Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-07-06
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, July 6, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THE NEW ATHENS AIRPORT IS THE BEST IN EUROPE
[02] THE INTERIOR MINISTER MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF ECONOMIC
IMMIGRANTS
[03] TSOCHATZOPOULOS: NATO WILL BACK DISARMAMENT WHEN CLASHES END
IN FYROM
[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE
[05] REPPAS: THE SCIENTIFIC INSPECTIONS ARE RELIABLE
[06] GOVERNMENT GUARANTEES TO THE OA EMPLOYEES
[07] COOPERATION ON EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
[08] TSOCHATZOPOULOS: RESERVATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF YUGOSLAVIA'S
FEDERAL STRUCTURE
[09] 1ST CONFERENCE OF MAGNESIANS LIVING ABROAD
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] THE NEW ATHENS AIRPORT IS THE BEST IN EUROPE
The new international airport in Athens won the title of the
best tourist airport in Europe just 100 days after its opening.
Athens' "Eleftherios Venizelos" International Airport was built in
the record time of 51 months and already occupies the top place
among 15 European tourist airports, based on an independent
research.
The new airport opened to the public on March 28 and a total
of 1.150.000 passengers had been served by the month of April.
This number exceeds by 13% the Athens Airport Company operational
plan predictions.
A total of 47.000 flights took place in the first 100 days of
the airport's operation (namely, 35.500 flights to Schengen
destinations and 11.500 flights elsewhere). The international
flights alone have served a total of 2 million passengers so far.
Transportation minister Christos Verelis, who is in
Thessaloniki within the framework of the Macedonia Airport
business plan presentation, referred to the new Athens airport and
stated that it will have even greater potential in the future with
the completion of Thessaloniki's Macedonia Airport.
[02] THE INTERIOR MINISTER MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF ECONOMIC
IMMIGRANTS
There will be no extension of time beyond August 2, the date
when the deadline for the legalization of the economic immigrants
expires, stressed minister of interior Vaso Papandreou in a
meeting she had yesterday with representatives of the economic
immigrants in the country.
In the meeting were examined the problems met so far in the
procedure followed for the legalization of the economic
immigrants.
Ms. Papandreou stated that those of the immigrants, who will
not get a temporary residence permit will not be able to stay in
Greece, stressing that no extension of time will be given to the
two-month period that ends on August 2.
Meanwhile, the interior ministry has launched a new campaign
that will target the Greek employers informing them on the tough
penalties in store for those who will employ immigrants illegally.
[03] TSOCHATZOPOULOS: NATO WILL BACK DISARMAMENT WHEN CLASHES END
IN FYROM
Defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos characterized as
positive development the fact that an agreement was reached for a
ceasefire in FYROM, and underlined that NATO will offer its
support to the disarmament putting it at the disposal of the
country's national unity government as soon as the ceasefire
agreement is put into effect and the clashes end.
The agreement concerns the participants, the political
parties and the people in FYROM, and there can be no outside
intervention because we respect the outcome of the domestic
consultations and want to back them, stated Mr. Tsochatzopoulos
speaking in the inter-Balkan conference on the modernization of
public administration held in Thessaloniki at the initiative of
the Association of Thessaloniki's Public Servants Organizations.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos praised the establishment of the
institute for the modernization of public administration in the
Balkans which was founded with the participation of public sector
employees' organizations from Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and
FYROM. He also pointed out that the institute must be backed by
all sides because it is an instrument of cooperation among the
Balkan social movements. Mr. Tsochatzopoulos added that the
principles of equality and cooperation on an equal basis are the
foundation for the development of relations among the Balkan
states.
[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE
Marginal losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange
today. The general index dropped to -0.11% at 2.651.18 points,
while the volume of transactions was at 96.7 million Euro or 32.95
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 145 recorded gains and 148 had
losses, while the value of 82 stocks remained stable.
[05] REPPAS: THE SCIENTIFIC INSPECTIONS ARE RELIABLE
The inspection policy followed in Greece is the toughest in
the European Union, stated government spokesman Dimitris Reppas
when asked about the "mad cow" disease incident in a northern
Greek farm.
According to Mr. Reppas, all cattle over 30 months old are
being examined, while the meat-and-bone meals have been banned,
stressing that all inspections are reliable.
[06] GOVERNMENT GUARANTEES TO THE OA EMPLOYEES
The government sets two preconditions to the prospective
Olympic Airways buyer namely, to protect the company's employees
and the company's viability and development, reiterated government
spokesman Dimitris Reppas commenting on the privatization of the
state-owned airline.
Responding to the question on how the government will make
sure that there will be no layoffs, the minister of press stated
that the government will undertake to protect the jobs even of
those employees for whom the prospective buyers will have no
interest in keeping.
