50% of the Olympic village is complete and 95% of Olympic projects have been assigned, underlined Mr. Venizelos, while he made special mention to the programme of the Cultural Olympics.

"All criticism, either friendly and unofficial, or expressed in the parliament or through other official procedures, is welcome", pointed out the Minister of Culture.

"Developments do complete justice to my documented disclosure as well as the truth of the evidence and the documents published in the media and turned in to Justice and the Institutions' Committee of the Parliament", underlined Mr. Laliotis.

"He stressed that he is especially happy that Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Karamanlis, as well as some major ND staff members, stated they were fortunate", and he added that the investigation is still continuing in depth, concerning New Democracy's relations t o MAYO.

Mr. Kaklamanis praised the activities of the Euro-American Women's Council and the individuals forming it, in developing cooperation and progress between people, governments, businesses, scientific bodies and non governmental organizations.

The President of the Parliament referred to the cooperation prospects in the region of Southeastern Europe, and he stressed the need to support newly formed republics both in economy, as well as in their efforts to achieve stability in their political sy stems.

"It our vision", stated Mr. Kaklamanis, "to see all our neighboring countries and the countries of our sorely tried region, walk together in peace, creating the best possible future both for present and future generations".

"Today, we presented the progress made by "Athens 2004" in the past two years, to the Union of National Olympic Committees. The National Olympic Committees are valuable partners in the success of the Games. We had a productive meeting and we described th e services we will offer to the National Olympic Committees. We received very positive comments. We have focused our efforts on the functions of the games, moving from planning to materialization. We are going according to schedule in all our programmes. As far as the projects are concerned, the construction of 5 facilities is moving at a faster pace than the schedules foresaw".

"Progress in the Olympic Village is going according to schedule. We have tangible examples of results on volunteerism, the torch race, the tickets' programme, the opening and closing ceremonies, transports and security, where we hired the Head of Securit y of the Sidney Olympics. We are working hard on a daily basis. The personal involvement and contribution of Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, has been decisive in the progress we have achieved. However, we will not relax from regaining the lost time. The 20 04 Olympics will be unique and will meet the expectations of the world sports community", ended Mr. Aggelopoulou.

It should be noted that on Sunday a report of the progress will be presented to the Executive Committee of the IOC.

After his meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Karamanlis stated: "I responded to the Prime Minister's invitation because I always believed and in the need for national understanding, the need to trace a unified national strategy. Besides that is why alw ays proposed the formation of a Foreign Policy National Council. Unfortunately, after the government's refusal on the issue for many years, it is now delaying bringing it to Parliament, despite its constitutional obligation to do so. I also want to point out that national understanding should not take place when the Prime Minister calls upon it only when badly handled national issues lead to serious difficulties".

"Our positions are clear and firm: On the Cyprus issue, its resolving is not a prerequisite for Cyprus' accession to the EU. Cyprus must be incorporated in the first group of candidate countries, during Greece's Presidency in the Spring of 2003. On the E uroarmy issue, the government's negligence - and I may be using a lenient term - has led to the Ankara text. The government's responsibilities are clear and indisputable. We have been pointing this issue out for more than a year. At least now the governme nt seems to be adopting this view. In any case the Ankara text cannot be accepted. So, our positions are standard and we will continue to stand by them firmly and with consequence. Finally, in my discussion with the Prime Minister, I stressed that it does

not suffice to have occasional or coincidental discussions on important issues, because there is a need, and an urgent one indeed, to reevaluate, reexamine the vital aspects of foreign policy".

The President of the Coalition of the Left met with the Prime Minister and members of the Political Secretariat N. Hountis and N. Voutsis. Mr. Konstantopoulos characterized their discussions as sincere and he stressed that deliberation between politician s are always useful, while he repeated his request for the forming of a Foreign Policy Council on crucial issues.

Referring to the Euroarmy, the President of the Coalition stressed that the government must not back down on the Ankara text, while on Cyprus he stated that he must insist on the completion of the accession process, without obstacles and regardless of th e point at which the resolving of the Cyprus issue is at. He made mention of an internationally unfavorable atmosphere, which requires clear positioning.

Mr. Beglitis stated that the United States have submitted such a request in many countries including Greece. He said that the Greek side examines the US demand taking under consideration the country's constitutional order, its sovereign rights and the ob servance of international law.

In the meeting, SAE Presiding Board members will refer to their activities, while they will also discuss the organizing of regional symposiums, culture weeks, and the World Camp 2002. They will outline SAE's plans and programs for 2002 and 2003 and discu ss the issue of the National Fund and SAE's Medical Center, which is under construction in Mariupolis, Ukraine.

Mr. Christodoulakis, in an interview with an Athens radio station, stated that in his meeting yesterday with the social partners an agreement was reached on the readjustment of the state financing of social security funds which was a Greek General Confed eration of Labor request. The minister agreed that a complete study on the social security system must be conducted every five years to determine if there are deficits.

Referring to the erasure of the Social Security Fund, IKA, debts (a package of 3 trillion drachmas), Mr. Christodoulakis stated that this is a very brave settlement because IKA has to make a new start in 2003 without suspicions and new negotiations.

he was called to comment on the Turkish violations of the Greek airspace.

Mr. Protopapas stated that Greece should be focused on its main goal namely, the solution of the Cyprus problem based on the UN decisions and Cyprus' EU accession course.

In October 2001, Athens prosecutor Mr. Gerakis launched legal action against Mr. Horomidis and the rest 6 members of the "Land Register Ltd" Board of Directors. The seven were accused of misconduct toward the Greek State when an EU document on the course

of the work for the drawing-up of the national land register was made public.

According to the appeal made by Mr. Horomidis to the European Court for Human Rights, about 8 months after the charges were brought against him he was still not called to testify before a magistrate and as a result he is defamed and a charge is hanging o ver him.

Mr. Vougias stated that he will keep his 1998 municipal election campaign title "Thessaloniki a Humane City".

In a press conference he gave today, he stated that in a month he will resign from the post of the Undersecretary of Transportation and by mid June he will present the main core of his ballot in a special event.

Of the stocks trading today, 66 recorded gains and the overwhelming majority of 250 had losses, while the value of 57 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Simitis referred to three issues, Cyprus' EU accession, the solution of the Cyprus problem and the settlement of issues in the EU and NATO, such as the Euro-army, pointing out the necessary preconditions are here for final decisions.

On Cyprus' EU accession course, Mr. Simitis stated that the governing Socialist Party of PASOK has made a big effort to reach the point it is today and reminded the Helsinki decisions. On the solution of the Cyprus problem, he said that it is at a turnin g point and that he has noticed maneuvering on behalf of the Turkish and the Turkish Cypriot side. On the Euro-army, he said that the issue concerns the framework of cooperation between the European Union and NATO, while he reiterated Greece's opposition to the Ankara Text.

Mr. Papandreou, who is on a visit to the United States, presented the Greek objections to the contents of the agreement on the Euro-army, while he also referred to the efforts made by the Spanish EU Presidency to reach a compromise solution.

They discussed the latest developments in the Cyprus issue after the visit of UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to Nicosia, while they also exchanged views on bilateral cooperation in the efforts against international terrorism.

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