Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou renews demand for early elections

[02] Greece to host event at UN on SC sanctions

[03] Gov't promises pipeline fees for regional growth

[01] Papandreou renews demand for early elections

"The country has entered a period of prolonged (government) idleness. Mr. Karamanlis' government has only one thing left to offer the country: the immediate recourse to a popular vote," Papandreou, who travelled to Irakleio, Crete, on Saturday, said.

Papandreou, a former foreign minister, also referred to Karamanlis' "complete weakness" in running the country, while charging that Tsitouridis' ouster from the Cabinet served merely to protect the premier and other ministers from fallout over the bond affair.

In a written statement, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) stressed that "personal responsibilities cannot in any way 'wash away' the major political responsibilities that the government has over the continuing looting of workers' pension funds. The Tsitouridis resignation, by itself, cannot under any circumstance be considered as a substantive development for workers, as long as policies and laws surrender their pension fund reserves to the plunder of stock brokers and bankers."

On is part, the Coalition of the Left (Synaspismos) party issued an announcement saying that "two months after the bonds scandal shocked public opinion, the government limits itself in only firing Mr. Tsitouridis as a way of covering up wider political liability, particularly by the (government's) economic team ... the prime minister is obliged to appear in Parliament and give public explanations and stop hiding, as he's done over months now vis-?-vis questions tabled by Synaspismos."

Caption: ANA-MPA photo of Papandreou.

[02] Greece to host event at UN on SC sanctions

The symposium, which will be attended and addressed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, is organised by the Permanent Mission of Greece in cooperation with Notre Dame's "Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies", and will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

Guest speakers will include diplomats, academics, and personalities known for their contribution to improving the effectiveness of the Security Council sanctions, including George Lopez, David Cortright and Peter Wallensteen, while the presence of the UN chief and many diplomats of UN member countries, gives the symposium a special weight.

The purpose of the symposium is to promote improvement of the effectiveness of Security Council sanctions on the basis of just and balanced principles which, inter alia, take into consideration the humanitarian repercussions of the sanctions and the principles of just trial in the listing of names on the sanctions lists.

During its two-year stint as a non-permanent member of the Security Council (2005-2006), Greece acquired immense experience on issues of UN economic sanctions, due to its presidency of two Sanctions Committees (Sudan, Ivory Coast) and the Security Council's Informal Working Group on Sanctions Issues, and one of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee's three sub-committees.

In addition, as chair of the Informal Working Group, Greece advanced the adoption of new recommendations to the Security Council on issues of sanctions efficiency, which were incorporated in Security Council decision 1732 (2006).

Greece's initiative to organise the symposium is in continuation of similar initiatives undertaken since 1999 by Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, which organised conferences -- outside the UN framework -- on this issue. Some of the conclusions and principles of those conferences have been adopted by the Security Council.

Founded in 1986 through a gift from. Joan B. Kroc,Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame conducts research, education, and outreach programs on the causes of violence and the conditions for sustainable peace, aiming at understanding the causes of conflicts internationally and promoting conditions for achieving sustainable peace.

Caption: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during a visit to Athens in mid-April 2006 in his capacity at the time as the foreign minister of Korea. (ANA-MPA/O. Panagiotou).

[03] Gov't promises pipeline fees for regional growth

Sioufas announced that a committee will be set up for management of the funds allocated to the Evros region from the pipeline's transit fees, which he said will be used for developmental and environmental projects in the region.

The meeting in Alexandroupolis marked the opening of a communication network between the state and the local agencies.

"Today, we are here to listen, but mainly to build the first institutional network of communication among the central government (development ministry), the Prefectural Authority and social and producer agencies of the prefecture, and the international consortium" that will construct and operate the pipeline, Sioufas said, and pledged that "the project will be carried out with the cooperation and participation of the local authorities and producer and social forces of the region".

He further pledged that the pipeline will be constructed and operate "under conditions of total safety for the protection of the prefecture's natural environment", while it will also "constitute a part of and evolve into an inalienable and central axis of the developmental plan for Evros prefecture, also within the framework of the EU's 4th Community Support Framework (CSF) for 2007-2013".

Sioufas reiterated the government's, and Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' personal, commitment that the transit fees -- to be determined on the basis of a Transit Agreement to be signed among the countries involved and the project's future international consortium -- will be channelled towards developmental programmes in the prefecture and its environmental upgrading.

He clarified that transit fees to be collected by Greece and allocated to the Thrace region would be in the tens of millions of dollars, of which the main portion will concern Evros prefecture, with the rest will focusing on the neighbouring prefectures of Rhodopi and Xanthi, "so that the benefit will be distributed throughout all of Thrace and its inhabitants".

He said those funds would be managed by a committee that would be chaired by the prefect, with the mayors of the prefecture as members, and would operate under the supervision of the interior, public administration and decentralisation ministry, the national economy and finance ministry, and the secretary general for the Periphery.

Replying to concerns by various agency representatives on possible repercussions on the environment as a result of the pipeline's operation, Sioufas stressed that the project will be constructed and will operate in accordance with the most modern technological methods. In addition, the strict environmental legislation in effect for all investments in Greece would also be applied to the fullest.

Despite all that, he continued, the uniqueness of the project gave rise to the obligation on the part of the state, but also gave it the ability, to go one step more. "That is why we propose the establishment -- by a decision of the prefect and the participation of the regional leader and the prefecture's agencies -- of a high-level committee that will officially deliberate with the representatives of the international consortium at all the stages, from the construction period up to the pipeline's operation".

The minister noted that the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, combined with the operation of the Greek-Turkish natural gas pipeline, would contribute to further development of the region and the attraction of investments, and "will change the image of Thrace, and Evros more particularly, over the coming years".

He said that 500 people would be employed during the construction stage, while the jobs during the operation were estimated at more than 250.

In addition, he said, the Greek state had reserved control of 1 percent of the 24.5 percent share of the controlling interest in the project (Russia will control 51 percent of the project while Bulgaria will control the remaining 24.5 percent), so that the State will have "direct involvement and monitor that all is being done in accordance with the terms of the relevant agreements".

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Sioufas.

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