Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-04-06
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, April 6, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TITLES
[Á] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREECE IS EU LEADER IN TRAFFIC-RELATED DEATHS
[02] GREECE LAST AMONG EU'S ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCERS
[03] ND CHIEF RECEIVES REINSTATED PARTY VETERAN
[04] PASOK CAMPAIGNS TO STRENGTHEN IMAGE ABROAD
[05] SLAIN SERB'S FAMILY SEEKS 4 BILLION IN DAMAGES
[06] HOUSE VOTES TODAY ON REVISION OF CONSTITUTION
[07] TURKEY FOLLOWS GREECE'S LEAD ON MINE REMOVAL
[08] GREEK FM IN ANKARA, SEES TURKISH COUNTERPART
[09] TURKISH MINISTER APPEALS TO GREECE FOR EU AID
[10] "CORNERSTONE 2001" GETS UNDERWAY TODAY
[11] GREEK, TURKISH DMs MEET IN FYROM, DISCUSS CBMs
[12] SOLBES CONFIDENT OF GREECE'S ECONOMIC COURSE
[13] COMMISSION OKs ROAD AXIS X UPGRADE PROTOCOL
[14] MOST FOREIGN SEASONAL WORKERS AT EVROS REGION
[15] COSMOTE AND PANAFON: INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF THEIR
SUBSCRIBERS
[16] GREECE RULES OUT THE CONFEDERATION SOLUTION IN CYPRUS
[17] LOSSES IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[18] CONFERENCE ON THE GREEK-ROMANIAN BUSINESS RELATIONS
[19] "17 NOVEMBER" TRACES IN A VAN
[20] COMMENTS BY BEGLITIS ON A GREEK-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER REPORT
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[21] US SECRETARY OF STATE TO MEET WITH BALKAN DMs
[22] THE PATRIARCHATE OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE COPTIC CHURCH
RECOGNIZED THE MIXED MARRIAGES
[23] PAPANDREOU-CEM JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] GREECE IS EU LEADER IN TRAFFIC-RELATED DEATHS
Greece ranks first among the European Union member-states in
traffic-accident related deaths according to a Eurostat report.
According to the report, whose findings are based on 1998
data, 212 persons are killed on Greek roads every year for every
million residents of Greece, while statistics from previous years
have shown that deaths on Greek roads in accidents were
increasing.
The report also found that Greece has the highest number of
deaths in relation to the number of vehicles used in the country.
[02] GREECE LAST AMONG EU'S ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCERS
Greece ranks last among its European Union partners in
organic food production as only 0.4 per cent of the country's
arable land is used for this purpose, according to a recently-
published Eurostat report.
Austria ranks first with 8.4 per cent of its arable land
dedicated to organic food production, while Greece's 0.4 per cent
is well below the European Union's total of 1.8 per cent of arable
land.
[03] ND CHIEF RECEIVES REINSTATED PARTY VETERAN
The leader of the main opposition party of New Democracy
Costas Karamanlis is to meet with recently-returned party veteran
George Souflias today, in order to discuss the latter's new role
in ND.
Mr. Karamanlis had publicly called for Mr. Souflias' return
while addressing the ND party congress last weekend, while
simultaneously apologizing for "difficult decisions" taken in the
past.
[04] PASOK CAMPAIGNS TO STRENGTHEN IMAGE ABROAD
In an effort to strengthen the state's foreign initiatives
and upgrade its international relations, the government is to
embark on a large-scale mobilization abroad, according to the
ruling PASOK party's Central Committee secretary Costas
Skandalidis and the Executive Bureau's official responsible for
the party's international relations Paraskevas Avgerinos.
According to Mr. Skandalides, PASOK's campaign abroad will
start over the weekend and Britain will be the first country to be
visited by a party delegation, which will be meeting the British
government's deputy prime minister, the mayor of London and other
political figures.
[05] SLAIN SERB'S FAMILY SEEKS 4 BILLION IN DAMAGES
The family of Serb student Marko Bulatovic who was killed by
a policeman in Thessaloniki in 1998, have filed a claim against
the Greek state, seeking four billion drachmas in damages.
The tragic incident occurred on a Belgrade high school's trip
to Greece when the 17-year-old student was shot dead by a plain-
clothes police officer Kyriakos Vandoulis looking for purse-
snatchers on a busy street in downtown Thessaloniki.
The police were alerted by a cell-phone call from a woman who
spotted the group of Serb school children, claiming to have
recognized one boy as having snatched her purse with 200,000
drachmas that morning.
The stolen purse has not been found, while the group
organizers said the Serbs arrived in Thesssaloniki by coach after
the bag had been reported stolen.
