|
|
Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-01-31
CONTENTS
[01] PM receives former Swedish premier Persson; meeting with Italy's
Bersani follows
[02] Pupils promote return of Marbles
[01] PM receives former Swedish premier Persson; meeting with Italy's
Bersani follows
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis received former long-time Swedish
premier Göran Persson on Wednesday at his Maximos Mansion office in
Athens. No comments were made afterwards.
Karamanlis will also receive Italian Minister of Productive
Activities Pierluigi Bersani, who arrived in Greece following an
official invitation by Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas.
Talks between the two ministers will precede the meeting with the
premier, mostly focusing on the ongoing construction of an ambitious
underwater natural gas pipeline connecting Greece with Italy.
Construction of the portion connecting Turkey with Greece is already
proceeding. Additionally, the signing of a protocol is envisioned to
expand bilateral cooperation between the two ancient Mediterranean
partners on energy issues, SMEs and industry.
Meanwhile, a day earlier Karamanlis chaired an Inner Cabinet meeting
that, among others, decided to tighten legislation governing the
requisitioning of services and the administration of foundations
belonging to Greece's Muslim minority in western Thrace. In
statements afterwards, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said that
requisitioning - usually during instances of civil or military
mobilisations -- of services was currently governed by an outdated law
passed in 1974 and needed modification to meet Constitutional
requirements. The minister announced that the Cabinet had also
approved of two circulars concerning the way draft laws were drawn up
as well as monitoring their implementation. Regarding religious
foundations belonging to the Muslim minority in Thrace, which possess
and administer "Vakuf" properties or endowments -- a special
class of properties donated to such religious foundations that dates
back to the days of Ottoman rule -- Pavlopoulos stressed that laws
governing their management were also overdue for a change.
Caption: Greek Premier Karamanlis, left, meets with well-known former
Swedish prime minister Goran Persson in Athens on Wednesday, Jan. 31,
2007. ANA-MPA photo / M. Marogianni.
[02] Pupils promote return of Marbles
Some two thousand school children on Tuesday formed a chain around the
Athens Acropolis in the Greek capital's centre to demand the return of
the Parthenon Marbles, currently on display at the British Museum in
London.
The demonstration was organised by the "Network for the Reunification
of the Parthenon Marbles", which said that the response exceeded all
its expectations.
|