Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-29

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

CONTENTS

[01] Papandreou slams handling of foreign policy

[02] New round of 'name issue' talks

[03] NATO chief, foreign leaders to visit

[01] Papandreou slams handling of foreign policy

This will be the last meeting held by the specific committee before the conference begins.

A former foreign minister, Papandreou said that under the present government Greece had "lost its say in relations between Turkey and the EU" while failing both to defend its interests and to guide Turkey's progress. He also criticised the "abandonment of the Helsinki agreement" through the prime minister's interview with CNN, which he said could have led to a solutions regarding the differences with Turkey over the Aegean continental shelf, but also abandoning all thought of exercising Greece' veto.

Noting that PASOK had "opened the door to the EU for Turkey", he urged the neighbouring country to meet, without exceptions, all the commitments it has undertaken toward the EU".

PASOK's leader criticism also extended to Balkan affairs in general, saying that the region had been "left helpless" and that the "huge gains of the Greek EU presidency of 2003 were lost and we slid back into a re-Balkanisation of the region".

Regarding Kosovo, in particular, he criticised unilateral recognitions outside a UN framework and said the handling of the issue by Greece and Europe was "a blow to the entire region". He predicted that the developments in Kosovo would stall the European progress of the western Balkans and open a new vicious circle of instability while "official Europe washed its hands" of the area.

Turning to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Papandreou pointed out that Russia had first recognised it as 'Macedonia' under the Mitsotakis ND government and the same had happened with the United States and Canada under the present ND government. He criticised the government for agreeing to negotiate on a double name and underlined that PASOK's position called for a signle name for all uses, that was composite and included a geographic term".

"I understand the Greek people's exasperation with the government's policy; we don't need rallies but serious foreign policy," he added.

With respect to the Cyprus problem, he first reiterated his congratulations to the new Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias and pledged to stand by his side and contribute to a just solution to the Cyprus issue within the framework of the UN, as main opposition leader but also in his capacity as Socialist International president, which the party of Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat had applied to join.

The government's record on corruption and transparency next came under fire, with Papandreou criticising the government for policies that "rewarded parasitism" and caused capital to flee abroad while the economy was made less Greek in the guise of foreign investments, as well as its record on environmental issues and attempts to muzzle blog users.

"PASOK is again becoming a force for change and our conference is a step toward convincing the younger generation and the Greek people that we are ready to turn over a new leaf for the country," Papandreou concluded and pledged to proceed with the party united.

"We will walk forward together, without winners and losers," he underlined, stressing that he was demanding discipline and loyalty not to himself but to the common goal of the party and describing the upcoming conference as a top political event for the country.

[02] New round of 'name issue' talks

The meeting took place in the afternoon (Athens time) and Nimetz is due to return to the hotel to continue the talks with the Greek diplomat.

A meeting is to take place later on Friday between Nimetz and FYROM's negotiator Nikolai Dimitrov, though no precise time has been announced.

The US state department on Thursday reiterated its position of encouraging the governments of Greece and FYROM to work with UN mediator Matthew Nimetz towards finding a mutually acceptable solution to the FYROM name issue, which it considers important for both countries.

Asked to comment on the new round of UN-brokered name talks to begin in New York on Friday, with separate meetings between the UN secretary general's special mediator on the name issue Matthew Nimetz and the Greek and FYROM negotiators, Ambassadors Adamantios Vassilakis and Nikolai Dimitrov, respectively, and given the upcoming NATO summit in Bucharest in early April, US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said during a regular press briefing that the US position on the issue was well-known.

"Certainly, we want to encourage both the Greek and 'Macedonian' governments to work through the good offices of Mr. Nimetz to reach a mutually acceptable conclusion on the name issue. And that is something that we believe is important for both countries," he said.

"In terms of the NATO summit and any decisions that might be made there, obviously, weāll just have to see what happens. As I mentioned yesterday, Secretary (of State Condeleezza) Rice will be going to the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting (on Thursday), which is something of a prelude to the summit itself. And Iām sure there will be a variety of discussions there about the full issues on NATOās agenda, including Kosovo and the ongoing NATO military operations in that country; Afghanistan, where of course, NATO is, as just mentioned, rather heavily engaged in leading the International Security Assistance Force; and certainly, internal subjects related to NATO, including the possibilities for NATO enlargement and the course that various countries are charting will be on the agenda, too. But I think weāre quite a bit away from a decision on that," Casey continued.

"Greece is an important friend and a NATO ally for the United States," Casey said, adding that "we also have good relations with the Government of 'Macedonia'. And for us, we think this is an issue that clearly is important for the two countries, and thatās why we certainly hope that they will be able to work together through the UN and through Mr. Nimetz to come to a resolution."

Asked whether there had been any recent communication between the US Department of State, Athens and Skopje, Casey noted that Rice had met recently, over the past 2-3 weeks, with both the Greek and FYROM foreign ministers, and recalled that the relevant State Department announcement had said that Rice "very strongly encouraged both of them to work with Mr. Nimetz to reach a resolution of this.

