Commission has tabled a draft for a EU-wide liability code, centring on the protection of citizens from injuries due to defective products.

The code, entitled the "Green Book", aims to hamonise regulations in all member-states, allowing citizens to claim damages through the judicial system.

In terms of manufacturers' rights, a consumer would first have to prove that an item was defective and then connect the injury to the item.

The right to compensation for defective products was established in 1985 and was re-drafted in 1995 through efforts to safeguard the health of EU citizens, following the "mad cow" disease crisis in the west European beef industry.

July overnight stays increase

July overnight stays in hotels around the country rose to 95.75 per cent of capacity compared to 90.12 per cent last year, the National Statistical Service (ESYE) announced.

Data collected in Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu and Halkidiki from 295 hotels (luxury to C class) with a combined capacity to host 88,800 guests daily showed that in July some 2,636,000 guests were hosted - compared to 2,480,000 during the same period last year. Similar increases were evident throughtout the April-July period, compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, tourist arrivals by charter flights in July rose by 11.85 per cent compared to July 1998 - for a total of 990,800 arrivals.

The increase for the April-July period was 14.4 per cent compared to the same period in 1998.

Stocks hit new high despite profit-taking

Equity prices posted another record yesterday overcoming a bout of profit taking which slowed their advance.

The general index ended 0.35 percent higher at 6,053.69 points, off the day's high of 6,145.11 points. It was its 50th record closing this year.

Shares in the Investment and Construction sectors led the rally, with 18 out of a total of 19 shares in the Investment sector closing at the day's 8.0 percent limit up.

Turnover was around 517 billion drachmas.

Sector indices ended as follows: Banks (-0.94 pct), Insurance (-3.41 pct), Construction (+2.42 pct), Miscellaneous (-0.82 pct), Leasing (+4.30 pct), Investment (+4.79 pct), Industrials (+0.33 pct) and Holding (+0.53 pct). The parallel market index fo r smaller capitalisation stocks fell 1.55 percent while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks eased 0.23 percent to 3,172.78 points.

National Bank of Greece ended at 26,500 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 26, 650, Commercial Bank at 31,000, Titan Cement at 40,100, Hellenic Petroleum at 4,800, Intracom at 29,600, Minoan Lines at 8,735, Panafon at 9,700 and Hellenic Telecoms at 8,250.

Papantoniou welcomes bourse's restrained rise

National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou welcomed the Athens bourse's minor rise yesterday, cautioning investors to resist swinging to extremes.

"What is needed is self-restraint. Excessive enthusiasm is not healthy," Mr. Papantoniou told the private Flash radio station.

"It is abnormal for the index to gain 50 percent a day. Clearly, this will stop at some point," he added.

The minister said he wanted a fast growing bourse to expand further by having thousands of listings in one and a half years, many of them small and medium sized enterprises.

He repeated that the government would not impose any new taxes or lump-sum payments to help fund the cost of reconstruction after the killer earthquake that struck Athens on September 7.

The government estimates the cost of the damage at 200 billion drachmas. Mr. Papantoniou said the government would be tough in its negotiations with the European Union so that relief funding was as high as possible.

He repeated that the country should focus on its goal of entering the euro zone on January 1, 2001 and avoid early national elections, which are normally due in September 2000.

Rebuffing criticism by former finance minister Alekos Papadopoulos that a base assessed income tax system recently abolished should have been retained, Mr. Papantoniou said: "Greece was the only country that still had this anachronistic system. It was necessary due to the finance ministry's past inability to control tax evasion. But now things have changed, and Greece needs to deal with its companies like all other European countries."

Mr. Papadopoulos is now a member of the ruling PASOK's party executive bureau.

Budget shows Dr 319.4 bln surplus

The country's budget showed a surplus of 319.4 billion drachmas in the first eight months of the year due to a sharp rise in revenue, the finance ministry said in a statement yesterday.

Budgetary revenue increased by 11 percent in the period January-August this year from the same period in 1998, exceeding the government's target of an annual 5.83 percent increase.

Tax revenue rose 10.4 percent in August and 11.9 percent in the eight month period.

Customs revenue increased by 9.5 percent in August and by 3.5 percent in January-August.

Value Added Tax revenue rose by 20.1 percent in August for a 10.8 percent increase in the period from January to August.

Thessaloniki-based school honours Dukakis

The Thessaloniki-based Anatolia high school and college yesterday inaugurated a "Michael S. Dukakis" faculty chair in public policy, named after the former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic Party presidential contender.

Mr. Dukakis along with his wife, Kitty, attended the relevant ceremony.

"The American College of Thessaloniki is expanding its studies in international relations with special focus on public policy and service," Anatolia board of trustees executive director George Bissell said at the ceremony.

He added that the school proceeded with the honour in recognition of Mr. Dukakis' "integrity, character and lifelong commitment to public service".

Mr. Dukakis referred to changes which had taken place during the last few years on the international scene and emphasised that this was a good time for young people to devote themselves actively to political life.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Wednesday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          312.599
Pound sterling       500.940
Japanese yen (100)   293.701
French franc          49.371
German mark          165.581
Italian lira (100)    16.725
Irish Punt           411.203
Belgian franc          8.028
Finnish mark          54.468
Dutch guilder        146.956
Danish kr.            43.561
Austrian sch.         23.535
Spanish peseta         1.946
Swedish kr.           37.646
Norwegian kr.         39.571
Swiss franc          201.788
Port. Escudo           1.615
Can. dollar          212.546
Aus. dollar          204.283
Cyprus pound         559.131
Euro                 323.848

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