Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-08-21
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, August 21, 2001
SECTIONS
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS HEADLINES
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] VENIZELOS: "NEW BALKANS"
[02] PRIME MINISTER OPEN TO POLICY CHANGES
[03] DISCOMFORT ON FYROM NAME & SITUATION
[04] SIMITIS' MESSAGE
[05] SKARAMAGA SHIPYARD CONFLICT
[06] 100 SERBIAN CHILDREN VISIT PRESIDENT OF PARLIAMENT
[07] MITSOTAKIS RESIGNATION A MISTAKE, HE CLAIMS
[08] THE GOVERNMENT'S GOAL IS TO STRENGTHEN BUSINESS ACTIVITY
[09] RETAIL SALES IN MAY INCREASED BY 8.1%
[10] PROBLEMS IN THE OLYMPIC AIRWAYS BUYOUT
[11] BUILDING ACTIVITY INCREASE IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
[12] THE FIRST VISITORS TO "ATHENS 2004" COME THROUGH THE INTERNET
[13] GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
[14] WARRANT FOR THE ARREST OF CLUB MED HOTEL EXECUTIVES
[15] REPPAS: THE ISSUE OF THE ID CARDS HAS CLOSED
[16] THE MATERIALIZATION OF THE GREEK RECONSTRUCTION PLAN SHOULD
START FROM THESSALONIKI
[17] PERSONALIZED POSTAGE STAMPS
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NEWS IN DETAIL
[A] NATIONAL NEWS
[01] VENIZELOS: "NEW BALKANS"
Cultural Minister Venizelos referred to the "New Balkans
2001" events during a press conference yesterday. As Mr. Venizelos
said this program involves 28 program unities, 28 groups of
events, for more than 100 single events which will cover the
broader region of Macedonia and Thrace and many of them have an
international character, at its base, a Balkan character, but not
strictly Balkan.
It is not a character bound to the stereotypes of the
Balkans, through which the West has been raised and through these
sometimes deforming lenses, tries to understand, what happens in
our region, but understanding is not easy at all, when someone is
at the mercy of such stereotypes, he cannot approach a subject
with a real interest and deep knowledge on such complicated
situations as those of the Balkans", noted Mr. Venizelos
He continued to say that the term "Balkan" is being insisted
upon, so as to change the connotations it had in the past and
change the stance all Balkan countries have towards it, shunning
it and avoiding connection with it. Greece, having a Western
tradition from WWII onwards, can use its Balkan culture as a
bridge of peace, a field of understanding, a challenge to overcome
coincidences and situations which are extremely painful
Mr. Venizelos also commented on the matter of the FYROM name,
and on the situation in the country, underlining that the
government's position on FYROM has not changed.
The basic political choice of the government is the retention
of the state's substance and the integrity of FYROM, stressed the
Minister of Culture.
"The basic issue is that of peace and stability in the
broader Southern Balkan area. Unfortunately we have a
transposition, a constant shifting of the war's focus", he said,
adding that the last focus, that of FYROM, was too close to Greece
to ignore.
"We consider that the existence of the neighboring state is a
term of security and peace for the region. We want it to remain as
a whole state entity and all social and national groups to
coexist with prosperity , development and of course their
participation in the happenings which are regional and
international as their target. So we support any agreement which ,
which prevents conflict, prevents war, insures peace and social
peace and peace with the interpolitical concept of the word. For
us that comes first", he pointed out.
Mr. Venizelos stressed that the Greek position on the name of
FYROM has not changed.
"This state is a member of the UN with the name Former
Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia. The intermediary agreement of
New York is still in effect, both the agreement and its procedural
framework", he clarified, adding the priorities the situation
itself imposes cannot be ignored.
"The first priority is to stop warfare, so that this state
does not collapse, that the borders in the Balkans are not
questioned. the constitutional arrangements in the interior of a
state are an issue that concerns that state itself and if that
arrangement is one between the political powers of that country we
cannot hold an opinion on the content or the terms it uses", he
said.
"We are interested in this issue as an international issue,
from the view point of international and regional organizations,
that of the UN, NATO, EU, OFSE (Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe), and others.
On this issue he ended by stressing that there was
international intermediation in the framework of a constitutional
arrangement and that this did not constitute a change in the Greek
position.
"It was an international intermediation, which did not take
the form of a arrangement, but that of a political agreement
between parties in view of reviewing their Constitution. In the
bottom line, the fact that a procedure of constitutional change
might be put into action is something useful, something we need to
keep note of, because it may especially useful in the future", he
surmised.
[02] PRIME MINISTER OPEN TO POLICY CHANGES
"The Prime Minister is open to changes in policy refering to
issues that need correcting", stressed the Secretary of PASOK's
Central Committee, Kostas Skandalidis, in statements made after a
meeting he had yesterday afternoon at the Maximos Mansion with
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis. At the meeting the preparation for
PASOK's Central Committee's session to be held on the 31st of
August, took place. The PASOK secretary underlined that at the
governing party's congress people's problems, the course and the
governing of the country will be put forward.
