Vasiliou.

As Mr. Vasiliou mentioned, during his meeting with Mr. Papandreou they discussed "what the developments will be over the next few months".

"We agreed that there may be some efforts to cause tension and some provocation from Turkey, which we will have to deal with responsibly, seriously, and with determination", he stated"

"Mr. Papandreou", continued Mr. Vasiliou, "expressed his certainty that as long as we remain steady and continue on the way we are going today, accession will finally come, either with a resolving of the Cyprus issue, which we all hope for, but even if t here is no resolving, without it".

Mr. Vasiliou also had meetings with the President of the Parliament, Nikos Kaklamanis, the President of the Coalition of the Left, Nikos Konstantopoulos, the Secretary General of the Greek Communist Party, Aleka Papariga, and the Director of the National

Bank, Theodoros Karatzas.

"The statement of the European Commissioner on the Enlargement, Gunther Verheugen, that the resolving of the Cyprus issue must agree with community acquis, and give Cyprus the potential to speak in the EU with one voice, is an answer to the statements of

the British Representative on the Cyprus issue, Lord David Honey, concerning "two peoples" on Cyprus", stressed Mr. Vasiliou.

He added that Lord Honey's statements "were answered by today's statements of both Mr. Papandreou and Apostolos Kaklamanis, that the only prospect is that of accession of a single Cyprus to Europe, that agrees with regulations and the European acquis".

The Prime Minister attacked New Democracy, accusing it of hypocrisy and a lack of political positions. Answering, the President of New Democracy supported that the government constantly changes its position, depending on how the wind blows.

Kostas Simitis underlined that the securities bill is the product of a dialogue and that the government is setting a law with a 30-year horizon.

"Our positions are in harmony with the social sensitivities of PASOK. The new system promoted by the bill is a triple social contract between the state and the citizens, between citizens of the same generation, and between them and the next generation" h e stressed characteristically, and added:

"The modern social state we are creating in Greece has an all-embracing character, and our difference with New Democracy is that the model of development we are promoting for Greece does not require exclusions, it does not require "human sacrifices" in o rder to function, but enforces the catholic participation of the entire Greek people in the social rights sector".

Kostas Simitis accused ND of irresponsibility and populism, because not only does it not present proposals and positions, but does not even have a clear response. He noted, in fact, that the Opposition took its proposals concerning the securities issues off the Internet, while it did not explain its positions during its meetings with social bodies.

"You mention nothing on the increasing of pensions, trilateral funding, the character of social insurance. It has kept it's positions as a great secret, calling on the danger that we might copy them. But what is there to copy? New Democracy either has no

positions or its positions are unmentionable or lead to the full privatization of social security", stressed Mr. Simitis among other things.

At the same time he called on the Head of the Opposition to come out and clearly state his party's positions, while in closing his speech, he stressed that the government will continue its efforts to win the major wagers for a powerful Greece.

Mr. Karamanlis accused the Prime Minister of ceaselessly lying, while personally addressing the Prime Minister he asked: "What changed in the last 10 months when you supported other things? It requires a lot of nerve to come in here and say that the "hor izon of solution" has changed in 10 months, and the question is: Were you lying last year or this year, out of fear of the social cost? This makes you dangerous".

"At another point, Mr. Karamanlis noted: "We do not change our positions with the blowing of the wind".

In closing, the President of the Opposition supported that this bill is patchwork and the government is moving like a wind-sock, displaying its inability to coordinate, while he revealed that it has no political program nor does it know where it is comin g from or where it is going, and it is showing that it cannot deal with Greece's major problems.

Minister of Labor Dimitris Reppas answered Mr. Karamanlis, stressing that the government has expressed clear proposals with the form of the bill, and added that if ND has no positions, it should not undermine the efforts being made to modernize the secur ities system.

Leading personalities from around the world have been invited to sign the Olympic Truce declaration. Mr. Mandela was honored today for his great contribution to world peace through his efforts for the abolition of racial discrimination.

Speaking in the event, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou pointed out that by honoring Nelson Mandela in essence is honored the humanity's hope for reconciliation, mutual understanding, solidarity and peace.

