Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-11-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] Growth of Greek-Bulgarian cultural cooperation

[02] March from Polytechnic to US Embassy concluded

[03] Athens pans latest FYROM gambit

[04] Greek stocks plunged 4.24 pct

[05] Athens Univ. study on Sat TV

[01] Growth of Greek-Bulgarian cultural cooperation

"The relations between Greece and Bulgaria are excellent," Liapis said after the meeting.

On his part, Danailov said that the scope for joint initiatives in archaeology but also in the preservation and restoration of Byzantine icons in Bulgaria, with the help of Greek experts, is great.

"The political volition of the two governments for support of the efforts in this direction is a given fact," Liapis said.

[02] March from Polytechnic to US Embassy concluded

Despite the strong rainfall, the demonstrators sent for yet another year their message.

Minor incidents occurred during the march when self-styled anarchists threw a fire-bomb, stones and bottles with water against the riot police in front of the embassy.

[03] Athens pans latest FYROM gambit

A Greek foreign ministry spokesman charged that the Gruevski government's claims, namely, that Athens violated Article 11 of the September 1995 "interim agreement" by airing reservations over FYROM's coveted bid to join NATO, came after the same FYROM government recently rejected a set of ideas submitted by the relevant UN mediator in the "name dispute", ideas aimed at achieving a resolution.

"(the Gruevski government) sought recourse while hiding the fact, of course, that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) had previously and blatantly violated a series of basic article-obligations clearly listed in this agreement, as well as the fundamental principle of good-neighbourly relations," George Koumoutsakos' written statement read.

"During the legal process we will have the opportunity to submit relevant memoranda, while detailing at length Greece's positions over the unprovoked and continuous violations of the interim agreement by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ... With this legal redress the government in Skopje once again confirms the fact that it is not interested in a speedy solution to the dispute over the final name of this country, as stipulated by Resolution 845 (1993) of the United Nations' Security Council," he added.

Koumoutsakos said Greece will, of course, appear at the ICJ in The Hague with all of the self-confidence and decisiveness afforded by its comprehensive, succinct and substantive arguments.

In conclusion, he said Athens will remain devoted to the UN process for achieving a mutually acceptable solution to the "name issue".

According to an ANA-MPA dispatch from Skopje earlier on Monday afternoon, the FYROM foreign ministry announced that Skopje had filed legal proceedings against Greece at the ICJ.

In an announcement, the country's foreign ministry said Skopje had applied to the international court in order to "bring Greece into compliance with its legal obligations under the Interim Accord â¦"

According to the FYROM foreign ministry, Article 11 of the accord obliges Greece not to object to the land-locked country's application to join NATO.

"We have strong confidence in the International Court of Justice to help us resolve this discrete legal dispute ... We are not asking the Court to deal with other political issues, so that the dispute over the name is not the subject matter of our Application," FYROM Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told local reporters.

FYROM president: No prior consultation

Nevertheless, an announcement released by the cabinet of FYROM President Branko Crvenkovski charged that the "(Skopje) government has brought a decision without any prior consultation with the (FYROM) president ... thus violating the constitution and the law on foreign affairs."

"By this act, as well as the attitude toward the process of negotiations with Greece over the name dispute, PM Gruevski and the government take all responsibility over resolving the dispute, which implies the country's success or failure in the process of integration with EU and NATO," the Crvenkovski cabinet statement reads.

PASOK reaction

Finally, main opposition PASOK MP and former deputy foreign minister Andreas Loverdos on Monday charged that the "nationalistic leadership of FYROM is leading efforts for a solution to the 'name issue' problem to an impasse."

Loverdos said the Gruevski government has consciously chosen "nationalism instead of relations of good neighbourliness with Greece."

Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos.

[04] Greek stocks plunged 4.24 pct

All sectors ended lower, with the Raw Materials (6.21 pct), Banks (5.77 pct), Telecommunications (5.77 pct), Technology (5.52 pct), Chemicals (5.25 pct) and Construction (4.79 pct) suffering the heaviest percentage losses of the day.

The FTSE 20 index ended 4.94 pct down, the FTSE 40 index fell 3.20 pct and the FTSE 80 index eased 0.42 pct. Broadly, decliners led advancers by 190 to 33 with another 36 issues unchanged.

[05] Athens Univ. study on Sat TV

Specifically, a majority of respondents in the study (46 percent) said they preferred the state broadcaster, ERT-World, followed by 35 percent of respondents who said they prefer the Athens-based Antenna network's satellite channels. Athens-based Mega Cosmos was selected by 8.1 percent of respondents.

One of the study's findings shows that a primary condition for subscribing to a Greek satellite channel or viewing Greek language programming is a good knowledge of the Greek language

The study was conducted between January 2006 and June 2007 on a sample of 2,053 respondents in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. A majority of respondents are first-generation expatriates, 65.2 percent, according to the study.

The study was authored by Athens University Prof. Evangelos Sorogas.

Caption: ANA-MPA / EPA file photo.

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