Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 99-08-05
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, August 5, 1999
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] FUEL PRICES DROP AS STATE REDUCES CONSUMPTION TARIFF
[02] STATE TO IMPOSE FINES ON ILLEGAL BUILDINGS
[03] LATSIS-OWNED EFG BANK GROUP ACQUIRES ERGOBANK
[04] PRINCE CHARLES AND SONS HOLIDAY IN GREECE
[05] MINISTER OF INTERIOR HOLDS UNSCHEDULED MEETING WITH
PREMIER
[06] CIVIL EMPLOYEES PROTEST TO MANDATORY TRANSFERS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[07] T.WESTON NAMED US SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR THE CYPRUS
ISSUE
[08] GREECE, BULGARIA WORK TOGETHER TO COMBAT EPIZOOTIC
DISEASE
[09] YELTSIN IS BETTER KNOWN AMONG AMERICANS THAN ALBRIGHT
[10] DINI REGRETS THAT KFOR CANNOT SECURE PUBLIC ORDER IN
KOSOVO
[11] PAVAROTTI TO HOLD CONCERT IN BUCHAREST DURING SOLAR
ECLIPSE
[12] TWO SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES TO ABSTAIN FROM
RESHUFFLE
[13] TURKEY DETAINS 203 REFUGEES TRYING TO ENTER GREECE
[14] PKK TO CONFORM TO OCALAN'S APPEAL FOR END OF AGGRESSION
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] FUEL PRICES DROP AS STATE REDUCES CONSUMPTION TARIFF
Fuel prices dropped by three drachmas as of midnight
today, a result of the state's reduction of consumption
tariffs in order to combat inflation. The tariff reduction
will be into effect until June 30, 2000.
The Ministry of Development has issued a list of
suggested prices per region, with Thessaloniki and Attica
being at GRD218.7 per liter for leaded and GRD 200.7 for
unleaded.
[02] STATE TO IMPOSE FINES ON ILLEGAL BUILDINGS
The Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works
has ordered the imposition of fines on all illegal
buildings, with penalties ranging from GRD5,000-30,000 per
square meter and in accordance with the category and use of
the said buildings.
For example, the fine for an illegal tourist facility
will be GRD30,000 per sq. meter, while the fine for a
residence will be GRD20,000.
The Ministry expects to amass up to GRD250 billion from
these fines.
[03] LATSIS-OWNED EFG BANK GROUP ACQUIRES ERGOBANK
The Latsis-owned EFG Bank Group has acquired a 50.1
percent stake in Ergobank following the completion of its
offer to the target bank's shareholders.
The offer to shareholders was made through Consolidated
Eurofinance
Holdings (CEH), the parent of EFG Eurobank, which is to
merge with Ergobank under the terms of the deal.
CEH, which already owns 20.57 percent of Ergobank, will
acquire
12,025,000 further shares in order to secure the controlling
stake, the EFG Bank Group said in a statement.
[04] PRINCE CHARLES AND SONS HOLIDAY IN GREECE
Prince Charles and his two sons, Princes William, 17,
and Harry, 13, arrived separately at Athens airport
yesterday evening.
They are being hosted by the Latsis shipowning family
and will tour the Greek islands aboard the 140-meter-long
luxury yacht Alexander, which has 40 suites.
[05] MINISTER OF INTERIOR HOLDS UNSCHEDULED MEETING WITH
PREMIER
The Minister of Interior Vaso Papandreou flew by
helicopter to the island of Sifnos where she held an
unexpected meeting with the Prime Minister Costas Simitis,
where the latter is vacationing.
Immediately upon her return to Athens, Ms. Papandreou
went to the Parliament where the debate on collective
bargaining and negotiations in the public sector is
currently being held.
In statements she made, Ms. Papandreou denied that her
visit to Sifnos was related to a possible government
reshuffle and stated that her meeting with the Premier
concerned the course of the government's work and the
continuance thereof.
[06] CIVIL EMPLOYEES PROTEST TO MANDATORY TRANSFERS
The Civil Workers Union (ADEDY) is holding a 24-hour
strike today, in protest to the mandatory transfers being
imposed by the state on employees.
The Union is demanding that the said clause be
withdrawn from the relevant legislation concerning
collective bargaining which was submitted to parliament by
the Ministry of the Interior. The staff, specifically those
assigned to prefectures and ministries, are also staging a
protest outside parliament today.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[07] T.WESTON NAMED US SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR THE CYPRUS
ISSUE
Thomas Weston, a 30-year State Department official has
been named as the United States Special coordinator for the
Cyprus issue.
His predecessor Thomas Miler has been assigned tot he
ambassador's post in Bosnia.
In announcing Mr. Weston's appointment, the State
Department also assured that it will work for a fair and
viable solution to the Cyprus issue and stressed that the
matter continues to be among the Clinton Administration's
priorities.
