Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-04-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greek PM: enhanced UN role, EU autonomy, cooperation relation with US

[02] Bulgarian truckdriver jailed for possession of 170 forged passports

[03] Convention on future of Europe to present its 'first conclusions' in

[04] Greek tourism ad campaign to begin in May

[05] Aegean Airlines complains over exclusion from strike flight roster

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

[07] Weather Forecast: Overcast, showery on Thursday

[08] ASE follows international markets higher on Wednesday

[01] Greek PM: enhanced UN role, EU autonomy, cooperation relation with US

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, European Council President in-office, on Wednesday told participants at the European Socialist Group meeting in Athens that post-war reconstruction in Iraq should be effected with United Nations responsibility and that the European Union should have an autonomous role as well as a cooperation relationship with the US.

Referring to events in Iraq, Simitis stressed that the war should end the soonest possible and called on the international community to mobilize in order to avert the danger of a humanitarian disaster.

With regard to Iraq's future, the Greek prime minister said that peace and democracy should be reinstated, that the country's borders should be secured and also that Iraq should cease being a threat hotbed.

Simitis made special mention to international legality and the UN, underlining that international legality should be supported by all sides and that this was the reason why the UN should be of decisive importance in post-war Iraq.

With regard to the impression of division currently given by the EU, Simitis said it was owed to the diversion in views among the bloc's members regarding relations with the US.

He said Europe should constitute an autonomous pole and based on such autonomy it should develop its external policy and its defence and security policy, at the same time maintaining a relation of understanding and cooperation with the US, adding that this was a position supported by other countries such as France and Germany while others, such as the UK, Spain and Portugal supported a different position based on the belief that the US had a central role in the region's strategy and therefore the transatlantic relations should be safeguarded.

[02] Bulgarian truckdriver jailed for possession of 170 forged passports

A court in Serres, northern Greece, sentenced a Bulgarian truckdriver to three years imprisonment and fined him 3,000 euros on Wednesday after he attempted to enter the country with 170 forged passports carefully concealed in his huge truck.

Police and customs officials searched the truck of Kristov Kazimir Grigor, 40, at the Promahonas border checkpoint and found the forged passports.

Grigor told police he is a member of an international gang based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, which is active all over Europe. He was taking the forged passports to The Hague, in the Netherlands, where he was to deliver them to an associate of his.

He also revealed that he had taken forged passports to other European countries manty times in the past, on behalf of the same gang.

[03] Convention on future of Europe to present its 'first conclusions' in April

The ''first conclusions'' of the Convention on the Future of Europe will be presented at the special European Council taking place in Athens on April 16, when European leaders will gather for the signing of Accession Acts by the 10 new member-states joining the Union, it was announced on Wednesday.

Deputy Press Minister Tilemahos Hytiris said that Convention president Valery Giscard d'Estaing would present the initial conclusion reached by the ongoing debate on reforming EU institutions at the summit, while the Convention's final proposals for an EU Constitution will be presented at yet another emergency summit to be held in Brussels on June 30.

[04] Greek tourism ad campaign to begin in May

Greek tourism authorities will begin their international promotion campaign abroad in May regardless of developments in the war in Iraq, Greece's National Tourism Organisation chairman Yiannis Patellis said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Patellis said that the promotion campaign would very much resemble last year's theme and announced that Greece would begin an ad campaign from April 15 with UK's Travel Channel station.

Patellis said that tourism authorities were also becoming more active in public relations actions and lobbying, while they also promoting a ''freezing'' of extra charges in the country's airports.

Greece could benefit from a wave of massive travel cancellations in Egypt and Turkey, although reservations from Britain and Germany (the two biggest markets for Greek tourism) were lower, GNTO said. Patellis noted, however, that travel reservations were rising in France and Belgium.

The Union of Attica Hoteliers on Wednesday announced that hotel occupancy rates rose in February, with luxury hotels' rates falling to 43.12 percent (from 44.45 percent in February 2002), while occupancy rates in classes A, B, C, and E rose over the same period.

[05] Aegean Airlines complains over exclusion from strike flight roster

Aegean Airlines SA on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the transport ministry and civil aviation authorities over its exclusion from a legally ordained roster of flights during an air traffic controllers' strike.

Under the measure, each airline has the right to effect one flight each way to destinations abroad served by the carrier on the day of a strike.

Aegean complained of unfair discrimation in favour of Olympic Airways, the national carrier.

According to Stavros Konstantinidis, head of the Civil Aviation Authority, the relatively new airline was not included in a law naming firms on the roster that was compiled in 2001.

The legally sanctioned list was drawn up by the Independent Administrative Authority, an arbiter between employers and employees.

The authority did not convene in 2002, and was due to meet later this month, which explained the absence of Aegean Airlines on the roster, Konstantinidis told the Athens News Agency.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.091

Pound sterling 0.693

Danish kroner 7.485

Swedish kroner 9.320

Japanese yen 129.7

Swiss franc 1.494

Norwegian kroner 7.995

Cyprus pound 0.589

Canadian dollar 1.614

Australian dollar 1.816

[07] Weather Forecast: Overcast, showery on Thursday

Scattered cloud and showers are forecast in all parts of the country. Winds variable, light to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 1C to 15C; in the Ionian and on the rest of the mainland from 5C to 18C; and in the Aegean islands from 10C to 17C. Temperatures in Athens between 9C and 17C; and in Thessaloniki from 5C to 15C.

[08] ASE follows international markets higher on Wednesday

Greek stocks rebounded strongly on Wednesday as renewed optimism over the duration of the war in Iraq encouraged sentiment in international markets, pushing the general index above the 1,500 level in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The index jumped 2.22 percent higher to end at 1,507.39 points, with turnover an improved 101 million euros.

The Textile, IT Solutions, Publications, Holding, Food-Beverage and Construction sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (7.46 percent, 7.36 percent, 5.54 percent, 4.94 percent, 4.62 percent and 4.44 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks jumped 2.0 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 3.43 percent, the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index soared 4.40 percent and the wider FTSE/ASE 140 index ended 2.50 percent up.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 322 to 19 with another 20 issues unchanged.

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