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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-12-02

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.


MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, December 2, 1998

SECTIONS

  • [A] NATIONAL NEWS
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • NEWS HEADLINES

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

  • [01] CUSTOMS WORKERS WILL DECIDE TODAY ON THE COURSE OF THEIR STRIKE
  • [02] GREEK PM TO RECEIVE AUSTRIA'S CHANCELLOR VICTOR KLIMA IN ATHENS TODAY
  • [03] COUNCIL OF GREEKS ABROAD HOLDS BOARD MEETING IN THESSALONIKI
  • [04] ONLY ONE TRAIN PER ROUTE TO RUN TODAY AS STRIKE CONTINUES
  • [05] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS TRAVELS TO GERMANY THIS WEEK
  • [06] GREECE TO HAVE WORLD'S THIRD OLDEST POPULATION BY THE YEAR 2020
  • [07] BALKAN FRIENDSHIP COMMITTEE TO VIST ROMANIA THIS MONTH
  • [08] GREEK BANKS ASSOCIATION HOLDS MILLENIUM BUG CONFERENCE
  • [09] THE STRIKING CUSTOMS EMPLOYEES WILL REACH A DECISION ON THE FATE OF THEIR MOBILIZATION TONIGHT
  • [10] THE MORNING MEETING OF SAE WAS COMPLETED
  • [11] ANDREW ATHENS: WE EXPECT A NEW US INITIATIVE ON CYPRUS
  • [12] TOMARAS: THE US STANCE TOWARD CYPRUS IS CHANGING
  • [13] VENIZELOS ISSUED AN INVITATION TO THE VATICAN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
  • [14] THE ISSUE OF THE S-300 IS BEING HANDLED IN A RESPONSIBLE MANNER BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF GREECE AND CYPRUS
  • [15] 17 ROMANIAN BUSINESSMEN ARE VISITING THESSALONIKI
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • [16] BELGRADE WARNS OSCE IT MAY ACT AGAINST KLA, NO MATTER WHAT THE PRICE
  • [17] GREECE OBJECTS TO PROPOSALS OF TRIMMING EU EXPENDITURES
  • [18] GREEK FM TO SPEAK AT OSLO SUMMIT ON OSCE'S ROLE
  • [19] GREECE, BULGARIA, ROMANIA TRIPARTITE FORUM WRAPS UP TODAY
  • [20] ALBANIA: TENSION MOUNTS AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY ANNIVERSARY NEARS
  • [21] A 22.000 MEN POLICE FORCE WILL BE DEPLOYED DURING THE GALATASARAY - JUVENTUS SOCCER GAME
  • [22] PANGALOS: THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE MISSILES BUT THE TURKISH OCCUPATION OF N.CYPRUS
  • [23] STATEMENTS BY PANGALOS ON THE ROLE OF THE OSCE

  • NEWS IN DETAIL

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

    [01] CUSTOMS WORKERS WILL DECIDE TODAY ON THE COURSE OF THEIR STRIKE

    As fuel supply is getting scarce and mile-long lines of stalled cars can be seen for miles on at the country's borders, the federation of Greece's customs workers is to decide today on whether or not it will press on with its strike.

    The Athens First Circuit Court is to determine the strike's legality, as the Ministry of Economy has sought legal recourse by asking that the customs workers' action be declared illegal and abusive.

    [02] GREEK PM TO RECEIVE AUSTRIA'S CHANCELLOR VICTOR KLIMA IN ATHENS TODAY

    Austrian Chancellor and European Union President Viktor Klima is to arrive in Athens today where he will be received by Greek Prime Minster Kostas Simitis in order to discuss the forthcoming Vienna European Council Summit Conference, to be held on December 11-12.

    As Mr, Simitis stated yesterday, the Summit will tackle issues such as developments regarding the EU funds, Agenda 2000, international economic matters and employment.

    [03] COUNCIL OF GREEKS ABROAD HOLDS BOARD MEETING IN THESSALONIKI

    The nine-member board of the Council of Greeks Abroad (SAE), headed by SAE President Andrew Athens, has embarked on its meeting today in Thessaloniki, in order to review the proceedings of the organization's regular assembly.

    The meeting, to be held until Saturday, will feature the participation of the secretary-general of Greeks Abroad Stavros Labrinides, the chairman of the permanent cross-party parliamentary committee for Greek Abroad Grigoris Niotis and other committee members. Among the issues to be discussed are the "Helleniad" and the 21 medical centers to be founded by SAE in 21 republics of the former Soviet Union.

    [04] ONLY ONE TRAIN PER ROUTE TO RUN TODAY AS STRIKE CONTINUES

    Only one train per route will run today throughout the country as the workers at the Greek Railways Organization, (OSE) have upped the ante in their mobilizations by embarking on 24-hour rotating strikes until Friday.