"This is an issue that certainly comes up on a regular basis in our discussions with both Greeks and 'Macedonians', but obviously, the message remains what the Secretary said to those senior officials," Casey said, adding that he was "not aware of any new particular high-level contacts on the subject, though".

Meanwhile, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, during a briefing on Thursday at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, said he understood the sensitivity of the Greek people and government on the FYROM name issue, given his four-year tenure as US Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001).

Asked to comment on the new round of FYROM name talks to open on Friday in New York, Burns said that "having been American Ambassador to Greece for four years, I certainly understand, and our government understands, the great sensitivity within Greece, among the Greek people, inside the Greek Government about this issue".

"We realize its importance, and thatās why weāve put our faith in Ambassador Nimetz, the United Nations mediator. We fully support him, and we hope that he can be successful in working out an arrangement that would be acceptable both to Greece and to 'Macedonia', snd so we hope very much that will take place, Burns said, adding that "itās an important question, because we have a NATO summit in the first week of April in Bucharest, where this issue, or at least the issue of 'Macedoniaās' candidacy to become a member of NATO, will be on the table".

"We hope therefore that there can be an arrangement worked out before that summit," Burns said.

Asked how he assessed Greece's right to exercise a veto, Burns replied: "I donāt think it would be helpful for me to comment, to give public advice to the Greek Government. Iāve tried always never to give public advice to any government."

"I think that I would rather accentuate the positive here, and that is that the United Nations mediator, a very experienced international arbiter, Matt Nimetz, has, of course, put several ideas in front of both governments, and we hope that one of them might be acceptable to both. If thatās the case, weāll have a deal; weāll never have to then encounter the worst-case scenario that you have put before us. So Iāll decline very politely to answer that question," Burns said.

To a question on what the US position would be in the event that the Serbs in northern Kosovo declare independence from Kosovo, Burns replied that the US is "absolutely opposed to partition of Kosovo. And the great majority of countries around the world are not going to stand for that."

In that framework, Burns said that "my European Union colleague, Peter Feith, had a very strong statement this morning, as head of the EU mission, saying that we would not support and tolerate any move towards partition, either a de facto partition, or creeping partition by trying to take over the United Nations-administered institutions north of the Ibar River, or de jure partition. We will not support it."

"I think whatās being lost in all of the words coming out of Belgrade...is this: They canāt forget the history of what happened in the Balkans in the 1990s. And it really is quite curious to see this continued, I must say, invective from the government in Belgrade about whatās happening in Kosovo, when their predecessor government, in the name of the country, marched into Kosovo in 1999 and tried to drive a million Kosovar Albanian Muslims out of the country, or what happened, of course, in Bosnia a few years earlier. Thatās the history," Burns said.

"Because of that history, the United Nations took Kosovo away from Serbia in June of 1999, and the United Nations has administered the province since then. And now the United States and all of Europe, with very few exceptions, is strongly supporting the independence of Kosovo. With good reason, because we havenāt forgotten the history of what happened there," he continued.

Burns further said that it was "not convincing" and "hypocritical" for the Serb foreign minister "to go in our newspapers, on our media, and to act as if nothing happened in 1998 and 1999 when those terrible injustices were suffered by the Kosovar Albanian Muslim population. In remembering that history, we are seeking a stable Balkans.", and particularly noted "that very artful but not very convincing op-ed (opinion editorial) by the Serb Foreign Minister in The New York Times yesterday".

"We are seeking an independent Kosovo, to support it, that will one day have an option to join the EU and NATO," Burns stressed, adding that the US strongly supported Kosovo independence.

The US official also said that the US wanted a "close relationship with Serbia. "Serbia is an important country. I suppose when passions cool, that relationship between Europe and Serbia, the United States and Serbia, will continue to develop," he said.

"In the meantime, we hold the Serb Government responsible for what happens in the streets of Belgrade; we have been assured by that government that there will be no repetition of the attacks that we saw against many embassies last week. We will hold the Serb Government to that commitment to us.

[03] NATO chief, foreign leaders to visit

At 12:30, the Greek premier will also be meeting visiting Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and the two of them will sit down to a working dinner after making statements.

The new Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias is to carry out an official visit to Greece on March 4-6 and is scheduled to meet Karamanlis next Wednesday at 12:15, after which they will hold a joint press conference and have a working dinner.

Replying to questions about Scheffer's visit and whether this was related to pressure being put on Athens over the negotiations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) for the name dispute, Antonaros simply noted that it was not uncommon for the head of the Alliance to visit member-states, especially in view of the upcoming NATO summit on April 2-4 in Bucharest.

The NATO chief will also be meeting Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, with talks focusing on the Alliance's expansion, developments in Kosovo and the Western Balkans, EU-NATO relations and the situation in Afghanistan.

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