The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 01-02-23

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

23/2/2001 2:21:55 μμ

Interbalcan summit meeting in Skopyie

The Interbalcan summit meeting began in Skopyie this morning under the shadow of the escalation of tension in Kossovo .

The agenda of the meeting includes issues related to peace and cooperation in the Balkans while Greek Prime-minister Costas Simitis today will submit his proposals to deal with the crisis , as Greece is the link between the Balkan countries, the European Union and NATO.

Mr. Simitis stressed the need to fight extremist elements who are trying to change the borders in the region , while Foreign Minister George Papandreou expressed his concern over the activities of ethnic Albanians' in Southern Serbia.

Partcipating in the summit meeting are Turkish Prime- minister Bulet Ecevit, the Presidents of the Balcan countries, European Union representative on issues of Defence and Foreign Affairs Xavier Solana , EU High Commissioner on Foreign Policy Kros Paten and the Stability Pact Special Coordinator , Bodo Hobah.

In the meantime, the Greek Prime-minister met with both the President and Prime-minister of FYROM on the sidelines of the meeting . They all agreed to continue their efforts to find a solution to the issue of the name of the neighbouring country. At the same time, Greece undertook the responsibility to finance infrastructure works in FYROM.

Replying to journalists' questions related to the issue of the name of FYROM , President Kiro Gligorof stated that the only appropriate name for his country for the time being was Republic of Macedonia. Finally, Foreign minister George Papandreou had a half-hour meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem .

However, the meeting was interrupted before its conclusion. According to Mr.Papandreou, the two men will meet again today.

[01] Archibishop of America Demetrios in Athens

Following the meeting , Archibishop Dimitrios stated that they discussed about the special reasons why Archbishop Hristodoulos could not pay a visit to New York on March 25th.

He also briefed Mr. Christodoulos on the discussion about the new charter of the Church of America with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos in Constaninople .

[02] Extension of the Attico Metro to the most densely populated areas

Emphasis would be given to the extensions of the Attico Metro to the most densely populated areas of Egaleo, Peristeri, Iloupoli and Stavros Agia Paraskeyi.

[03] Evaluation system to measure civil servants productivity .

According to the Interior Minister's Vaso Papandreou announcemnt ,bonuses would be granted to civil servants who meet their department production target while public service departments which materialise thier programs would be awarded increased budgets and subsidies .

[04] Debate in the parliament on political parties pre-election

During yesterday's debate in the Parliament on the political parties financing , Culture Minister Evagelos Venizelos accused the New Democracy party of exceeding the limit of pre-election expences by one billion drachmas .

He also called the ND party when referring to corruption cases not to defend the economic interests of one businesseman at the expense of another businessman.

From his side New Democracy Deputy Prokopis Paulopoulos said that PASOK had exceeded the limit of pre-election expences and proposed the Inspection Committee as the legal organ for the inspection of pre-election campaign budgets .

[05] Draft bill on the upgrading of Technological Institutes

[06] Athens stock market

[07] Weather forecast

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