    The rail workers are protesting a bill tabled in Parliament which calls for reforms in their sector.

    From the past Sunday until yesterday, they held three-hour stoppages.

    The airborne sector is also taking part in the strike fever, with staff at the Civil Aviation Department conducting two work stoppages as of today. They are reacting to ordinances in the insurance bill that call for their sector's merger with other insurance funds.

    [05] PRIME MINISTER SIMITIS TRAVELS TO GERMANY THIS WEEK

    Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will be received by the new German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on December 7, during a visit to Germany, according to government spokesman Dimitris Reppas.

    Mr. Simitis will also meet with the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, on December 4.

    The Greek Premier and the German officials are expected to discuss issues concerning bilateral ties, Greece's course to the Economic and Monetary Union, Greek-Turkish relations, the Cyprus issue, international developments, and the Ocalan case.

    On Monday evening, Mr. Simitis will attend a Bonn-held party conference which will feature the participation of PASOK's four prefectural committees in Germany.

    [06] GREECE TO HAVE WORLD'S THIRD OLDEST POPULATION BY THE YEAR 2020

    Greece will have the world's third oldest population by the year 2020 due to its declining birth rate and increasing life expectancy, according to the World Health Organization .

    The organization has reported that 22 years from now there will be over one billion people over the age of sixty in the world, nearly double the current number.

    The "oldest" countries that year will be Japan and Italy, each with 31 percent of their populations being at least 60, it said.

    They will be followed by Greece, Switzerland and Finland, each at 28 percent.

    [07] BALKAN FRIENDSHIP COMMITTEE TO VIST ROMANIA THIS MONTH

    The Balkan Friendship Committee is to conduct a visit to Romania on December 13, where its members will meet with government officials in order to develop multifaceted cooperation opportunities between the countries.

    Speaking to the Macedonian Press Agency, the Committee's chairman N. Zabounides stated that the group aspires to assist the state leaders in expounding cooperation opportunities between the countries, as well as promoting business collaboration for joint ventures.

    [08] GREEK BANKS ASSOCIATION HOLDS MILLENIUM BUG CONFERENCE

    The Association of Greek Banks is organizing a conference concerning the various ways to address the computer millennium bug in the year 2000.

    The bug will cause many computers to fail by reading the date 2000 as 1900 because computer software programmers have abbreviated each year to the two final digits in order to save computer memory. Understandably, this is certain to wreck havoc on financial institutions, as it will affect their transactions as well as their archives.

    A member of the general secretariat of the Global 2000's coordinating group Matthew Fairless, will be the keynote speaker at the event which is held today at the Grand Bretagne Hotel in

    [09] THE STRIKING CUSTOMS EMPLOYEES WILL REACH A DECISION ON THE FATE OF THEIR MOBILIZATION TONIGHT

    The general council of the customs employees' federation will decide this evening if it will continue or postpone the ongoing strike action of the sector. There is fuel shortage as a result of the strike, while many truck drivers remain stranded at the borders.

    An Athens court decision is expected to be issued today on the appeal made by the ministry of finance calling for the customs employees' strike to be declared illegal.

    [10] THE MORNING MEETING OF SAE WAS COMPLETED

    The morning session of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) that was held in Thessaloniki has been completed. The proceedings of the regular meeting of the 9member SAE presiding board opened with the welcome speeches of minister of Macedonia- Thrace Yiannis Magriotis, the prefect and the mayor of the city.

    In the meeting were approved the minutes taken in the July meeting, while the deputy president of SAE and the regional presidents presented their reports on their additional activities and the programs for which they are responsible.

    [11] ANDREW ATHENS: WE EXPECT A NEW US INITIATIVE ON CYPRUS

    US president Bill Clinton spoke of a new initiative, a new effort and new ideas for the solution of the Cyprus problem in his recent meeting in Chicago with World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) president Mr. Andrew Athens. The above were stated to MPA by Mr. Athens in response to a question on what it is expected to come out of tomorrow's meeting of the Greek American leadership with US president Security Adviser Mr. Berger in the White House.

    Mr. Athens pointed out that he said to the US president that the common belief among the Greek Americans and the Greeks is that nothing is being done on behalf of the US government regarding Cyprus and Mr. Clinton said to him that he has not forgotten Cyprus and that a new effort will be made for the solution of the problem.

    Mr. Athens said that the Americans will present their new initiative tomorrow and in case it is not aimed at the right direction, the Greek American community will continue to exert pressures toward a solution for Cyprus.

