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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2003-10-16Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY Thessaloniki, October 16, 2003 SECTIONS
NEWS HEADLINES[A] NATIONAL NEWS[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS[A] NATIONAL NEWSasked for the intervention of the Prime Minister during her eulogy, while he stated that the civil servant had been pressured to sign the recent demolition suspension. will be carried out with international and open procedures, with offers being made. Meanwhile, the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses was questioned by defense attorney for "17 November" suspect member Vassilis Jorjatos, Costas Papadakis, during his long closing statement in the trial of the 19 "17N" terrorist organization suspe ct members. Mr. Margaritis asked Mr. Papadakis to sum up, as it is the fourth day of his closing statement, pointing out that there are other defendants waiting to be heard. Mr. Papadakis questioned the credibility of the witnesses who recognized Vassilis Jorjatos as a culprit in certain "17N" actions, specifically the rocket attack against former Minister of Finance Ioannis Paleokrassas. Also, according to Mr. Papadakis, Savvas Xeros confessions as far as his client is concerned, are completely vague, and do not mention what role it is that Jorjatos allegedly had in "17 November". In fact, he characterized Savvas Xeros' confessions as th e product of pressures and torture while in the custody of the counter-terrorist service. PAOK qualified for the second round of the UEFA Cup in seven minutes, as Giasemis, Koutsis and Vokolos scored three goals from 53'-60' in the game against Lyn in Oslo. PAOK will be among the "powerful" teams, so a strong opponent is expected in the next round, and will be announced next Friday. The goal of Giannis Lazanas in the 86th minute of the game against Zimbru Chisinau gave victory to Aris, and the ticket to the next round of the Cup. Zimbru scored the first goal at 19' with Sisselof, while Aris tied the game at 44' with a header from Ko ltsidas. Panionios had their work cut out for them and only managed to score in the last minute of overtime, which however was enough in combination with the 2-1 score of the first game, for the team of Nea Smyrni to qualify for the next round. According to figures given today to publicity by the European Statistics Agency, Eurostat, inflation increased in September by 0.3% at a monthly basis. Of the stocks trading today, the overwhelming majority of 228 recorded losses and 80 had gains, while the value of 76 stocks remained unchanged. Thousands of airline passengers were to travel via the airports of Thessaloniki, Kavala, Rhodes and Karpathos, according to information coming from the company Plotin that represents the German airline in Greece. "Aero Lloyd" had a fleet of 21 airplanes that flew to 60 destinations in 13 countries, among them Greece. Mr. Kaklamanis stated that Mr. Garganas briefed him on the steps made by the Bank of Greece to help in the efforts for stability, economic development and lower inflation. The Bank of Greece Governor expressed optimism stating that in spite of the slow recovery worldwide, Greece had a growth rate of 4% for the fourth year in a row. He also expressed the view that the Greek economy will not be affected negatively as a resul t of the pre-election period. Mr. Garganas expressed concern regarding inflation, which is on the decline but nonetheless continues to be high. He also expressed concern on the public deficit, pointing out, however, that it is encouraging that there was some progress made, adding tha t there is optimism because the efforts made managed to bring it down to 1.2% from 1.4%. [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWSThe Prime Minister stated on the talks he had with his Turkish counterpart Mr. Erdogan that they focused on the imminent visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to Athens on October 21 and the intention to have improved mutual visits. At this point, Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou clarified that the imminent visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Greece should not be associated with any change of framework in the relations between Greece and Turkey and underlined that the talk over trilateral meetings is unfounded. Referring to the meeting he had with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr. Simitis pointed out that he raised to him the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. The Prime Minister stated that the Middle East problem and the situation in Iraq were discussed in the Brussels Summit. He said that it was pointed out that the UN Secretary General role in Iraq should be strengthened and characterized the situation in t he Middle East as chaotic, while he gave the assurance that Greece will not participate in military operations in Iraq. On the German Chancellor's decision to ask the French President to represent him in the Summit, Mr. Simitis stated that this move reflects the good cooperation between France and Germany and its nature is more of a symbolic one, given the fact that the r epresentation will be made in the discussions over the conclusions reached. Mr. Simitis also mentioned that Greece participates in the working group that examines the issues of the European Headquarters and European defense. Presenting in detail Greece's positions in the European Constitution debate, the Prime Minister mentioned that Greece is in favor of a larger than six months European Council Presidency term and also, in favor of the European Commission proposals on the Council's composition and operation. He also pointed out that all the EU members should participate in the EU Presidency, while in the secondary councils a group presidency, made up of three member-states, should be adopted. Mr. Simitis stressed that Greece supports the system of double majority because this way the majority of the member-states and the majority of the EU population will be able to express their views. On the revision of the Constitution, he said that the EU should not depend on a unanimous agreement and a way should be found allowing adjustments to be made more easily. Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |