Mr. Papantoniou stressed that Greece will not budge from its current position concerning the Ankara text. "Our position was clarified once more and it was mentioned that there is a procedure moved by Mr. Solana, the Spanish Presidency, with the participa tion of Greece and other countries, and that Greece is participating in a constructive manner, taking our basic position - that we do not accept the Ankara text as it stands - into consideration", stressed Mr. Papantoniou.

Today, Mr. Apostolidis will meet with the Committee of Foreign Policy - National Security and Defense of the Bulgarian Parliament, while he will have discussions at the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense. In the afternoon he will attend a special event organi zed by the Greek community there.

Tomorrow, Mr. Apostolidis will go to the Foreign Ministry, where he will meet with the Deputy Minister, Petko Draganov, and he will then leave for Plovdiv, in order to meet the seat of the Brigade of SE Europe.

with Libya.

According to information published in the "Imerisia" newspaper today, the Prime Minister is not very optimistic on the Cyprus issue, while he will have another meeting with President Cleridis after the Annan visit, in order to discuss further moves. Ther e is major concern on the Euroarmy issue as well, while it is not out of the question for a veto to be used at the EU Summit Meeting in Seville, if the Spanish Presidency eventually brings the plan in for discussion.

Following the recent visit of Minister of National Defense Giannos Papantoniou to London, he believes that England will continue to be uncompromising, as it has connected Athens' position to armament, where Athens is submitting neither to Blair's demands , nor those England's military industry.

There is also skepticism concerning the priorities of the Greek EU Presidency, which must be submitted to Brussels by the end of May. "The correlation to Europe was different when we were planning our priorities, and they are different now", state govern ment sources characteristically.

Production in the manufacturing sector dropped by 2.7%, while industrial production in the first two months of the current year recorded an average decline of 1.3%.

For the record, retail sales in January had increased by 8.4%, while the average increase in the first two months of 2002 was at 8.9%.

Mr. Magriotis will meet with the leadership of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries to examine issues like the Middle East, bilateral relations, Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and current international developments.

The Greek Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs will also meet with representatives of the Greek communities in Tunisia and Libya and attend Greek cultural events.

Based on the figures provided by the Ministry of Finance, public revenues increased in the first four months of the current year by 5.3% compared to the annual target of 6.1%.

The Greek government spokesman stated that the Greek position on the Euro-army is firm, adding that it is a matter that concerns the EU-NATO relations and it is not just a bilateral problem.

Of the stocks trading today, 244 recorded gains and 70 had losses, while the value of 59 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Protopapas stated that Greece is a European Union member and respects the EU decisions.

Mr. Protopapas expressed guarded optimism concerning Mr. Anan's visit and referred to the negative statements that were made by Turkish officials regarding Cyprus' EU accession course. He said that Turkey's intransigence continues and will hinder conside rably Cyprus' European course.

Turkey must reconsider its position and abandon its intransigent policy realizing that its wish to follow a European course is in contrast with such positions and views, said Mr. Protopapas.

The Greek government spokesman reiterated that Greece will remain firm in its position for a viable and fair solution to the Cyprus problem within the framework of the UN decisions.

The priority axes that will be covered by Interreg III concern transportation infrastructures, economic development and employment, quality of life, environment, culture and technical support.

Metropolite Savva referred to the position of the Christian Orthodox Church in Poland which numbers a total of 600.000 faithful in a country where the overwhelming majority of the population is Roman Catholic.

The head of the Greek Christian Orthodox Church underlined that there are certain circles in Greece seeking the Church-State separation. He stressed that the Greek people will be the losers in such a case and for this reason the Church of Greece will con tinue to resist and raise obstacles to such designs.

Metropolite of Warsaw stated that the separation of the Church from the State should never be allowed in Greece because the Greek people have a special relation with the Church.