Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-06-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] EU energy ministers council adopts Greek proposals

[02] Greece supports greater role for UN Human Rights Commission

[03] New envoys of Cyprus, Bosnia, Benin and Madagascar present accreditations

[01] EU energy ministers council adopts Greek proposals

Regarding the trans-European energy networks, the council agreed on the promotion of electronic interconnectivity, EU funding of inter-regional networks and a greater penetration of renewable energy sources, all proposals put forth by Greece.

As for the European Parliament and Council directive regarding energy efficiency, Greece had proposed adopting the easier and cheaper alternative of assessing energy savings through horizontal rather than sectoral activities. The Greek proposal was accepted.

During the meeting, European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs presented a Green Paper on Energy Efficiency that aims at saving 20% of energy consumption by 2020.

Deputy Development Minister George Salagoudis, who represented Greece at the meeting, presented the initiatives his ministry has taken so far in efforts to save energy.

These initiatives include installation of condensers in public buildings, incentives to businesses and industry to cut down on energy consumption during peak hours, the creation of Centres for Energy and Environmental Management, increasing public awareness and teaching children about the importance of energy conservation at school.

Additionally, Salagoudis also referred to the great amount of progress that has been made in the renewable energy sector, whereby the number of relevant projects licensed in the past year are equal to 25% of all projects licensed since 1994.

Britain's Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, who will also preside over the Energy Council when Britain assumes the EU Presidency on July 1, praised Greece's initiatives calling them realistic and effective. He said they should serve as an example for other EU member states.

The council also discussed the status of energy talks between the EU, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia regarding the cooperation among Baltic states in the energy sector and the Treaty for the Energy Community of Southeast Europe.

Salagoudis emphasised that Greece hopes to host the signing of the treaty in Athens in the fall of 2005. He also emphasised the importance of the recent political agreement for the construction of the Alexandroupolis-Burgas oil pipeline.

Salagoudis stressed that this project along with the natural gas pipeline that will run through Turkey, Greece and Italy, a segment of which will soon be inaugurated by Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, help Greece establish itself as an energy transfer hub in southeast Europe.

Finally, during the working lunch that followed, Salagoudis referred to a proposal submitted in 2004 by Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas, whereby the special consumption tax on fuel would be automatically reduced when prices exceed certain levels for a specific period of time. He said that the proposal remains timely and could serve as the basis for future EU plans.

[02] Greece supports greater role for UN Human Rights Commission

He said the Human Rights Council proposed as a replacement to the Human Rights Commission "could be the right solution".

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed the establishment of the Human Rights Council in March 2005 in his report on "In Larger Freedom: Toward Development, Security, and Human Rights for All", stressing that the upgrading of the Commission into a full-fledged Council would raise human rights to the priority accorded to it in the UN charter. According to the Annan proposal, such a structure would offer architectural and conceptual clarity, as the United Nations already has Councils the deal with to other main purposes, Security and Development.

"Greece supports proposals for upgrading the mechanisms to promote and protect human rights in the UN system, as presented in the UN Secretary-General's 'In larger Freedom' report on reforming the United Nations and in the draft conclusions for the UN Summit in September 2005," Koumoutsakos said.

The spokesman said that both the report and the draft conclusions rightly gave human rights a central position and said that this should be equal to those of security and development.

"We believed that there cannot be development without security, and that neither of these benefits can exist without the simultaneous promotion and effective protection of human rights," Koumoutsakos said.

He said that the Human Rights Council should be a independent and autonomous body that cooperated directly with the UN General Assembly, retaining all the privileges of the Human Rights Commission - such as open communication with NGOs and the society of citizens - and having wider powers to deal effectively with all human rights issues.

Asked about the number of members on the new body and the way these should be elected, Koumoutsakos said Greece supported "the greatest possible effectiveness in combination with the widest possible legitimisation".

[03] New envoys of Cyprus, Bosnia, Benin and Madagascar present accreditations

Papoulias received ambassadors Giorgos Georgis of Cyprus; Milovan Blagojevic of Bosnia-Herzegovina; Edgar-Yves Monnou of Benin and Auguste Richard Paraina of Madagascar.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valinakis and the presidential office's general secretary, amb. C. Georgiou, attended the ceremonies.

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