Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-07-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] France's Sarkozy meets PM, Greek ministers; signs bilateral agreement

[02] Papandreou contacts over Iran and Middle East

[03] Bakoyannis urges support for ceasefire in Lebanon

[04] Humanitarian aid from Greece arrives in Beirut

[05] Tagarades landfill fire continues to burn

[01] France's Sarkozy meets PM, Greek ministers; signs bilateral agreement

The agreement was signed with Greek Public Order minister Vyron Polydoras, who said it concerned issues of terrorism, narcotics, human trafficking, and trafficking in arms and human organs.

He said the talks covered all the contemporary problems falling under the two ministers' authority, as well as ways the two countries could join forces in the service of democratic legality.

"I'm impressed by the French interior minister's practical thinking, a practicality that guarantees efficiency in the sector of public order and at the interior ministry, for the service of democracy and the citizens, once again conslidating the lines of open society and democracy," Polydoras said.

Sarkozy expressed satisfaction with the meeting and the signing of the Memorandum.

In talks with his Greek counterpart, Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, meanwhile, the discussion focused on immigration policy issues and civil protection.

Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Pavlopoulos, Sarkozy said the talks centred on civil protection matters and confronting fires, adding that he would send a letter to his Greek counterpart next week on the issue of immigration policy.

Pavlopoulos referred to the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation on civil protection matters and the common use of airborne means in firefighting operations. He said that this initiative was in an early stage, adding that all the countries in the Mediterranean region could participate in the initiative, as the dangers were shared and the future, in this area, was expected to be difficult.

Regarding cooperation in the sector of immigration policy, Pavlopoulos said that common rules in the framework of the EU have already begun to be formulated, but added that the initiative must progress more quickly, stressing that this depended on the member states, and noting that the phenomenon of migration would be faced with all the terms and conditions that befitted Europe's civilisation.

Current world affairs discussed in Bakoyannis-Sarkozy dinner

During a later dinner given in his honour by Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, discussion was dominated by the major issues in international current affairs.

"We ascertained a great convergence of views in the broad range of current affairs issues that we discussed," Sarkozy said afterwards.

He also praised Bakoyannis, saying that she was deeply knowledgeable on international issues and that "it is an honour for her country that Bakoyannis holds the position of foreign minister".

After the dinner, the visiting French minister was shown around the archaeological site and museum of the Athens Acropolis.

[02] Papandreou contacts over Iran and Middle East

PASOK spokesman Nikos Athanassakis said Papandreou had received a call from Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Motaki on Wednesday to thank him for his invitation to visit Greece and asked him to convey a message that Iran took a positive view of the "5+1" incentives proposal made by major powers and was prepared to negotiate on this basis.

On Thursday and Friday, Athanassakis said, Papandreou had spoken on the phone with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the Finnish EU presidency's foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

During these contacts, had had discussed the latest development concerning Iran's nuclear programme and relayed Motaki's message, as well as discussing the Middle East.

The spokesman also demanded that the government confirm or deny a statement by Defence Minister Vangelis Meimarakis regarding an agreement between the Turkish and Greek prime ministers for a mutual reduction in armaments.

"This is a serious issue. It is international precedent to refer to an agreement for a mutual reduction in armaments that supposedly took place verbally. We come back to this issue and expect some representative of the government to provide an answer," Athanassakis said.

[03] Bakoyannis urges support for ceasefire in Lebanon

The foreign minister also noted Greece's support for the package of ideas presented by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and called on the Security Council, as the guardian of stability and peace, to make use of its role and capabilities to find a way out of the deadlock.

She made the statement after meeting Lebanese Ambassador in Athens William Farid Habib, who expressed his country's thanks for the humanitarian aid sent by the Greek government to the victims of the war and Greece's help in evacuation efforts.

After the meeting, Habib expressed fears that his country was facing "a plan for the wholesale destruction of Lebanon" and that the situation would not end soon.

He also stressed his country's and his own personal pride in the friendship and solidarity shown by Greece and said that Lebanon would remain united and find a solution if the case that there was no outside intervention.

Regarding the humanitarian effort, Bakoyannis said that Greece was both willing and able to play a serious role and was doing so.

She also thanked the government of Cyprus for its hospitality and solidarity, as well as the officers and troops of the Greek airforce and navy that had helped in evacuation and aid missions.

