PASOK's conference, in discussions with the journalists accompanying him on his five-day tour, Mr. Papandreou appeared to be determined on carrying out radical changes within PASOK and the political system, and stated that he was ready to honor his polit ical history and succeed in the mission he has undertaken.

After the meeting, Mr. Karamanlis stated that they had a very interesting discussion with Mr. Boutros-Ghali characterizing him as an old friend of Greece.

He said that they discussed a number of issues, among them, the need for a concrete Mediterranean policy on behalf of the EU as well as, issues concerning the Middle East and Cyprus. Mr. Karamanlis stated that Mr. Bouitros-Ghali had handled the Cyprus is sue for many years and made many efforts for the solution of the political problem on the island.

Mr. Karamanlis invited Mr. Boutros-Ghali attend the Athens Olympic Games in August.

evidence backing the news report. He added that everything took place in total openness in accordance with the existing regulations urging those who have evidence to the opposite to present it to justice.

However, the government spokesman stated that there is an attempt to create a climate of scandal-talk and added that those attempting to revive the 1989 climate will not succeed and will be led to a dead end.

Of the stocks trading today, 135 had gains and 149 had losses, while the value of 99 stocks remained unchanged.

Indicative of the dominating climate are the conclusions of a research conducted by the "Interview" polling company on behalf of the newspaper "Thessaloniki" on a sample of 500 jobless.

Responding to the question which party can more effectively deal with the problem of unemployment, 17.8% backed the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, and 15.1% the governing Socialist Party of PASOK, while 42.7% responded that no politic al party can deal effectively with the problem. A 10.4% of those questioned responded that another political party could find answers to the problem.

Of those questioned, 45.4% responded that they are jobless for more than a year, 47.3% believe that privatization will create new job positions, while 64.1% stated that the reduction of the employers' contribution to the Social Security Fund could help l imit unemployment.

Referring to the problem of unemployment, Mr. Karamanlis pledged to promote a new economic policy for a speedier and more dynamic development, accompanied by measures for the support of the unemployed.

Speaking about education, Mr. Karamanlis stated that the basic goal of New Democracy is the upgrading of public universities, the founding of non-state, non-profit universities, the upgrading of technological education and the evaluation of educational p rograms of studies and books.

He also referred to the changes he intends to make in the armed forces, their structure and operation, aimed among others, at reducing the military service time to gradually drop to 6 months starting in 2005.

Mr. Tsochatzopoulos stated that he intends to bring his case before the German Justice because the news report includes arbitrary and unfounded references to his name, hurting him and the government's institutional procedures of operation as well as the Greek armed forces.

The measures include, among others, taxation cuts by 5% for small and medium sized businesses, taxation cuts for urban and rural co-operatives and simplification of the taxation situation for small and medium sized businesses.

Mr. Papandreou also referred to the scandal-talk of the past few days, stressing that it is an obstacle to the country's economic development.

He underlined that the economic policy that will be followed by PASOK will be based on high development rates, attraction of foreign investments, lowering of unemployment and strengthening of the competitiveness of the Greek economy.

During his speech Mr. Magriotis noted, among others :

"Cyprus's accession into the EU is positive evidence of the legitimate policies followed by the governments of Greece and Cyprus. Until yesterday, we spoke of national wounds and problems and today we have national successes. The future of the security a nd prosperity of Cyprus is within Europe. Cyprus should be integrated into all European institutions."

Answering journalist questions regarding the latest mobility of the Cyprus issue, Mr. Magriotis called the Turkish side to stop its ambiguous statements and to commit in order to solve the political problem of the island, while he also noted that the Gre ek and Cypriot side should continue the same policy.

"George Papandreou, who began this policy, is the person who, as Prime Minister in 2004, could seal the course for the solution of the political problem of Cyprus," concluded Mr. Magriotis.

Earlier the deputy Foreign Minister met with the Justice and Public Order Minister of Cyprus, Mr. Doros Theodorou, and discussed the problems of the repatriates and their integration procedure in the society of Cyprus among other issues.

Tomorrow Mr. Magriotis will hold meetings with Interior Minister Mr. Christou and the parliament President Mr. Christofias, as well as with the leaderships of other political parties.

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