    On the press publications regarding the name of FYROM and the acceptance of the name "Republic of Macedonia-Skopje", Mr. Athens stressed that the Greeks living abroad will continue the efforts concerning the name of Macedonia, adding however, that based on what he has read on the newspapers and watched on television he thinks that the issue was not dealt with in time and that efforts had to be made much earlier.

    [12] TOMARAS: THE US STANCE TOWARD CYPRUS IS CHANGING

    The Greek American leadership expects assurances that specific actions will be undertaken on issues that have to do with the Greek-Turkish relations, especially with the Aegean and Cyprus, stressed US World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) president Christos Tomaras, responding to a question on tomorrow's contacts of the Greek American leadership at the White House.

    Regarding the expected US initiative on Cyprus, Mr. Tomaras pointed out that based on the latest letter by US president Clinton, his thought and stance has changed in a way concerning the issues mentioned before and mainly, the Cyprus issue.

    [13] VENIZELOS ISSUED AN INVITATION TO THE VATICAN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD

    Greek minister of culture Evangelos Venizelos issued an invitation to the Vatican to participate in the Cultural Olympiad. The invitation was issued during the meeting of the Greek minister of culture with his visiting Vatican counterpart..

    The Greek ministry of culture seeks to organize a large Byzantine exhibition in Rome within the framework of the celebrations for the year 2000, while a triple exhibition on the famous painter El Greco will be held in Rome with the cooperation of the responsible ministries of Greece, Italy and Spain.

    [14] THE ISSUE OF THE S-300 IS BEING HANDLED IN A RESPONSIBLE MANNER BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF GREECE AND CYPRUS

    The issue of the Russian anti-aircraft S-300 missiles is being handled by the governments of Greece and Cyprus in a responsible manner, while they do not accept interventions by others in their decisions, stated Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas.

    Mr. Reppas stated that Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem must get used to the idea that Turkey borders with a country that is an EU member and a member of NATO, respects human rights and its democratic institutions function flawlessly, adding that Turkey should try to look like Greece instead of criticizing it.

    [15] 17 ROMANIAN BUSINESSMEN ARE VISITING THESSALONIKI

    Seventeen Romanian businessmen are in Thessaloniki today to attend the second part of a training seminar organized by the Greek Foreign Trade Organization. The first part of the seminar was held in Bucharest a week ago.

    The training programme of the Greek Foreign Trade Organization aims at informing the Romanian businessmen on issues concerning the export companies' management and the promotion and distribution of their products to the foreign markets.

    The Greek Organization of Foreign Trade has already organized similar seminars for Hungarian, Czech, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Albanian businessmen.

    [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    [16] BELGRADE WARNS OSCE IT MAY ACT AGAINST KLA, NO MATTER WHAT THE PRICE

    The government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has forwarded a strongly-worded letter to the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, wherein it charges that Kossovo rebels endanger the area's fragile peace and warns that it won't tolerate continued attacks "no matter what the price."

    According to the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, the statement blasted international efforts to include the rebels in the peace process as effectively "legalizing the terrorists."

    "Insolent, criminal activity and provocative actions by Albanian terrorists present an obstacle to the peace process ... in defiance of state bodies and international appeals," said the statement, which was issued yesterday, on the eve of an OSCE meeting on Kossovo in Oslo, Norway.

    United States envoy Christopher Hill is to arrive in Belgrade today where he is expected to present a revised version of his draft plan for Kossovo.

    [17] GREECE OBJECTS TO PROPOSALS OF TRIMMING EU EXPENDITURES

    Greece's Minister of National Economy and Finance Yiannos Papantoniou strongly objected to various proposals to contain EU expenditures for the period between 2000-20006, tabled at the European Union's Council of Finance and Monetary Affairs Ministers (ECOFIN) conference, held in Brussels yesterday.

    It is the view of the majority of the EU member-states, led by Germany, that EU expenditures be trimmed, a view characterized by Mr. Papantoniou, as "a map exercise lacking any documentation and without taking into consideration the consequences which a decrease in the EU's expenditures would bear." He stressed that, given that EU decisions are adopted on a consensus basis, the Greek government rejects the said proposals.

    According to the BBC, the discussion was marked by raised tones and ended in deadlock.

    [18] GREEK FM TO SPEAK AT OSLO SUMMIT ON OSCE'S ROLE

    Greece's Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos is to attend today's Foreign Ministers Summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Oslo, Norway, where the participants will tackle issues such as Kossovo, the fragile system of balances in the Balkan region, as well as the OSCE's future course.

    The foreign ministers will be called on to decide on the formulation of the OSCE's principles, in other word a "Security Chart" which will strengthen the Organization and will delineate its ties with NATO and the United Nations in terms of undertaking initiatives for the prevention and direct address of regional conflict.

