[01] COMMON APPROACHES IN THE YUGOSLAV CRISIS BY GREECE AND ROMANIA

[02] BOOKS ON ATHENS SCOPJE RELATIONS 1991-93 CREATE NERVOUSNESS

[03] SCENARIOS ON NEW PARTY CONTRADICTED

[04] EU ENERGY COMMISSIONER STRESSES NEED FOR TOURIST COMMUNICATION

[05] MEETING OF THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTERS OF BRITAIN AND CYPRUS

[06] GERMAN LABOUR MINISTER IN THESSALONIKI

[07] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH ARRIVED IN FRANCE YESTERDAY FOR A 10-DAY VISIT

NEWS IN ENGLISH

[01] COMMON APPROACHES IN THE YUGOSLAV CRISIS BY GREECE AND ROMANIA

President of the Hellenic Republic mr Constantinos Stephanopoulos, accompanied by Foreign Minister mr Carolos Papoulias arrived today in Romania where he will pay an official three-day-visit after an invitation by his Romanian counterpart mr Ion Iliescu.

Political circles in the Bucharest observe that it was mr Illiescu himself who received the Greek President, a gesture which he did not make at turkish President Demirel's visit.

The two presidents presided over a meeting of deligations from the two countries in which foreign ministers Papoulias and Malescanu were present.

Mr Stephanopoulos told his Romanian counterpart that he is convinced that the two parties see the situation in the Balkans in the same way while he repeated that Greece supports Romanian integration in the international organizations.

Addressing the Romanian Parliament mr Stephanopoulos stressed that the role of the two countries is strategic for the stability in the area and underscored their devotion to international legality which as he said is struggled in the case of Cyrpus.

The Greek President also referred to the position Athens and Bucharest share that the Yugoslav crisis should be solved through negotiations of all parties involved and that they support all initiatives for peace in the area.

Referring to the issues of democracy mr Stephanopoulos said that it must face all in the social and economic relations and seek for the principles that can guarantee fast decision making.

In an exclusive statement of his made to Athens News Agency (ANA) on the occasion of his greek counterpart's presense in Bucharest mr Iliescu expressed his joy for the visit and the hope that will mark an important moment in the development of the bilateral relations which lately have made a significant progress in the political, economic and cultural sectors.

Mr. Iliescu said that Romania and Greece are interested in expanding and developing those ties especially the economic ones in order to consolidate the traditionally friendly relations of the two peoples.

The romanian President said that his country has as a foreign policy priority the stabilization of the situation in the region, the consolidation of peace in the Balkans and in Central and Eastern Europe in general and added that it is a geographic zone which faces many problems and is characterized by the existence of sources of tensions and conflicts.

Mr. Iliescu said that he will discuss those problems with the greek President in order to contribute to their political solution based on the desire for stability, peace and prosperity for the people living in this part of the world.

He said that Greece has an experience which would be very useful for Romania, a country which recently became an associate member of the European Union having full consciousness of the strict accesion process and its advantages.

The romanian President added that the talks with his greek counterpart will deal with those problems as the two countries have excellent cooperation in the international organizations and Romania counts on Greece's support in forming the basic line of its foreign policy. He also said that the talks with mr.Stephanopoulos will be a point of reference for the development of bilateral relations.

[02] BOOKS ON ATHENS SCOPJE RELATIONS 1991-93 CREATE NERVOUSNESS

Greek government expressed today its disapproval of the publication of bools revealing the handling Greek governments made in the past on the relations with Scopje.

Asked about the books by members of the main opposition party on the way mr Mitsotakis as Prime Minister handled the issue betqeen 1991-93 which were put in the market yesterday Press and Media Vice Minister mr Nikos Athanassakis said that the whole case would be characterised as "funny" provided it did not concern a serious national issue.

Everybody could judge whether these books help the governmnet in the phase where negotiations are said mr Athanassakis who added that these books prove the wrong popsitions and handlings adopted by the ND governments.