Vandoulis, a 30-year-old lower-ranking police officer claimed
that his gun had gone off by accident. According to the coroner's
report, however, the gunshot wound was inflicted at point-blank
range and the boy died instantaneously.
In addition to the state, the suit names the country's then-
minister of public order George Romeos and Vandoulis as
plaintiffs. The latter was charged with unintentional homicide and
was sentenced to two years imprisonment. The district attorney has
appealed the ruling and Vandoulis is to be retried in the higher
court.
According to the attorney representing the Serb student's
parents, the monies awarded are to be allocated for the erection
of a church in Serbia and to the survivors of police officers who
fell in the line of duty.
The court's ruling is to be issued three months from now.
[06] HOUSE VOTES TODAY ON REVISION OF CONSTITUTION
The Hellenic Parliament's 300 deputies are to vote today on a
series of Constitutional amendments in a session that will
culminate with a roll call vote.
Ruling PASOK party deputy Evangelos Venizelos has expressed
his confidence that the majority of the parliament will vote in
favor of Article 57 concerning the incompatibility of exercising
one's profession while holding a seat in Parliament.
Regarding the request of main opposition party of New
Democracy, which had called for the postponement of the vote until
after Easter, House Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis stated yesterday
that the time allotted for reviewing the Constitutional amendments
was adequate.
Specifically, he stated that "There is no reason for the
postponement of the vote for after Easter. Behind this request,
there are designs that are not spelled out."
[07] TURKEY FOLLOWS GREECE'S LEAD ON MINE REMOVAL
Turkish Foreign Minster Ismael Cem stated that his country
will remove the minefields at the Greek-Turkish border at Evros,
following the initiative undertaken by Greece on this matter.
Specifically, Mr. Cem stated that Greece moved ahead of
Turkey on the issue of cleaning the minefields along the Evros
River, as it was first to table the matter before the Hellenic
Parliament.
This is a very important development with great and symbolic
significance," he stated.
[08] GREEK FM IN ANKARA, SEES TURKISH COUNTERPART
Foreign Minister George Papandreou, presently on a two-day
working visit to Ankara, stressed that a strong partnership
relation between Greece and Turkey will mean stability for the
wider region and provide a guarantee for mutual progress and
security.
In a joint press conference given with his Turkish
counterpart Ismael Cem upon his arrival to Turkey, Mr. Papandreou
also stressed that a partnership relation between the two
neighboring countries will enable their economies to be
competitive and successful in a global economy.
According to Mr. Papandreou, present-day conjunctures provide
a "historical opportunity for us to create a peaceful future for
the two peoples.
"I am convinced that we have the opportunity to develop
relations of good neighborliness and work for mutual development
and social progress", he stressed, adding that "the message we are
receiving from our peoples is constant and persistent: we want to
be friends, we want to work together and we want to live in
peace."
In turn, Mr. Cem expressed his pleasure over the visit of his
"colleague and friend" and stated that his country is taking
careful steps towards rapprochement with Greece.
He also underlined that commercial transactions between the
two countries amounted to 970 million dollars in 2000 and
expressed hope that these transactions will be improved even more
in 2001.
According to Mr. Cem, the talks with Mr. Papandreou will
center around the discovery of new venues for future
rapprochement, European Union-related issues and means to improve
the climate of détente.
[09] TURKISH MINISTER APPEALS TO GREECE FOR EU AID
Turkish Minister of Economy Kemal Dervis requested Athens'
interception in attaining the European Union's support of Turkey's
request of 12 billion dollars in financial aid from international
organizations.
During an unscheduled meeting held yesterday with Greece's
Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who is presently on a two-day
working visit to Ankara, Mr. Dervis described his country's dire
economic situation
According to reports, the Turkish Minister requested that Mr.
Papandreou bring up the Turkish economic crisis during the next
general affairs meeting of the EU Council of Ministers.
The Greek FM is scheduled to meet today with Turkish Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit and deputy prime ministers Devlet Bahceli
and Mesut Yilmaz.
[10] "CORNERSTONE 2001" GETS UNDERWAY TODAY
The engineers corps exercise code-named "Cornerstone 2001" is
beginning today on the Milot river, in northern Albania, and is
part of the multinational force of southeastern Europe's
activities.
The purpose of the exercise, to be held until July 31, is to
develop cooperation between the engineers corps of participating
countries, as well as the building of a road two kilometers long.
Greece is participating with an engineers company for peace
missions.
[11] GREEK, TURKISH DMs MEET IN FYROM, DISCUSS CBMs
The prospect of establishing new confidence building measures
(CBMs) between Greece and Turkey was discussed between the two
countries' defense ministers during their talks yesterday on the
sidelines of the S.E. European Defense Ministers Meeting in Skopje
|