Although the Prime Minister is ready to make changes in
policy on issue that need correction, PASOK cannot lose sight of
its goals, because that would endanger what has been achieved so
far, so the best combination must be chosen in order for changes
to take place that will accelerate the course of our goals'
materialization, he stressed.
Referring to New Democracy he accused the party for lack of
political motivation, characteristically pointing out: "Each
citizen understands and hears who proposes something to him, what
is proposed to him and what is recommended".
[03] DISCOMFORT ON FYROM NAME & SITUATION
"We've been discovering with suspense after last Saturdays
developments, that the case of Skopje's name has taken a turn to
the worse and is insulting our national dignity but also
historical truth. The Greek and European position with its
carelessness and its compliance and the de facto recognition of
Skopje with the name "Macedonia" discomforts and worries us".
The above statement was made by the mayor of Thessaloniki,
Vasilis Papageorgopoulos, in relation to the issue of the
recognition of Skopje as "Macedonia".
"We call the government to take direct responsibility and to
correct the error made with the recent signing by the European
Union of the Treaty for Skopje, in contradiction to the UN
decrees, which temporarily recognize Skopje as FYROM," he ended.
Distress on the situation was also expressed by the president
of the parliament, Apostolos Kaklamanis, and he expressed a hope
for a final end to confrontations.
"It's a situation which anyone can characterize as dramatic.
I believe that every measure for the safety of the Greek soldiers
will be taken", he underlined.
"The problem has more to do with the character of any peace
force sent there - if there is a final decision to send such a
force. If there really is an order for disarmament or if there is
a repetition of Kossovo, where, really, the supposed peace keeping
force was being used as cover for the smuggling through the
guarded - supposedly, I stress once more - by UCK soldiers zone,
of arms.
At this moment in Kossovo, NATO forces are making the
conflict situation which has arisen in Skopje easier, which
supposedly, with the agreement being made, they wanted to stop or
to limit", he stressed.
[04] SIMITIS' MESSAGE
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis sent out the following message
in view of the 66th TIF:
"Every September Greece turns its eyes to the Thessaloniki
International Fair and appreciates how much the past year has
moved forward, making an account of the progress made in commerce,
industry and economy in general.
In the TIF, economic happenings, not just of Greece but
worldwide, are suffused. The Fair with its events brings into
contact and contributes to the cooperation of productive powers
from different regions of the planet. Powers that are not afraid
of competition, but through which they pursue to better
themselves. The TIF promotes multinational cooperation and
creation, it cultivates and educates in values and principals of
peaceful coexistence, respect towards what is different, common
effort for a better tomorrow for everyone.
The 66th Fair, finds the Greece a member of the Eurozone. In
less than 4 months the drachma will begin to be gradually
withdrawn and give its place to the Euro, the common currency of
the 12 countries. In this new environment Greek economy will face
some of its most important challenges. The aim for real
convergence promotes the content and the priorities of economic
policy in the years to come.
The extrovert orientation of Greek economy and the constant
and greater interconnection with globalized economy are conscious
choices. The creation of a favorable climate for more investments
is , also, a conscious choice. That requires stable conditions,
but also further deepening of structural changes, the release of
the country's productive potential and the strengthening
competitive conditions.
The vivification of enterpreneurship, with motivation for
enterpreneural initiatives will allow Greece to realize the
developmental leap which will bring her to the same level with the
other European countries. In the new international conditions
which are being formed, the roles of state and private bodies
become counterpart. The state intervenes to secure competition,
the eurhythmic function of the markets, but also equal chances for
all citizens. At the same time, it limits the inequities created
by the market and promoted by social cohesion.
Today, Greece is carefully laying the foundation for a self
sustaining development. From one end of the country to the other
projects are under way that make distances smaller, make
communication easier, improve the quality of life, upgrade the
environment, and strengthen the equal development of the center
and the periphery.
Northern Greece has a strong productive web with an intense
export orientation. With works taking place and trails opening to
Central and Eastern Europe, the last few years creative powers
have been unleashed. In the bipolar postwar world Northern Greece
was in the periphery, today it is the crossroads of a region with
vast potential for development.
The vision for a metropolitan-Thessaloniki in the 21st
Century is achievable. It needs work and will. It demands the
mobilization and coiling of us all.
I wish good luck to the 66th TIF and I am certain that this
year's event will be as successful as any other.
[05] SKARAMAGA SHIPYARD CONFLICT
"We must leave the privatization procedure of the Skaramaga
shipyards outside political expediencies and confrontations. And
we must all hope that the competition for its privatization which
is in process will yield results, because otherwise the
consequences will be painful and tragic for the country since they
concern it's development and defense.".
