Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 96-12-04

From: Macedonian Press Agency <mpa@philippos.mpa.gr>

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory

MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Thessaloniki, December 4, 1996

NEWS IN ENGLISH

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

TITLES

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

NEWS IN DETAIL

[A] NATIONAL NEWS

[01] A MINISTERS' MEETING PRESIDED OVER BY PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS WAS HELD IN ATHENS AIMED AT FINDING A SOLUTION TO THE FARMERS' CRISIS

A ministers' meeting presided over by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis was held in Athens today aimed at finding a solution to the farmers' crisis who continue their blockade of main motorways in the country. The farmers want among others their debts to be re- scheduled, lower fuel costs and higher price-supports.

Agriculture Minister Stephanos Tzoumakas is expected in the central greek city of Larisa this afternoon where he will have a crucial meeting with the strikers' Coordinating Committee aimed at reaching an agreement.

[02] THE PRIME MINISTER WILL MEET TOMORROW WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR WORKERS UNIONS

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas stated today that Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will meet tomorrow with union representatives of employees in the public and private sector. Mr.Reppas also stated that the Prime Minister is likely to have more meetings with other unions and organizations representatives and possibly with the Coordinating Committee of the striking farmers.

The greek government spokesman stated that the government is not considering to use force against the strikers and added that already certain of their demands have been met. He said that all of their demands is impossible to be met because it will cost about 3 billion drachmas.

[03] PREMIER CONVENES INNER CABINET TO ADDRESS FARMERS' DEMANDS

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis officiated an inner Cabinet meeting today wherein government officials brainstormed on ways to meet the terms demanded by the country's protesting farmers.

Following the meeting, Agriculture Minister Stephanos Tzoumakas met the country's largest farmers cooperatives in Larissa, in a session expected to be determinative for the course of the farmers' mobilizations that have paralysed most of the country for the past six days.

Meanwhile, interstate and intrastate roads have remain blocked-off in dozens of sites throughout the country. In Thessaloniki, the farmers proceeed to block access to the "Macedonia" airport, while the local district attorney's office has pressed charges for obstruction of public transportation against the rallying farmers and has ordered them to allow off- road access to the airport.

The protesting farmers, who block the roads with motley lines of tractors, denounce the Government's economic policy and demand from the State to clear their debts and offer them increased crop subsidies.

Aside from the anomalies created in cross-country transportation, fresh food deliveries are also greatly affected as the goods are being held up at the production site and deliveries cannot proceed to out-of-town markets.

Concurrently, the city's port remains inactive for the ninth day in a row, with its administrative employees participating in a country-wide strike. The strikers demand that the Government hand them productivity bonuses and adjust their incomes to inflation.

The President of the Thessaloniki Port Authority Apostolos Genitsaris told the Macedonian Press Agency yesterday that while every individual has the inalienable right to strike, the consequences brought on by this work stoppage include a devastating effect upon the local economy and a blow to the port's credibility.

Twenty-three ships were waiting to berth at the port yesterday, of which 14 were rerouted towards Cyprus, Turkey or other, smaller ports in Greece.

[04] GREECE, BULGARIA SIGN DEFENSE COOPERATION PACT

Greece's Chief of the General Staff Athnasios Tzoganis and his Bulgarian counterpart Cvetan Totomirov signed a defense cooperation pact between their two countries in Sofia today.

Speaking to the Macedonian Press Agency, Mr. Tzoganis expressed his satisfactionstemming from his contacts in Bulgaria and the materialization of 1996's program of bilateral cooperation in the military sector.

During his stay in Sofia, Mr. Tzoganis was received by Bulgaria's President Zeliu Zhelev.

[05] UNDERSECRETARY OF FINANCE: GREEK ECONOMY IS ON RECOVERY COURSE

As the Parliament's Permanent Committee on Finance embarked on a three-day discussion of the annual budget today, Undersecretary of Finance and National Economy Nikos Christodoulakis stated that Greece's economy has been on a recovery course for the past three years.

Mr. Christodoulakis stated that the Government's targets to further de-escalate inflation and shrink the budget are attainable and assured his audience that the Government is ready to start dialogue with the production sector in order to contain prices.

A main opposition's deputy, New Democracy's George Alogoskoufis, contested the Undersecretary's statements and said that the country will be soon be led to new economic deadlocks annd will inevitably be unable to join the EU's Economic and Monetary Union.

Also, minor opposition deputy Yiannis Dragasakis, Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) accused the Government of lacking a plan for macro-economic reformation.

The debate over the 1997 budget will begin on December 17 in the Parliament's Plenary Session and will be completed at midnight on December 21.

