all parties, stated Minister of Health Costas Stefanis, in view of today being the international day against drugs.

According to statements made to the MPA by the President of the II Regional Health System, Constantinos Kallergis, the patient's fever dropped this morning and his health has improved, and he pointed out that after the negative test result from the Germa n medical center, the patient will remain quarantined for another 15 days so that all medical tests are carried out.

The adjustment of Europe to the American imperial dogmas and its participation in their warmongering plans, was marked at the meeting between the leaders of the EU and the US, pointed out President of the Coalition of the Left Nikos Constantopoulos.

The Coalition will raise the issue of the agreement that was signed between the EU and the US for discussion in Parliament on Monday, and Mr. Constantopoulos made the following statement:

"Mr. Bush is enforcing himself as a triumphant emperor, the EU is sacrificing its democratic values and its institutional culture to appease him and the Greek government, through Mr. Simitis, is being transformed into an entity eager to carry out facilit ations demanded by the new world order, despite the opposition of all the peoples of Europe and in contempt of all their historic and intellectual achievements.

Mr. Loverdos maintained that this way the people from the Bitola region, who are interested in having a visa issued, will avoid visiting the Greek embassy in Skopje.

The decision was reached in response to a demand expressed by Prefect of Kilkis, Mr. Evangelos Balaskas. Mr. Balaskas made it known that the people of FYROM have a hard time visiting Kilkis and its local markets, as opposed to the past, stressing that th e visitors from FYROM were giving a considerable boost to the region's economic development.

Disappointment is expressed in the letter sent to Mr. Burns on the decision reached by the US and other states to proceed with a formal action through the World Trade Organization, WTO, against the existing suspension of moves aimed at the approval of ne w GMOs in the EU.

In the letter it is stressed that an effort is being made in Europe to develop a policy that will respect consumers and their ecological concerns, while it will help consumers be well-informed about the food they buy. The goal of the action undertaken is

to force the EU to follow the same policies on genetically modified organisms which are in effect in other countries and this cannot be accepted, concludes the letter.

Of the stocks trading today, 103 recorded gains and 200 had losses, while the value of 73 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Papantoniou stated after the meeting that Greece regards the cooperation with Russia in the sector of defense as very important, using as an example the Russian weapons systems Greece has purchased in the past five-year period.

On her part, Mrs. Matvienko expressed the certainty that the Greek-Russian relations will continue to develop positively in the economic, political and military-technical fields.

The initiative rejects the mercy killing of animals.

It is made up of three stages: the collection of strays from the wider Athens region, their vaccination and sterilization. The healthy, vaccinated and sterilized strays will be returned to their natural environment to the areas from where they were colle cted.

Mr. Simitis noted that the Cyprus issue was discussed at the Summit. According to the Prime Minister, he pointed out to President Bush that they should move to discussions based on the plan of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, on which there must be c ertain negotiations and adjustments, because Cyprus is the future of the EU. He also added that Mr. Bush recognized that the Turkish side must change its position.

Mr. Simitis referred to the contribution of the Greek Presidency to overcoming the crisis in EU-US relations due to the war in Iraq.

He also added that the world after the war in Iraq is not safer, stressing that certain problems have been solved, but others have been created. "There are always dangers and that is why it is our obligation to fight them", he mentioned.

Furthermore, he appreciated that there will be a solution on the issue of the Joint Agricultural Policy.

When asked if he will apply the "recipe" of the Greek Presidency on the interior of the country, Mr. Simitis noted: "I do not understand how I am alright when I cross the border, and terrible when I return to Greece".

In ending, he noted that after the end of the Greek Presidency he will concentrate on the interior of the country. "Six months are enough. I have been abroad for at least 3 months. I am the Prime Minister of Greece and I must work on my country with my a ssociates. The government worked hard on its goals for 6 months and must turn back to interior matters", he underlined.

The agreements foresee that the crimes a citizen can be extradited for will not be set on a specific list. The state receiving the extradition request can refuse it, both due to bilateral agreements, and due to its own principles of law.

If a state receives multiple extradition requests for the same person, it has a choice regarding which it will respond to.

Also, a citizen cannot be extradited to a country where the death penalty is in effect, while it is the first time that broad protection of citizens' personal information will be provided.

Based on the agreements, extradition procedures are sped up, as many bureaucratic obstacles are being removed.

After many months of negotiation, certain US requests were not incorporated in the agreements, such as the extradition of native citizens of a country for crimes committed in their own country (although foreigners committing crimes outside the EU and lat er located in the Union will be extradited), extradition for political crimes and crimes that are covered by the statue of limitations.

Specifically regarding the citizens of Greece, Government Spokesperson Christos Protopapas pointed out that the extradition agreement is not bilateral between Greece and the US, but applies to EU-US relations, and will thus not be ratified by the Parliam ent.

The Government Spokesperson also added that this EU-US agreement will create no problems for Greek citizens because the agreement of 1932 is still in effect, according to which Greece has the choice of not extraditing a foreign citizen to the US if he is

threatened with the death penalty.

were in fact certain benefits for Greek agricultural production.

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