Ex-Prime Minister and now honorary president of the main opposition party of ND mr Constantinos Mitsotakis said that such books contribute to the restoration of the historic truth while the party vice president and mr Mitsotakis's defense minister mr Yannis Varvichiotis doubted whether this was the correct time for such books.

The president fo the party mr Miltiades Evert who in one of the books apperas as threatening mr Mitsotakis's survival in power if an agreement had been reached with Scopje on a cpompound name for FYROM recognition, did not make any comment.

[03] SCENARIOS ON NEW PARTY CONTRADICTED

Ex-Prime Minister (1990-93) and now honorary president of the main opposition party of New Democracy mr Constantinos Mitsotakis contradicted yesterday that he plans to establish a new political party.

Today mr Mitsotakis in a press interview to the foreign correspondents in Athens expressed himself for the adoption of a compound name for FYROM and criticised his successor in the party mr Miltiades Evert for the way he handled some issues he considered important.

Ex-Premier expressed himself for the start of a grecoturkish dialogue from the problem of Cypus hailing the US initiative which as he said may act as a catalyst in a moment when Greece has a governmental insufficience and Turkey is in a preelectoral period, but stressing that all inititives are sentenced to failure if they do not take into account a fair solution on the Cyrpus problem.

Mr Mitsotakis predicted that if the government continues their policy soon, there will be no greek minority left in Albania, defending his policy towards Albania which as he said aimed to bridge the two countries.

As far as it regards the Yugoslav crisis, mr Mitsotakis said that the problem seems to solve provided that there is realism and impartialism stressing that the solution of the problem in Bosnia should be an example for the solution of other problems in the Balkans.

Ex-Prime Minister said that a peaceful solution to the problem, based on the principles of the international law is to the interest of the US and the international community.

[04] EU ENERGY COMMISSIONER STRESSES NEED FOR TOURIST COMMUNICATION

The need for the European Union to follow a consistent and concrete policy in the tourism sector was stressed by greek EU Commissioner Christos Papoutsis in his speech which opened the Transatlantic Travel Marketing Conference in New York with main topic the creation of the necessary conditions for the continuous development of the communication among the countries of North America and the European Union.

According to the EU Commissioner, priority must be given to the public sector's coordinating intervention and to the coordinated efforts of the tourism industry towards the upgrading of the prestige of tourism in the European Union.

[05] MEETING OF THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTERS OF BRITAIN AND CYPRUS

A spokesman of the British High Commission in Nicosia stated that in yesterday's meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers mr Malcolm Rifkind of Britain and Alekos Michaidis of Cyprus views concerning ways for the promotion of the Cyprus problem were exchanged while both ministers expressed concern over the absence of progress.

The spokesman said that in the meeting was not discussed the issue of Cyprus' accesion into the European Union due to lack of time. He also stressed that Britain gives great importance to Cyprus' application for accesion and characterized this first meeting of the two ministers as very useful.

[06] GERMAN LABOUR MINISTER IN THESSALONIKI

Issues concerning the Balkan policy of the European Union, the role of Greece in the region and the problems of the economic refugees were discussed by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace mr Constantinos Triaridis and german Labour Minister Norbert Bluem during their meeting in Thessaloniki yesterday.

The german minister showed a special interest over Greece's relations with Skopje and Turkey accepting that Greece has a key-position in the region towards former Yugoslavia, the countries of the former Soviet Union and the Mediterranean countries.

[07] ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH ARRIVED IN FRANCE YESTERDAY FOR A 10-DAY VISIT

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos arrived yesterday in France for a 10-day visit after an invitation by the Christian Orthodox Church of France.

In the meeting the Ecumenical Patriarch had today with french President Jacques Chiraque the situation in the Balkans and Greece's relations with Turkey were discussed while the role of Orthodoxy in the peace processes and in the rapprochement efforts made by the two peoples was also established.

The french President expressed his interest over the progress in the procedures for Turkey's customs union with the European Union while were also discussed the issue of nuclear testing and the procedures that will lead to their termination.