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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-08-20
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, August 20, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] TSOHATZOPOULOS ASKS FOR REDEFINING OF GOVERNMENT POLICY
[02] AUTUMN RHYTHM
[03] D. TSOVOLAS: GOVERNMENT HAS SURRENDERED TO FOREIGN POWERS
[04] OVER 3 MILLION SIGNATURES ON THE ID CARDS
[05] PASOK CONGRESS WILL RUN SMOOTHLY
[06] KARAMANLIS: GOVERNMENT SELLING OUT SHIPYARDS
[07] 1 IN 7 IS D.U.I.
[08] TSOHATZOPOULOS DISCOMFORT ABOUT FYROM
[09] SLOW DAY AT THE ASE
[10] CHRISTODOULOS SATISFIED ON NUMBER OF SIGNATURES
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[11] POLO WORLD CHAMPIONS
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] TSOHATZOPOULOS ASKS FOR REDEFINING OF GOVERNMENT POLICY
His proposal for a change in policy to one more beneficial
for the people analyzed Minister of Defense Akis Tsohatzopoulos,
who spoke at a meeting of more than 100 Party friends in Posidi of
Halkidiki.
The Minister gave special emphasis to the reconnection of
PASOK with the social classes that usually support it, through the
redefining its policy. He criticized economic policy and mentioned
problems that are observed in the sectors of health, insurance and
the everyday life of the citizen. He questioned the measures taken
by the government on the matter of unemployment. Aims of the new
policy should be prosperity for the citizens, social justice,
coherence and solidarity. He also made mention of environmental
issues both in Greece and world wide, but he avoided making any
reference to issues related to his stance in the elections at the
PASOK congress in October.
The Party staff members that spoke expressed their intense
problem with the course PASOK and the government have taken, due
to the unfavorable results of the poll, and stressed the need for
the overcoming of this crisis and a victorious result at the
upcoming parliamentary elections.
A radical democratic reformation in PASOK was asked for by
the Foreign Secretary G. Papandreou, insisting on his proposal for
the statute, with which he asked for election of all staff
members, from the president of the party to the members of the
Executive Office and the Central Committee, directly from the
organized base of the party.
At the same time, in an interview with "Crete TV", he
supported that it is "natural on the next day of the congress for
PASOK to still have Mr. Simitis as President".
But indirectly, yet clearly stated that at the congress PASOK
must decide on changes in it's policy. Mr. Papandreou supported
that the congress is an important chance "to give our positions a
new vigor, to compose them, see the mistakes that have been made,
so that the next day we are closer to what the people want us to
be".
[02] AUTUMN RHYTHM
Political life of the country is moving to the Autumn rhythm,
as the Prime Minister and the leader of the main opposition party
have finished with their summer holidays and are preparing for
their appearances at the 66th Thessaloniki International Fair in
September.
Kostas Simitis has a meeting this morning with his close
associates and at midday has a meeting with the secretary of
PASOK's Central Committee, Kostas Skandalidis, with whom they will
discuss the Central Committee's session which is scheduled for the
31st of August. Tomorrow afternoon, the Prime Minister will meet
with a delegation of the Industries' Association of Northern
Greece, in the presence of the Minister of National Economy,
Giannos Papantoniou, the Minister of Macedonia-Thrace, Giorgos
Paschalidis, on Wednesday the government's economic staff will
meet, about the announcements to be made at the TIF, and on
Thursday the Cabinet will come into session on Educational issues.
Kostas Karamanlis has meetings today with his associates in
preparation of his visit to Thessaloniki, the mapping out of
opposition tactics and the situation in the party. Tomorrow he
will meet with a delegation of the Industries' Association of
Northern Greece.
[03] D. TSOVOLAS: GOVERNMENT HAS SURRENDERED TO FOREIGN POWERS
President of the Democratic Social Movement, Dimitris
Tsovolas accuses the Greek Government for indirect but clear
recognition of the State of Skopje, by the name "Macedonia", due
to a peace agreement in FYROM.
"It is clear that the government has unconditionally
surrendered to foreign greater powers and with the foreign policy
it is following, it is placing our national interests in constant
danger", he pointed out and asked for a change in policy.
The Foreign Secretary, Giorgos Papandreou, stated in an
interview with "Crete TV" that the name of FYROM is still pending
and answered the issue created from the signing of a peace treaty
by the EU in the neighboring country:
"The signatures placed, especially that of Mr. Lester, have
nothing to do with the issue of the name, first of all because it
is an internal text between parties, and secondly because he
signed as a witness and not as someone taking part in the
agreement. I clarified this myself with a telephone call I made to
Mr. Solana and the President of the EU, the Foreign Secretary of
Belgium, Louis Michel, both of whom assured me that the European
position will not change and confirmed it in writing in a
statement they made immediately afterwards, where they used the
international term ‘FYROM', a term coined by the UN until a
solution acceptable by both parties could be found".