The reform brings new conditions to the country's taxation system through simplicity, clarity and effectiveness, stressed Minister of Finance Nikos Christodoulakis, who also stated that the presentation of the new measures will take place next month.

Among others, is expected the announcement of the decision to abolish the mandatory tax statements by citizens with an income below the taxable limit.

On the issue of the Euro-army, he stressed that the Ankara Text cannot be accepted, while he stated that Cyprus' EU accession and the solution of the Cyprus problem should not be examined as a "package".

Mr. Karamanlis also briefed the President on his trip to the United States characterizing it as successful.

Mr. Protopapas stated that there are three possibilities in view of the Seville Summit meeting. Namely, to leave the issue of the Euro-army to the Danish EU Presidency, hold an informal discussion, like in Barcelona or discuss it during the Summit meetin g procedures. In this phase, we cannot predict what the final outcome will be, said Mr. Protopapas.

Of the stocks trading today, the overwhelming majority of 235 recorded losses and 64 had gains, while the value of 75 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Simitis stated, among others, that the quality of democracy in Greece has improved but there are still problems in the political and economic power relation as well as, problems concerning the power of the mass media.

The Prime Minister said that the goal is to make Greece stronger and a factor of peace and cooperation. He also added that the efforts made are aimed at creating a more fair society offering more opportunities to the people in order to be able to partici pate, express themselves and affect decision making.

He referred to the contacts he had with the Justice Minister and the Bank of Greece Governor, pointing out that Greece has responded fully to the requests made by the International Court.

Mr. Protopapas stated that nothing has been hidden and Greece's cooperation with the international authorities is very good.

Mr. Papantoniou also had consecutive meetings with the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, Dragisa Pesic, and the President of the Lower Parliament, Dragoljub Micunovic.

"The reason that I am the first Defense Minister to be accepted by the President of Yugoslavia is obvious. It is the fact that Greece strongly supports Yugoslavia's entrance to NATO. We believe that Yugoslavia belongs in NATO, it belongs in Europe. It mu st participate in NATO procedures, which will make it much easier to deal with various security problems or insecurity problems existing in Europe and especially in the Balkans.

Mr. Papantoniou underlined that Yugoslavia is facing very serious security problems, both on the interior and from abroad, due to Cossovo, FYROM, and the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It needs to join NATO", he said.

"There are of course interior problems that must be dealt with, but as I told Mr. Kostunica, Greece will continue to actively support Yugoslavia's course of accession to NATO, and to help it in various ways, for example, with the cooperation of the Gener al Army Staffs and the harmonization of the Armed Forces with European models in effect in NATO", he added.

The Minister of Defense mentioned that he discussed issues of financial cooperation with the Yugoslavians, and specifically, the national plan of financial reconstruction of Yugoslavia.

"What concerns us is that while there may have been significant progress in security in the Balkans lately, there are still pockets of tension and danger, due to various nationalistic tendencies which have not yet been alleviated. All countries, and Gree ce and Yugoslavia, must make efforts to incorporate those minorities into the societies where they belong, so that they stop thinking of breaking away or function in a destabilizing fashion or even in an illegal and criminal way", noted.

Finally, he mentioned that the European prospects of Yugoslavia are directly related to its historic reforms.

"There is a possible change in the Constitution, due to the Agreement between Serbia and Montenegro on a new Federal Joint Government. We will have to see how this political balance in Yugoslavia will turn out, to see which powers will prevail, if they w ill be conservative or reformative, and then we will be able to come to a safer conclusion on how ready Yugoslavia is to speed up its accession process to International Organizations or follow a slow course", he underlined.

The contacts focused on energy issues. It should be noted that the seat of the electricity common market will be in Athens for six months and in this period it will operate under the Greek presidency.

After the contacts of Mr. Tsochatzopoulos in Zagreb it was made known that Greece will back the EU subsidies for the reconstruction of the Croat electricity network restoring the link between the Balkans and Western Europe. Also, it was announced that th e Hellenic Petroleum company will submit a proposal for the purchase of 25% of the state-run INA, Croatia's petrol and natural gas company.

Meanwhile, Croat government officials expressed interest in their country's participation in the extension of the Greek-Turkish natural gas pipeline that will carry Caspian Sea natural gas to the Western markets.

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