Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-12-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] Police to take over issue of passports in 2006

[02] Rebel monks at Esfigmenou determined to stay

[03] Government kicks off dialogue on media licencing

[01] Police to take over issue of passports in 2006

He said the new passports would have three-level security features, including a watermark, single thematic designs and invisible designs that will only appear with the use of specialised equipment, as well as security measures allowing the Passport Office and the criminal labs to check their authenticity.

In addition to the above, from next August passports will also be equipped with microchips for the digitial identification of their holders.

The passports that have been issued by prefectures will continue to be valid until the end of 2006 but after January 1, 2007 only those issued by the Greek Police Passport Office will be valid.

Voulgarakis said that a new passport service has been founded, which will operate as a central service with 99 regional offices throughout the country. The director of the new police passport office will be Stylianos Kouris.

The minister said the process for the issue of passports had been simplified and would now be quicker, with new passports usually issued within days and never more than six months from the date that the application was submitted. There is also provision for the issue of passports in a single day for emergency cases, such as patients needing to travel abroad for medical care, death of relatives up to the second degree and destruction of property owned outside Greece.

The passports will be valid for five years for adults, two years for children under 14 and up until the 18th year for children over 14.

Those living abroad will be able to apply to 151 Greek consular authorities around the world.

During the press conference, Vougarakis once again categorically denied allegations that Pakistani immigrants living in Greece had been abducted and interrogated during the summer, after the terrorist attacks on London.

The minister described the charges as "a prank or provocation" and said that his statements on Tuesday had been misinterpreted.

[02] Rebel monks at Esfigmenou determined to stay

They also complained that authorities were not delivering post, money orders and pensions for the monastery elders.

Monastery doctor Athanassios Papageorgiou, meanwhile, said the death of one of the monks from a stroke 15 days earlier could be attributed to the isolation imposed on Esfigmenou, since he might have survived if the proper medical care had been given to him on time.

The monks have barricaded themselves inside the monastery and refused to leave, in defiance of a court order asking them to vacate the 1,000-year-old monastery.

As a result of a dispute that dates back to 1972 and the order's rejection of attempts to establish closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church, the brotherhood was declared schismatic and administrative authorities for the semi-autonomous monastic community on the peninsula issued an order for their eviction. The eviction order was upheld by Greece's supreme administrative court, the Council of State.

The brotherhood has refused to recognise the authority of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, one of the prime movers behind dialogue between the Churches, and has branded him a heretic, while on Wednesday they also attacked Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece for receiving Pope John-Paul II in Athens.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, their leader Abbot Methodius stressed that the order "would give their lives for the ideals of their faith and country".

He reiterated a call to Deputy Foreign Minister Panagiotis Skandalakis to visit the monastery and "see for himself that we are piously preserving and keeping the relics of the monastery".

The brotherhood was ready to begin dialogue to resolve the differences but with strict adherence to the rules of the Church, he added.

"We recognise the institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the special status that exists on the Holy Mount," Methodius said.

However, the order has refused to commemorate the Ecumenical Patriarch in its prayers and has also refused to recognise the new order that was chosen to replace them.

Skandalakis has promised to Mount Athos in late December or early January in a bid to find an amicable solution to the problem after a meeting with representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Fanar, the governor and deputy governor of the Mount Athos monastic community and the new abbot of the Esfigmenou Monastery.

Mount Athos is a semi-autonomous all-male monastic community over which the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul has supreme spiritual authority according to the Greek Constitution. The peninsula is administered by an official appointed by the Greek foreign ministry.

Considered the most radical in their opposition to Rome, the monks at Esfigmenou also refuse to recognise the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church and have refused to accept funds from the European Union to restore their monastery, unlike most of the 20 monasteries in the community.

[03] Government kicks off dialogue on media licencing

The first day of dialogue was attended by radio and TV station associations, the Audiovisual Media Institute, the Competition Commission, academics and the president of the National Radio and Television Council.

Roussopoulos said the government's goal was to pass legislation on the licencing and media concentration within 2006, hopefully with the broadest possible consensus among the bodies involved and the parties and in Parliament, and asked the bodies present to present their proposals by January 16 so that dialogue might be completed by the end of February.

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