The Foreign Secretary stated that there would be further
discussions on the matter of the name, after peace and stability
were restored to the neighboring country.
[04] OVER 3 MILLION SIGNATURES ON THE ID CARDS
Over 3.000.000 signatures were gathered on the issue of the
identification cards, according to the Metropolite of Dimitriada,
Ignatius.
As Mr. Ignatius stated to "Flash" radio, the Church, after
the official announcement of the signatures are given on the 28th
of August, will wait for a meeting with the Prime Minister Kostas
Simitis, but hinted at an escalation of reactions in October.
[05] PASOK CONGRESS WILL RUN SMOOTHLY
The vice-president of the parliament, Panagiotis Sgouridis,
is optimistic on the smooth running of the PASOK congress in
October. Mr. Sgouridis stressed that, "the congress will be on
political lines and not a party expurgation", and at this point he
called all those that have a different opinion to get off the
"PASOK train". On the matter of the candidacy for President of the
party, he underlined that there will be only one candidate, and
this will be a drawback for Mr. Simitis, because under other
circumstances his dominance would be impressed on the discussants.
[06] KARAMANLIS: GOVERNMENT SELLING OUT SHIPYARDS
The issue of the privatization of the Skaramaga shipyards was
dominant in the meeting that took place at the offices of New
Democracy, which was presided over by Kostas Karamanlis.
It is noted that in a few hours discussions in parliament
will commence on the relating bill, which regulates the workers'
at Skaramagas shipyard issues. It has been made known that New
Democracy will vote against the bill. In his statements, Mr.
Karamanlis pointed out that instead of the government
denationalizing, it is giving away the shipyards instead of
selling them.
In the mean time, staff members discussing the strategy to be
followed at the TIF, flatly refuted that the rally which is being
organized by the Municipality of Thessaloniki during the Prime
Minister's visit to Fair is being incited by N.D. They also said
that if the party wanted such a thing they would not hide it.
[07] 1 IN 7 IS D.U.I.
1 in 7 drivers in Thessaloniki drives drunk. According to
checks made by the traffic police from the 13th to the 19th of
August on 709 people, 99 were under the influence of alcohol.
Also, traffic policemen noted 866 speeding violations. The
checks were made in the city of Thessaloniki.
[08] TSOHATZOPOULOS DISCOMFORT ABOUT FYROM
Discomfort about the situation in FYROM was expressed by the
Minister of Defense, Akis Tsohatzopoulos, speaking at 27th
International Conference of Military History. The Minister
stressed that if all weapons aren't surrendered by the guerrillas,
a confrontation between the involved parties is inevitable. He
also pointed out that there are misgivings by some NATO members,
among which Greece, on the security of the conditions to abide by
the agreement which was signed.
He also stressed that Greece is watching the situation
closely and asked for other countries to support the peacekeeping
procedures in any way possible. He added that no change in the
borders should be made and that there should be respect for a
peaceful solution and that European powers should only send peace
keeping missions when international organizations have so agreed,
or when the involved parties ask them to intervene.
Referring to Turkey, he stressed that Ankara's course towards
the European Union will be judged by the ability of the
neighboring country to harmonize itself with European standards so
that its unilateral claims towards Greece are canceled and the 27
years of occupation in Cyprus end.
[09] SLOW DAY AT THE ASE
The basic exchange index closed at below 2.700, at
2687,05,with losses of 0,23%. The volume of transaction came to
84,06 Euro, with 116 stocks recording profits, 186 recording
losses and 72 remaining stable.
[10] CHRISTODOULOS SATISFIED ON NUMBER OF SIGNATURES
The number of signatures gathered by the church on the
request for a referendum on the issue of recording religion on ID
cards, surpassed 3.000.000. This was mentioned by Archbishop
Christodoulos on his visit to the convent Anatoli Agias in Larisa.
"I am very satisfied because it is no small thing to
concentrate 3.000.000 signatures from all the people that belong
to the political spectrum. None of these people were forced to
come and sign and this has great and important value", said Mr.
Christodoulos characteristically.
The Archbishop pointed out that until now the Church did not
announce the number of signatures gathered so that they did not
involve itself in political confrontations. "Everything we have
done so far, we have done with a lot of prayer and a lot of
attention because we do not want to disconfirm the hopes of our
people, we do not want to seem thoughtless", he added.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
[11] POLO WORLD CHAMPIONS
The gold medal in the World Polo Championship held in
Istanbul was won by the Greek Teenage National Team, who beat
Croatia with a score of 8-7, and received the gold medal for the
first time ever.
The coach of the team, Tasos Doumpas, attributed the success
to a lot of work, effort and patience from all the members of the
team.
A congratulatory telegram was sent by the president of the
Democratic Social Movement, saying that they gave the greatest
honor to Greece in the sport so far, in an international level,
and raised the Greek flag to the highest stand.
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