Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-02-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou addresses party's political council

[02] UN SG: New Cyprus envoy when time is ripe

[01] Papandreou addresses party's political council

Main opposition PASOK President George Papandreou spoke about the recent phone-tapping affair, local government organisation and the economy while addressing the party's Political Council on Tuesday.

On the phone-tapping issue, Papandreou once again accused the government of "hiding the truth", an issue, which according to Papandreou, is not simply a scandal but one that concerns democracy and the protection of citizens' rights.

Regarding local government, and ruling New Democracy's choices in how municipalities and communities are grouped together under the "Kapodistrias" programme, Papandreou said that PASOK "is opposed to ND's irresponsible policy of clientele relations."

He also criticised the government for its handling of the economy, saying that PASOK will continue to highlight the government's "ineffective" economic policies in order to "defend citizens' income".

Papandreou also referred to a recent poll conducted by ALCO, which shows PASOK leading New Democracy, citing it as evidence that the public is disappointed by the government.

During the meeting, the council also discussed a proposal put forth by the public administration division which will be discussed further by the National Council when it convenes on March 17 and 18.

The Council also decided to establish a three-member committee charged with drafting a bill to amend current legislation regarding civil mobilisation of employees on strike.

Committee members will be Evangelos Venizelos, Theodoros Pangalos and Christos Papoutsis.

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[02] UN SG: New Cyprus envoy when time is ripe

Annan, who was speaking to the press after meeting here for one hour with Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos, with a view to examine ways of moving forward on the process leading to the reunification of the island, noted that Tuesday they looked at the whole series of all the activities that the two sides in Cyprus can undertake, noting at the same time that Turkey does admit it as an obligation under the EU

requirement to undertake certain steps.

On his part Papadopoulos said ''we want the EU to have a more active role in a new effort and I have assurances that they are perfectly prepared to do that,'' adding that ''the Cyprus problem remains under the aegis of the UN and the Secretary General''.

Invited to say what will the role of the EU be during this process, Annan noted that during the exercise of his good offices through over the years ''we have cooperated very effectively with the European Union and we intend to cooperate with them''.

He noted that ''in some situations they have provided all their assistance and in some cases we've exchanged ideas on some of the technical issues and the process of the exercise of my good offices and I would expect them to continue to work with me in that spirit. And besides they have a direct interest in the settlement of this issue''.

Annan noted that the EU has always been supportive and ''we expect them to continue to be supportive. There is no problem with us''.

Noting that he agrees with the Secretary General, Papadopoulos said ''our position is very clear: We want the EU to have a more active role in a new effort and I have assurances that they are perfectly prepared to do that. The Cyprus problem remains under the aegis of the UN and the Secretary General''.

Asked about the so- called Turkish action plan on Cyprus, Annan said ''we took stock on the negotiations, on the process of settlement of the Cyprus issue and we also touched on the Turkish initiative. And we are going to be looking at a whole series of actions'', noting that ''Turkey does admit it as an obligation under the EU requirement to undertake certain steps which it could take.''

''But of course there were other measures proposed in their plan of action and today we looked at the whole series of all the activities that the two sides can undertake, I am talking about the Turkish Cypriot side and Nicosia and we will see what proposals we bring together for the parties to act on,'' he noted.

Invited to say whether he will meet with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat as well, Annan said: ''be patient and be merciful. Let him get well first and I think once he is back on his feet it is not excluded that will meet. I met him in New York in the past and I am sure we will have an opportunity to meet some time in the future.''

Asked if he is going to appoint soon his new envoy for Cyprus, Annan said that in application of his good offices he surely has an envoy.

''On the right time I will appoint an envoy but that does not mean that we are doing any work on the question,'' he added.

He noted that he has a very competent special representative on the ground, Michael Moller and '' who is going to be working with the parties on certain steps and certain actions that they need to take.''

He also noted that they will also be preparing for this in New York with Ibrahim Gambarri, UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs and his staff.

''When the time is ripe I would appoint an envoy,'' he noted. Invited to say if they discussed the issue of missing people, Annan said ''yes, I think we are just about to appoint a third member of the committee and they will begin their work very soon and I do expect the two communities to work very expeditiously on this and move forward and he to be a full time member who will be on the highland working on the issue.''

Asked if he considers this meeting as a step forward, Annan said that in negotiations sometimes people say that as long as you are talking you are making progress.

''But what I have indicated, I would also want to see a much narrower gap between our words and our actions and I think in the next couple of months we are going to do whatever we can to narrow that gap as we will move ahead with the process,'' he added.

Asked if he got at this meeting some new ideas by Papadopoulos that make him feel encouraged that the process will start soon and if there is enough time to achieve a solution of Cyprus problem until the end of the year which is the end of tenure, Annan said that ''there were quite a few proposals which were put on the table this afternoon'', noting that they are going to analyze them ''and see how we can put it into action after consulting the other side, working together and come up with a programme of action, which we can begin to work on, on the ground.''

''Obviously when you are handling this sort of negotiations, when there is a will amongst the parties, things can move very fast. If the will is not there it can take you a long time. Let's start with the initiatives that I said we've discussed today and begin to take concrete steps and see how things can be accelerated and I hope that would also help bridge what I referred to as the gap between words and action,'' he added.

Invited to say that if the fact that he was talking Tuesday in front of the flag of Cyprus was a kind of message, Annan said ''I assure you I do not want his (Papadopoulos') job.''

''I am looking forward at the end of the year of having a balance between action and reflection and taking some rest so don't worry I am not heading for Nicosia to take on another job,'' he concluded.

Papadopoulos expressed his best wishes to Talat for his speedy recovery.

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