[08] GREECE, BULGARIA WORK TOGETHER TO COMBAT EPIZOOTIC
DISEASE
Greece and Bulgaria are to draw a joint strategy for
combating an epizootic disease epidemic which broke out in
SE Bulgaria and has already caused hundreds of animals to be
slaughtered.
In a meeting held in Sofia yesterday by the general
directors of the Greek and Bulgarian veterinary services,
the officials agreed to set up a joint group of experts to
coordinate efforts to curb the spread of the disease.
Although only a few cases of the disease have been
reported in Greece, Athens responded immediately to the
Bulgarian invitation to attend the
meeting.
The Bulgarian officials expressed their satisfaction
over the "excellent" cooperation between the Greek and
Bulgarian services.
[09] YELTSIN IS BETTER KNOWN AMONG AMERICANS THAN ALBRIGHT
Russian President Boris Yeltsin is better known in the
United States than all foreign and many American
politicians, according to a recent poll conducted in the US.
According to the Harris public poll, 69 percent of
respondents correctly replied to the question about his
post.
At the same time, the poll confirmed a distressingly
low level of Americans' knowledge about "who is who" in
their own country and in the world. Less than 50 percent of
the polled know that Madeleine Albright occupies the post of
state secretary in the U.S. administration.
[10] DINI REGRETS THAT KFOR CANNOT SECURE PUBLIC ORDER IN
KOSOVO
It is regrettable that KFOR, or the peace force for
Kosovo, cannot fully secure public order in Kosovo and
prevent persecutions of Serbs, Italian Foreign Minister
Lamberto Dini stated today during a joint press conference
with Vuk Draskovic, chairman of the Serbian Renewal
Movement, who is visiting Rome.
According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Mr.
Draskovic said Albanian terrorists had not been disarmed by
the international force until now and had been continuing
"to kill and rape" in Kosovo.
He laid out to Mr. Dini a plan of forming a provisional
government in Yugoslavia and of conducting free elections.
[11] PAVAROTTI TO HOLD CONCERT IN BUCHAREST DURING SOLAR
ECLIPSE
''It was not at all difficult for me to make up my mind
and come to Romania and I am quite delighted I am to hold
a concert in Bucharest'', the famous Italian tenor Luciano
Pavarotti told the Bucharest daily Ziarul Financiar today.
According to the Romanian news agency Rompress, Mr.
Pavarotti is to hold a concert in Bucharest, on August 11,
the total solar eclipse day.
It was not only this impressive phenomenon that made
Mr. Pavarotti to forego his holiday and come to Romania but
also the fact that "the Romanian musicians are very
talented and generous and the Romanian audience is warm and
open."
[12] TWO SERBIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES TO ABSTAIN FROM
RESHUFFLE
Two of Serbia's parliamentary opposition groups refused
any role in a forthcoming government reshuffle, the parties'
leaders announced yesterday.
According to the French news agency AFP, Milan
Mikovic, parliamentary leader of Vuk Draskovic's Serbian
Renewal Movement (SPO), said: "We made it clear we had no
intention of taking part in any possible reshuffled
government."
The opposition Party of Vojvodina's Hungarians (SVM)
took the same position in an hour's talks with Serbian Prime
Minister Mirko Marjanovic.
"We feel Serbia can only get out of the impasse it is
in through free elections," said SVM President Jozsef Kasza.
Democratic Party (DS) leader Zoran Djindjic was not
invited to the consultations: his party has no
parliamentary seats, having boycotted the last legislative
elections.
Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic's Democratic
Party of Socialists (DPS) announced they were boycotting the
consultations earlier yesterday.
[13] TURKEY DETAINS 203 REFUGEES TRYING TO ENTER GREECE
Turkish police detained 203 refugees, most of them
Iraqis, trying to cross the border into Greece, Turkey's
Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.
The refugees were intercepted by border patrols as they
prepared to cross near the towns of Meric and Ipsala in
eastern Thrace, Anatolia reported, without specifying when
the operation took place. Turkey is a popular transit point
for immigrants trying to reach prosperous European Union
countries.
[14] PKK TO CONFORM TO OCALAN'S APPEAL FOR END OF AGGRESSION
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) gave full backing
today to convicted leader Abdullah Ocalan's call for rebel
forces to be withdrawn outside Turkey.
The support came as the country's chief prosecutor
called today for the death sentence on the PKK leader on
treason charges to be upheld.
In his statement, distributed by his lawyers, Ocalan
had called on PKK forces to lay down their arms and move
outside Turkey's borders in a bid to resolve the 15-year
bloody conflict between the Turkish army and rebels in
pursuit of Kurdish self-rule.
In the declaration issued from prison, Ocalan called on
the PKK to end the armed struggle and withdraw its forces
from Turkish territory for the sake of peace from September
1, 1999.
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