[07] COOPERATION ON EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
A wide cooperation among US, Greek, Turkish and Italian
research institutions aimed at recording the seismic activity in
northern Anatolia, a region expanding from Turkey to mainland
Greece, will be launched this summer.
The goal of the program is the cooperation of special
scientists on public policy issues for the better understanding of
earthquake risk in northern Aegean and the assessment of the
economic and social consequences as a result of a major
earthquake.
The first working group will operate in Thessaloniki on July
30-August 1 and the cooperation agreement will be signed by the
participants in Piraeus on August 2.
[08] TSOCHATZOPOULOS: RESERVATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF YUGOSLAVIA'S
FEDERAL STRUCTURE
The belief that the way, in which Slobodan Milosevic was
surrendered to the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, served a
political expediency and planning that undermine Yugoslavia's
federal framework of operation, was expressed by minister of
defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos in an exclusive interview with MPA
during his visit at its offices in Thessaloniki today. He also
stated that the future of the federal structure of Yugoslavia is
uncertain and this could bring insecurity and crisis.
On the Greek-Turkish relations, he denied the likelihood of
joint exercises between Greece and Turkey given the fact that this
is outside the logic and nature of Greece's relations with Turkey.
He said that many steps must be made in the case of Cyprus to be
able to talk about joint exercises at a bilateral basis. However,
he stressed that already Greece and Turkey participate in
multilateral exercises within the framework of NATO. He also said
that he has not received an answer yet from his Turkish
counterpart Sabahadin Cakmakoglu concerning his proposal for an
open telephone communication between them.
Concerning the threats launched by Turkish foreign minister
Ismail Cem in case Cyprus becomes an EU member, Mr.
Tsochatzopoulos stated that the future of the Greek-Turkish
relations and the Turkish-European relations will be judged by the
violent stances on Cyprus and called on the Turkish side to
improve its stance.
When asked to comment on the situation in FYROM, Mr.
Tsochatzopoulos stated that a couple of days will pass before
local clashes between the FYROM forces and Albanian rebels stop
and then the presence of NATO's force, that will monitor the
disarmament, will be feasible. He also expressed Greece's
readiness to take part in the alliance's force given that the
dialogue among political parties in FYROM will be completed. In
addition, he said that the prospect of the country's constitution
review has a special political importance in the effort to
safeguard a permanent solution to the crisis in the country.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos clarified that it has not been decided
yet where the Greek force will be deployed and underlined that the
NATO force will not stay in FYROM for a long period of time after
the disarmament of the rebels, which is the alliance's force only
mission.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos visited the MPA offices and met with
board of directors president Paraskevas Paraskevopoulos, who
briefed him on the news agency's activities in the ten years since
its establishment, while he also referred to its future plans. He
was briefed on MPA's new activities on the Internet namely, the
first electronic newspaper Hellas.gr.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos stated that the ten-year long presence of
MPA proves that there is a need to be further supported by the
state and the representatives of the local social and production
sectors.
[09] 1ST CONFERENCE OF MAGNESIANS LIVING ABROAD
General secretary for Greeks living abroad Dimitris Dollis
opened the 1st Conference of Magnesians living abroad and stated
that Greek communities can be found in 147 countries all over the
world.
Local administration is the connecting link of the Greeks
abroad with their homeland offering a sense of continuity, said
Mr. Dollis, adding that the state has a responsibility to draw up
a comprehensive national policy.
Magnesia prefect Panos Skotiniotis expressed the certainty
that this conference will become a major cultural and
communication event of national importance.
Governing socialist party of PASOK parliament deputy and
member of the parliament committee on the Greeks abroad, Ms.
Rodoula Zisi stated that the conference is another step toward
achieving greater unity between the Greeks abroad and the
motherland.
Right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy parliament
deputy and member of the parliament committee on the Greeks
abroad, Nikos Gatzis stressed that there is a need to contribute
to the solution of the problems faced by the Greeks living abroad
namely, the preservation of the Greek language, the education of
the Greeks abroad and unemployment.
MPA general director Spiros Kouzinopoulos speaking in the
conference referred to the contribution of the 432 mass media of
the Greeks abroad in the effort to preserve national identity and
resist alienation.
He referred to the close ties of MPA with the Greeks abroad,
stressing that it supplies them with news through its site on
the Internet, the "Greek Diaspora" magazine and the live
broadcasts through the Internet, among them the conference of
Magnesians abroad. Mr. Kouzinopoulos also referred to MPA's
electronic newspaper "Hellas.gr", the first political newspaper on
the Internet.
The conference proceedings will be completed on Sunday.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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