[04] Humanitarian aid from Greece arrives in Beirut

The evacuees will be taken to Larnaca in Cyprus, from where they will return to their own countries.

Late on Thursday evening, a Greek Airforce C-130 cargo plane landed at Larnaca airport carrying a second consignment of aid for Lebanon, which was unloaded in order to taken to Beirut by ship. Also on board were five doctors sent by the Greek Navy, who will provide assistance to Beirut evacuees in Larnaca.

A third consignment of aid left the military airport at Elefsis in a C-130 at 14:00 in the afternoon on Friday, carrying another 10 tonnes of medical supplies and emergency equipment.

Apart from the "Ikaria", the Greek Navy has also sent the frigates "Psara" and "Themistokles" and a second tank-landing craft "Rhodes" to the area to assist in the evacuation effort, alongside another 32 war ships sent by various countries to get their nationals out of Lebanon.

According to a foreign ministry announcement, the "Ikaria" was carrying 22 tonnes of aid offered by Greece to Lebanon, including medical supplies, tents, bedding and food, and was the first ship with humanitarian aid to arrive in tormented Beirut.

It said the collection of the aid was organised and coordinated by the Greek foreign ministry via its international developmental cooperation service Hellenic Aid, with the assistance of the Greek health ministry, the Greek national defence ministry, the general secretariat for civil protection, the city of Athens and the non-governmental aid organisations Red Cross, Medecins du Monde and Doctors of the Heart.

[05] Tagarades landfill fire continues to burn

Authorities in charge of the fire-fighting effort stressed, meanwhile, that covering the fire with earth was the only advisable method for putting it out, noting that spraying water and fire-retardant carried other risks.

"In the past days we sprayed both fire retardant and foam and we are still spraying water but we cannot drop large quantities because we will flood everything and cause even greater destruction," Thessaloniki Fire Service chief Dimitris Fafoutis underlined.

Meanwhile, experts warned that the fire had raised the spectre of an even greater disaster in the event of heavy rain, unless a dam was built to shore up a weak bank encircling a lake of sewage sludge that might give way and inundate the plain of Anthemounda.

"There is a risk that with the first heavy rain, liquids burdened with heavy metals will inundate the plain causing irreparable damage," said Sotiris Prentzas, a member of the administrative council of the Thessaloniki Technical Chamber told the ANA.

"Behind the restoration area, on the other side of the sewage sludge lake, there is a steep slope. If this collapses this will be a true catastrophe for the plain of Anthemounda municipality, because there will not longer be a collection lake. If a dam is not build soon - and when I say soon I mean by the autumn when the rains start - the damage that will be caused will unfortunately be irreparable," the expert added.

The Tagarades landfill fire dominated discussion in the Thessaloniki city council meeting on Thursday evening. Thessaloniki mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos stressed that no notable change has been recorded in terms of atmospheric pollution as a result of the smoldering fire at Tagarades.

He blamed previous PASOK governments and residents who filed suits blocking the construction of the landfill in Mavrorachi for the existing waste management situation.

Greater Thessaloniki OTA Association president Yiannis Zournas, who is responsible for waste management, stated that the fire is now down to one third of its original size and added that nobody can say exactly when it will be completely extinguished. He also stressed that heavy machinery participate in the efforts to cover the fire with soil as this is the only way it can be put out.

Zournas said that a complete picture of the effect of the landfill fire on the atmosphere will be available in 20 days, when the lab results on all collected samples from the area will be ready.

Local authorities in Thessaloniki on Thursday began taking samples of plants and animal material in a five-kilometre radius around the Tagarades landfill, where a fire that broke out about a week earlier was still burning on. Officials said the samples would be tested for pollutants hazardous to health, such as dioxins or chlorinated hydrocarbons.

All sheep and cattle farmers and the owners of poultry-farming units were advised to avoid free-range grazing, to confine animals in enclosed spaces, to avoid using free-range animals to supply dairy products and to use animal feed originating outside the affected area," the head of the Thessaloniki Prefecture Animal Hygiene department Evangelos Trelopoulos said.

Meanwhile, a atmospheric pollution monitoring station set up in Tagarades on Friday reported that levels of airborne particles in the area were above acceptable limits for three hours before dawn, from 3:00 until 5:00.

Thessaloniki's mayor attributed the rise in levels to a lack of winds to disperse the particles.

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