[06] WORLD HELLENISM COUNCIL'S PRESIDIUM TO MEET IN THESSALONIKI

The World Hellenism Council (SAE) will hold its Presidium's third session in Thessaloniki during December 14-18.

Officiating the session will be the Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who oversees issues concerning Greeks living abroad, and the Greeks Abroad Secretary-General Stavros Labrinides.

[07] GREEK PREMIER MEETS FYROM'S AND TURKEY'S PRESIDENTS AT OSCE SUMMIT

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis met the President of FYROM Kiro Gligorov for the first time yesterday evening and also briefly met with Turkey's President Suleiman Demirel, within the sidelines of the Lisbon-held Summit conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Mr. Simitis told reporters that these meetings were of a social character and perhaps even a political one, in the sense that "we didn''t talk about the weather, we commented that there are some issues that need to come to a close."

In his brief and informal meeting with Mr. Gligorov, Mr. Simitis mentioned the need for the two countries to further develop their relations and, in order for this to be achieved, the President of FYROM must look into the name issue currently pending between the two countries and seek its resolve.

When asked if Greece plans to hold direct talks with FYROM and Turkey, Mr. Simitis reminded the reporters that the dialogue with FYROM is currently taking place through the United Nations, while regarding Turkey, he said that "there is no margin for dialogue."

[08] PREMIER CONVENES INNER CABINET TO DISCUSS FARMERS' RALLYING

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis has called the Governmental Committee to an extraordinary meeting today, a session expected to be determinative for the course of the farmers' mobilizations that have paralysed most of the country for the past six days.

This evening, Agriculture Minister Stefanos Tzoumakas will meet in Larisa with the Pan-Thessaly Coordinating Committee of Farmers.

Meanwhile, interstate and intrastate roads have remain blocked-off in dozens of sites throughout the country. In Thessaloniki, the farmers proceeed to block access to the "Macedonia" airport, while the local district attorney's office has pressed charges for obstruction of public transportation against the rallying farmers and has ordered them to allow off- road access to the airport.

The protesting farmers, who block the roads with motley lines of tractors, denounce the Government's economic policy and demand from the State to clear their debts and offer them increased crop subsidies.

Aside from the anomalies created in cross-country transportation, fresh food deliveries are also greatly affected as the goods are being held up at the production site and deliveries cannot proceed to out-of-town markets.

Concurrently, the city's port remains inactive for the ninth day in a row, with its administrative employees participating in a country-wide strike. The strikers demand that the Government hand them productivity bonuses and adjust their incomes to inflation.

The President of the Thessaloniki Port Authority Apostolos Genitsaris told the Macedonian Press Agency yesterday that while every individual has the inalienable right to strike, the consequences brought on by this work stoppage include a devastating effect upon the local economy and a blow to the port's credibility.

Twenty-three ships were waiting to berth at the port yesterday, of which 14 were rerouted towards Cyprus, Turkey or other, smaller ports in Greece.

[09] PARLIAMENT'S COMMITTEE ON FINANCE STARTS BUDGETARY DISCUSSIONS

The Parliament's Permanent Committee on Finance embarked today on a three-day discussion on the annual budget, while the draft bill for tax exemptions was tabled this morning.

The debate over the 1997 budget will begin on December 17 in the Parliament's Plenary Session and will be completed at midnight on December 21.

Today, the Minister of Merchant Marine Stavros Soumakis will meet with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis from whom he is expected to request a review of the tax bill affecting those who work in the maritime industry.

[10] HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THESSALONIKI COMPILED A DICTIONARY WITH 5.000 GREEK WORDS FOUND IN OTHER EU LANGUAGES

A class of 14yearold high-school students in Thessaloniki has compiled a dictionary with the help of their professor, in which are included about 5.000 greek words found in other languages of EU countries.

The effort was undertaken on the occasion of a proposal submitted to the Euro-Parliament by two spanish euro-deputies, mr.Gerikocoitia and mr.Imaz, asking to establish greek as the official language of the European Union.

[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

[11] IRISH ENVOY FOR CYPRUS HOPES DIRECT TALKS WILL START BY NEXT MARCH

The representative of the European Union's Irish-held Presidency Kester Heaslip expressed the hope today that direct talks on the cypriot issue will begin by March of 1997 and, immediately afterwards, Cyprus will enter accession talks with the EU.

The Irish diplomat also stated that for as long as the Cyprus problem remains unresolved, the island's accession to the EU will be very difficult to achieve. Mr. Heaslip also advocated that talks must take place between the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Glafkos Clerides, and the self-called leader of the occupying regime in northern Cyprus, Rauf Denktash.