With these words, from the podium of the parliament, the
Minister of Development, Nikolaos Christodoulakis, defended
yesterday evening the relating bill which has undergone harsh
criticisms and disputes from the opposition.
New Democracy, the Greek Communist Party and the Coalition
spoke of shady procedures in the government's approach towards the
workers and the selling out of the shipyards.
These criticisms were caused due to one of the three
proposals being turned down because it did not observe one of the
terms and prerequisites of the competition, while the other two
were under close, detailed and transparent evaluation.
"The government's first and major priority is the immediate
privatization of the Skaramaga shipyards under very specific
circumstances and with such criteria as to gain the place they
deserve in the European shipyard market", stressed Mr.
Christodoulakis characteristically.
With this issue as a reason, the main opposition party
proceeded to an attack on all fronts against the government.
The president of New Democracy, Kostas Karamanlis, spoke in
Parliament of criminal responsibility in relation to the
privatization of the shipyards and appealed the constitutionalness
in an article of the specific bill on Renewable Energy Sources,
thus putting into full effect the aggressive strategy he had
mapped out earlier.
In a meeting over which he presided, upon returning from his
vacation, on the position New Democracy should have on the
government's policy on privatization, and during that meeting the
decision to vote against the bills on the permits of renewable
power source and the Skaramagas shipyards was made. "New Democracy
will vote against the privatization of the Skaramagas shipyards,
even though it is for such an action, because we disagree with the
terms under which it is being done. They are surrendering instead
of privatizing, they are selling out instead of selling", stated
Mr. Karamanlis after the meeting.
On his side the Parliamentary spokesperson for New Democracy
, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, stated that in the case of the Skaramaga
shipyards their is an attempt to legalize irregular offers, a fact
which has other consequences such as criminal, while the spokesman
of New Democracy on this issue, Mr. Karampinas, stressed that the
adjustments constitute a flagrant violation of criminal law since
they favor one claimant, while the competition is in progress and
he spoke of a breach of trust against the public sector.
[06] 100 SERBIAN CHILDREN VISIT PRESIDENT OF PARLIAMENT
100 children form Serbia, which are being sheltered for the
past few weeks in a summer camp in our country, visited the Greek
Parliament yesterday and met with the President of the Parliament,
Apostolos Kaklamanis.
Mr. Kaklamanis greeted the children with warm words and
stressed that they must be strong and contribute in the next years
to the progress of their country.
"You young people, children, who in the years of carefreeness
and playing, for any child, had the misfortune to face
responsibilities, obligations and harsh consequences, have already
accumulated the experience which must guide you, not sooner or
later into this inexhaustible cycle of violence and bloodshed, but
to efforts for peace and communication between all young people
and all people of the world, which will result in the escape from
this vicious circle of violence and blood and the progress of the
entire region", underlined the President of the Parliament.
[07] MITSOTAKIS RESIGNATION A MISTAKE, HE CLAIMS
The statements of the honorary President of the President of
New Democracy, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, during his visit to the
mountain village in the Prefecture of Chania, Palia Roumata to
meet old friends, caused surprise.
Mr. Mitsotakis says he was wrong in abandoning the leadership
of New Democract after the elections of '93 and that, if he had
stayed, he would have become Prime Minister again.
"In my political life I never fooled anyone. I spoke the
truth clearly. What I said I did. When I said that when I would
lose the elections I would leave, I left. Looking back now, I
judge that if I had stayed, I would have most probably become
Prime Minister in 2 years", he said.
Speaking of the developments in FYROM, Mr. Mitsotakis
characterized them as discomforting. "I had foreseen it in time.
But there is always a chance to face them", he stressed.
[08] THE GOVERNMENT'S GOAL IS TO STRENGTHEN BUSINESS ACTIVITY
The strengthening of business activity in the country is the
new target set by the Greek government within the framework of the
economic policy for the year 2002. This priority and the already
expressed position concerning the strengthening of social policy
will be reflected in the new state budget, the basic parts of
which will be finalized today in an economic staff meeting held
under finance minister Yiannos Papantoniou.
The strengthening of business activity is expected to be
underlined both by prime minister Kostas Simitis in his opening
speech in Thessaloniki's International Trade Fair next month and
the responsible government staff. Already, the ministry of finance
is getting ready to table a draft bill in parliament offering
taxation incentives to real estate investment companies, overseas
shipping and business mergers.
[09] RETAIL SALES IN MAY INCREASED BY 8.1%
An increase of 8.1% in retail sales was recorded in Greece in
the month of May, according to figures provided by the National
Statistics Agency. Retail sales in the month of April had an
increase of 7.7%.
The retail sales in retail department stores increased by
10%, while the food, drink and tobacco sales increased by 8.9%.