    Mr. Pangalos told the BBC that the Summit will feature a "lengthy and difficult discussion on Kossovo."

    He added that OSCE is a useful organization for solving problems and creating a peaceful atmosphere at a pan-European level.

    "It has carried out a role in Albania, (and) it now carries one in Kossovo. I think we need to continue with this role and fortify it," the Greek FM stated.

    [19] GREECE, BULGARIA, ROMANIA TRIPARTITE FORUM WRAPS UP TODAY

    A tri-partite forum held between officials from the Ministries of City Planning, transportation and Environment of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania is to be wrapped up today in Sofia, where it was held under the initiative of Bulgaria's vice president Evgeni Bakargiev.

    The participants discussed infrastructure works that concern the three countries' interests and priorities and examined ways to promote their collaboration in creating the draft plans of motor routes in the region and the trans-European halls 4 and 9 which have proven to be the link between the three countries.

    The Greek delegation conveyed the Greek government unabridged support to Bulgaria's and Romania's aims for accession to the European Union. Moreover, it was stressed that the forum aimed at mapping out a common position for upgrading the Balkan transportation system, as well as its inclusion to the European routes.

    Bulgaria's Transportation Minister Wilhelm Kraus, told the Macedonian Press Agency that the construction of a second bridge over the Danube River is a matter that has already been dealt with and added that it will be built near the city Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria. He did add that the actual construction of the project will depend on its financing.

    Greece and Bulgaria also stressed the need to construct a new Thessaloniki-Sofia motor route linking the two countries, and agreed that, with Greece being an EU member-state, the European Union will contribute to the funding of this project.

    [20] ALBANIA: TENSION MOUNTS AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY ANNIVERSARY NEARS

    Successive terrorist acts in Albania, a mere days following the referendum for the constitution, have further burdened the already tense political climate in the country, augmenting the international community's fears for a repeat occurrence of last year's unrest.

    There was an electrical power failure late last night in southern Albania when a gateway was blown up near the city of Fieri.

    Other acts took place on Monday when unknown culprits threw a rocket at an imports pant in northern Albania, killing one person who was a member of the Democratic Party.

    Political analysts attribute the latest wave of violence to the fanaticism promoted by Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha and expect a resurgence of similar acts to take place in the following weeks as the eighth anniversary since the founding of the Democratic Party nears.

    [21] A 22.000 MEN POLICE FORCE WILL BE DEPLOYED DURING THE GALATASARAY - JUVENTUS SOCCER GAME

    The "Ali Sami Yen" football stadium in Istanbul, where the crucial football match will take place between Galatasaray and Juventus for the Champions League, reminds of a castle today.

    After a Turkish government decision, over 22.000 police officers will be inside and outside the stadium in order to protect the supporters of the Italian team as tensions are high as a result of the Ocalan affair.

    [22] PANGALOS: THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE MISSILES BUT THE TURKISH OCCUPATION OF N.CYPRUS

    Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos in an interview with the BBC stated that the international community ignores for 25 years the military occupation of the northern part Cyprus and now tries to present the installation of the Russian anti-aircraft S-300 missiles as a major political and military issue.

    Mr. Pangalos referring to the United States spoke of a peculiar monopoly of power as Washington has managed to persuade a large part of the international community that the problem in Cyprus is the S-300 missiles. He said that the real problem is that the international community, the United States, Britain, NATO and the EU tolerate a brutal occupation for 25 years.

    The Greek foreign minister denied publications and rumors according to which, there is a difference of views between Athens and Nicosia regarding the issue of the installation of the Russian missiles and characterized them as "stupid".

    In conclusion Mr. Pangalos reiterated that the real problem is the Turkish occupation of Cyprus and the terrible escalation of Turkey's armaments in the occupied part of the island.

    [23] STATEMENTS BY PANGALOS ON THE ROLE OF THE OSCE

    The 7th meeting of the OSCE foreign ministers opens in Oslo, Norway today and Greece is represented by foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos.

    The basic issues that will be discussed in the meeting are Kossovo, the fragile balance in the Balkans and the future of the OSCE.

    The ministers will be called to decide on the expression of the principles of the OSCE that will be included in a "Security Charter" that will set its relations with NATO and the UN, while it will determine the initiatives that will be undertaken aimed at preventing the regional conflicts in the European continent.

    In statements he made to the BBC, Mr. Pangalos stressed that there will be an extensive and difficult discussion on Kossovo but there will also be a discussion on the future of the OSCE as well. Mr. Pangalos said that the OSCE is a useful organization for the solution of problems and the creation of a peaceful atmosphere at a European level, adding that it has played a significant role in Albania and now it plays an important role in the case of Kossovo.


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