Mr. Heaslip is expected to meet today with the alternate Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General and with the EU member-countries' ambassadors in Cyprus.

[12] EUROPARLIAMENT-COMMISSION DON'T SEE EYE TO EYE ON TURKEY'S FUNDS

The European Commission's efforts to provide Turkey with funds from the MEDA program appears to reach a deadlock as it is met with the European Parliament's opposition.

The Europarliament, through recent resolutions, ruled for the cessation of funding to Turkey due to this country's continuous violations of human rights. Two days ago, the European Parliament ruled that it must pre-approve the MEDA funding for Turkey's development programs chosen by the Commission.

Dutch Commissioner Hans Van Den Broek appears to linearly oppose such option by supporting, albeit informally, that the approval of funding for such programs is a matter that lies exclusively within the authority of the European Commission which has undertaken the task of approving programs related to Turkey's democratization and development of its southeastern regions, which is where the majority of the country's Kurdish minority lives.

Faced with the apparent conflict between the two branches of the EU, the Europarliament's President Klaus Haencsh will propose to the Commission the formation of a special committee, to comprise two members of the Commission and two or three eurodeputies, which will examine those programs for Turkey which are subject to approval and will in turn submit its proposals to the European Parliament.

[13] THE LONDON CONFERENCE ON BOSNIA BEGAN TODAY WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF 47 REPRESENTATIVES OF STATES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Greek alternate Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou is in London representing Greece in the international conference on Bosnia. In the two-day conference will be discussed the implementation of the Dayton peace accord for the former yugoslav republic.

The conference aims at persuading the three former warring sides in Bosnia to participate in a unified government in order to contribute to the better functioning of the common institutional bodies in accordance with the Dayton peace accord.

Within the framework of the conference that will deal mainly with political, humanitarian, economic, military and constitutional matters, mr.Papandreou will have contacts tomorrow with british alternate Foreign Minister David Davis.

[14] 50% OF THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN THE 19TH CENTURY BY THE KALAS TRIBE IN THE HIMALAYAS WAS GREEK, ACCORDING TO BRITISH RESEARCHERS

Fifty percent of the language spoken in the 19th century by the Kalas tribe, the Macedonians of the Himalayas, was greek, according to british researchers, while the ancient greek language still plays a leading role.

Facts like the one mentioned above and others concerning manners and customs and the Kalas culture, as well as a number of objects that are related with ancient Macedonia and Alexander the Great are being presented in the book "Kalas, the Greeks of the Himalayas" written by Dimitris Alexandrou.

The book and the exhibition with Kalas objects currently held in Thessaloniki are an answer to FYROM that once again attempts to falsify history, as recently a book was published in the United States in which the tribe's identity was being presented as skopjan.

[15] TURKISH BUSINESSMEN MEET GREEK COUNTERPARTS IN ATHENS NEXT WEEK

A group of Turkish businessmen will meet with their Greek counterparts in Athens on December 9-10, following an invitation issued by the Union of Young Businessmen of Greece which had visited Istanbul during October.

According to the president of Istanbul's Industrial Chamber, Hussametin Kavi, "the chain of meetings that will be held will serve as a positive base for the policies of both countries."

This exchange of visits is taking place after initiatives taken by the Council of Greek-Turkish Business Cooperation.

[16] F.R.Y.: OPPOSITION'S ANTI-GOVERNMENT RALLIES GROW TO ENORMOUS SIZE

An unprecedented number of disgruntled voters, 100,000 of them, participated in rallies organized by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's three-member coalition opposition Zajedno (Together) calling President Slobodan Milosevic to step down and demanding that the Government resign.

The Government has threatened to stop tolerating the demonstrations and begin a crackdown on the protesters.

One of Zajedno's leaders, Vuk Drascovic, urged Belgrade's locals to proceed undaunted with the rallying and said that if the opposition holds strong today, then Milosevic will be forced to concede tomorrow.

The rallies stem from the Government's decision to annul results of the local elections in those municipalities where Zajedno prevailed.

The third round of the local elections was held last week under a shadow of the strongest polarization the country has known during the past five years.

The local authorities annulled the second round's results claiming that various shortcomings, irregularities and violations of law were noted during the voting procedure.

Opposition officials asked the voters not to participate in the voting, which they dubbed as "a process of theft and distortion of the second round's election results where 'Zajendno' was elected the winner in 15 out of Yugoslavia's 18 largest cities."

Meanwhile, Government officials have began arresting the protesters and sentencing them to jail.

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