[10] PROBLEMS IN THE OLYMPIC AIRWAYS BUYOUT
The Olympic Airways buyout faces serious problems. According
to the Athens newspaper "Express", the executives of the adviser
company Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) came to this conclusion
after the first round of negotiations held between representatives
of the Greek state and the Axon Airlines Group.
The same sources pointed out that the demands of the
prospective buyer cannot be met without overturning the terms set
for the buyout.
The deadlock has caused strong concern to the government and
it has not been clarified yet if the prime minister will refer to
the Olympic Airways privatization in his speech in Thessaloniki's
International Trade Fair next month.
[11] BUILDING ACTIVITY INCREASE IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
The number of building construction permits showed an
increase of 8.7% in the two-month period of January-February 2001
compared to the same period last year. The surface corresponding
to those permits increased by 25.6%, while the volume increase was
32.6%.
The biggest increases were recorded in the regions of Athens,
eastern Macedonia and Thrace, central Greece and Crete.
[12] THE FIRST VISITORS TO "ATHENS 2004" COME THROUGH THE INTERNET
The visitors of the "Athens 2004" site on the Internet
reached 2 million in the first two years of the
www.athens.olympic.org web site which was launched in July 1999.
The visitors came from 40 countries and mainly from the
United States (about 700.000), Britain (75.000), Australia
(70.000), Canada (40.000), Japan (30.000), Mexico (10.000) and New
Zealand (10.000). The Greek visitors reached 170.000 and 55%
preferred the Greek pages, while 45% opted for the English pages.
The average visit lasted 8.5 minutes, which is a long time
taking under consideration that there are three years left before
the Athens Olympic Games. The average visit in Sydney's pages
lasted 10 minutes but this was recorded in the last six-month
period before the opening of the Olympic Games.
[13] GAINS IN THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE
Marginal gains of 0.02% were recorded in the Athens Stock
Exchange today and the general index rose to 2.687,51 points,
while the volume of transactions was at 98.2 million Euro or 33.46
billion drachmas.
Of the stocks trading today, 197 recorded gains, while 116
had losses and the value of 65 stocks remained stable.
[14] WARRANT FOR THE ARREST OF CLUB MED HOTEL EXECUTIVES
The Athens prosecutor will issue a warrant for the arrest of
the French executives of the Club Med Hotel in Marathonas, Athens
where a freak accident happened last Saturday involving a 7yearold
French tourist, who was sucked in by the pool's automatic water
recycling system and was killed in a tragic and painful way. The
warrant will be issued in case the two will not appear to testify.
Criminal charges have been filed against the two hotel
company representatives, who have not appeared before the
authorities yet and against the person responsible for the pool
maintenance.
[15] REPPAS: THE ISSUE OF THE ID CARDS HAS CLOSED
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas responded to
Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All of Greece, who called
on the prime minister to review his tactic on the issue of the
state-issued identity cards.
In a written response, Mr. Reppas reiterated that the issue
of the ID cards has closed after the decisions issued by the State
Council and underlined that the people elect the governments and
the Church of Greece has a spiritual and not a political role.
[16] THE MATERIALIZATION OF THE GREEK RECONSTRUCTION PLAN SHOULD
START FROM THESSALONIKI
The immediate materialization of the Greek Plan for the
Reconstruction of the Balkans is imperative to start from
Thessaloniki under the coordination of the Ministry of Macedonia-
Thrace. The above were stressed by Association of Industries in
Northern Greece president Dimitris Simeonidis after the meetings
he had in Athens today with prime minister Kostas Simitis and
right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas
Karamanlis.
Specifically, Mr. Simeonidis stated that such an important
Greek initiative in the Balkans should not be a field of conflict
for the ministries of national economy and foreign affairs and
function as an opportunity for the cooperation and coordination of
the public and private sector.
Within this framework, proposals were tabled determining the
responsibilities of the independent office for the economic
cooperation in southeastern Europe, while it was proposed that the
coordination of the EU initiative INTERREG III should be
undertaken by the ministry of Macedonia-Thrace.
In addition, it was also requested that the clothing sector
participate in the Greek Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of
the Balkans as it is a widely shared belief that it has undertaken
a greater activity in the region compared to any other sector and
at the same time, it meets all preconditions necessary to be
included in the Plan.
[17] PERSONALIZED POSTAGE STAMPS
The so-called personalized postage stamp will appear in
Greece in early September. The new stamps are unique as senders
can have their picture printed on them or the picture of any other
person. The personalized stamps will have the emblem of the Greek
Postal Service printed on their left side, while the picture of
the sender will be on its right side.
Speaking to the Athens newspaper "TA NEA", Greek Postal
Service director Andeas Taprantzis stated that an effort is being
made to boost traditional correspondence in an electronic era in
which Internet dominates.
[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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