of Olympic preparations is really excellent, and he repeatedly congratulated all Ministers involved in the preparations and the Organizing Committee", underlined Minister of Culture Evaggelos Venizelos.

"I think that Mr. Oswald and Mr. Feli fully comprehended the situation and were convinced that everything is under complete control. Mrs. Papandreou gave answers concerning the Goudi (basketball) facilities, while Mr. Alevras and I explained how exactly we will supervise the timetable of the of the functional and esthetic improvements on the Olympic Stadium, without any problems", he pointed out.

Meanwhile, after yesterday's heavy outbreak of rains in Athens, the Kifissos river flooded for the fourth time in two months, and Minister of the Environment, Planning and Public Works Vasso Papandreou, and Deputy Minister Giannis Tsaklidis, pointed out that the responsible parties will face the consequences.

The river flooded for the fourth time, despite the measures taken, because at one specific point along the river, the parties in charge did not place the sandbags they were supposed to. "Eleftherios Venizelos" airport was also shut down for five hours la st night due to the rain.

In any case, the IOC delegation is completing its bimonthly visit to Athens today. The head of the delegation, Dennis Oswald, will hold a joint press conference with President of the "Athens 2004" Organizing Committee, Gianna Aggelopoulou, regarding the progress of the works.

The harmonized inflation increased by one percentage point reaching 3.9% in October compared to 3.8% in September.

Those immigrants without a passport or other travel documents will be unable to receive the special card and will be deported.

Based on the agreement signed today, the EFG now controls 36.25% of the Romanian bank. For the record, EFG Eurobank Ergasias together with the Portuguese bank Banco Portuguese de Investimento (BPI), which also holds 17%, control the majority of the Roman ian Banc Post. The remaining stockholders are Romanian investors holding 30% and the bank's personnel holding 8%.

Banc Post has about 2 million customers in Romania and controls a network of 126 branches across the country.

The Romanian cabinet reached the decision late yesterday evening and the last details of the agreement will be settled today to formally announce the Rom Telecom percentage that will be controlled by OTE.

This percentage is expected to be at 55%, while it is reminded that OTE already controls 35% of Rom Telecom and has the company's management.

Mr. Protopapas stated that due to the fact that this is a very sensitive period (Cyprus EU accession and Annan plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem) certain moves are likely to be made on behalf of Turkey to turn the dialogue away from essential i ssues to secondary ones.

above were stated by Undersecretary of Education Eleni Kourkoula, responsible for youth issues, speaking to MPA on the occasion of the proceedings of the 6th Meeting of European Ministers responsible for Youth issues held in Thessaloniki.

According to the Council of Europe deputy General Secretary, studies conducted in central and east Europe have showed that only one in ten young people believes in politics and two in ten trust state Parliaments. The majority of the young people in Europ e want to live in a democratic and open society that respects humanitarian values and social justice.

Of the stocks trading today, 149 recorded gains and 151 had losses, while the value of 75 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Papandreou pointed out that there is a huge opportunity for the solution of the Cyprus problem at this moment and the talks held were aimed at the coordination of actions until the meeting in Copenhagen to further increase the likelihood for a soluti on in Cyprus.

Mr. Papandreou stated that he also had the opportunity to discuss developments in Turkey, and the likely date for the opening of the negotiations on Turkey's EU course.

Also, the delegations from ten countries, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, United States and Turkey participating in the conference discussed the issue of the enlargement of the multinational force and the coope ration with EU and NATO organizations.

The next meeting will be held in Rome on December 11 where an agreement will be signed for the active participation of the SEEBRIG forces in peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo in case it is requested by the alliance.

Mr. Simitis stated that Greece wants Cyprus' EU accession into the EU and the solution of the country's political problem adding, however, that Greece will not accept any kind of a solution just for the sake of Cyprus' EU accession. He said that the EU a ccession is a separate issue and discussions will continue until a solution is found to the political problem.

On the imminent visit by Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Greece, Mr. Simitis stated that Mr. Erdogan is the leader of the political party that won the Turkish elections and when he asked to visit Greece the response was positive.

From his side, Mr. Schroder stated that there are no problems between Greece and Germany and the issues discussed in the meeting concerned the European Union and its future. He said that Germany wants the Greek EU Presidency to be successful and added th at Germany backs enlargement. On the issue of the Euro-army, he said that his country agrees with the Brussels decisions, while on Cyprus' EU accession he wished that there will not be any problems.

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