In his speech, Mr. Papandreou referred to the work done by PASOK governments for the strengthening of the social state and committed that he would work towards securing social cohesion, without exclusions or marginalizations of populations.

He pointed out that great progress has been made in the health infrastructure sector and paid special attention to the improvement of the quality of provided health and healthcare services.

According to PASOK"S program within 2004, 10,000 people will be hired in the health sector and by 2006 all healthcare units in Greece will be fully staffed.

Mr. Papandreou announced the foundation of a new university healthcare school outside Athens, and he noted that he will support the institutions of City Health Centers and the family doctor.

For more than two hours, 4 journalists "questioned" President of PASOK Mr. Giorgos Papandreou, President of New Democracy Mr. Costas Karamanlis, Secretary General of the KKE Mrs. Aleka Papariga, the Head of the Coalition of the Radical Left Mr. Constanto poulos, and the President of DIKKI Mr. Dimitris Tsovolas, regarding social policy, national issues, the economy, public administration, and education, in a discussion the main characteristics of which were low tones and strict adherence to the time limits , in both questions and answers. The five thematic section discussions were followed by the questions by the journalists, and the positions of the political leaders.

At the very beginning of the discussion the coordinator, Mr. Hatzinikolaou, expressed a proposal for a public dialogue after the elections, which could lead to, as it has done in other countries, the formation of an independent authority with the partic ipation of politicians and journalists, which would set the terms and conditions for the televised dialogue of the political leaders.

In the discussion on the social policy, health and welfare sector, the President of PASOK stressed that among the Movement's aims is "to bring a doctor close to every citizen", while regarding the position held by Mr. Manos and Mr. Andrianopoulos in 1990 , he replied that he disagrees with many of their positions, but will not label people. The President of New Democracy referred to the gains from the abolition of the prescription measure being proposed by his party, while regarding the securities issue, he committed that he would not raise the age limit or the charges. The Secretary General of the KKE was in favor of a free state health system and in favor of abolishing employee contributions for health, the Head of the Coalition of the Radical Left aske d for the strengthening of a public health system and commitments for - among other things - a trilateral funding of securities, the eradication of uninsured employment and transparent administration of public funds. The President of DIKKI was in favor of

a public national health system and a guaranteed social security system with trilateral participation.

The Cyprus issue was the main point of discussion in the foreign policy sector and all political leaders apart from Mr. Karamanlis were asked about the issue. Mr. Papandreou stressed that PASOK's first concern in the next 4-year tenure would be the resol ving of the issue, Mr. Constantopoulos underlined the need for harsh negotiations on the Annan proposal and noted that the Cyprus issue should not become an inter-community issue, while Mr. Tsovolas was in favor of resolving the issue base only on the UN resolutions from 1974 to this day, and repeated his opposition to the Annan proposal. Mrs. Papariga was asked about the KKE's position regarding the accession of Cyprus to the EU, and she pointed out that her party did not vote against the accession, it v oted against the enlargement of the EU. Mr. Karamanlis, regarding a the statement of a an ND candidate MP on the recognition of the "Turkish Minority" in Thrace, pointed out that it is not up to him to recognize the ethnic minority in the region, when the

Lozanne Treaty mentions a religious minority.

As far as the economy is concerned, the President of PASOK made a commitment that it will be a priority of the Movement to improve the position of low pensioners and people with low incomes, while he stressed the need to attract new investments and furth er strengthen the economy. The President of New Democracy stressed the need to fight unemployment and strengthen investments, he made mention of the "crime" in the stock market during the 1999-2000 period and pointed out that there is a problem of major p eripheral inequalities in Greece. The Secretary General of the KKE spoke of "wild capitalism" and said that Greece has developmental potential, which is however "mortgaged" by the EU. Mr. Constantopoulos characterized the financial policies of PASOK and N D as parallel and pointed out that the economy can handle providing further funds, if waste is battled and if social and ecological priorities are stressed. The President of DIKKI was in favor or redistributing the national income, while he referred to th e stock market issue, criticizing the government, saying that it "robbed" its citizens.

Corruption in public administration and mainly local government was the main topic in the sector of public administration and government. Mr. Papandreou made a commitment to make every possible effort in dealing with the problem of corruption, while he a lso accepted the need for decentralization. Mr. Karamanlis expressed his concern on the issue of corruption and he said that if Greece does not deal with this issue institutionally, it has no future, while he raised his proposal for an independent authori ty for public works once again. Mrs. Papariga attributed the corruption problem to local government, to the absence of politicians, while Mr. Constantopoulos stressed the need for peripheral organization and control. Mr. Tsovolas underlined need for insti tutional intervention and preventive policies in order to deal with the problem of corruption in public administration.

Non-state universities were the "hot question " journalists asked political leaders regarding education. Mr. Papandreou was in favor of non-state universities and stated that we must escape from the uniformity of education and that there must be many opt ions, Mr. Karamanlis underlined that attention must be paid to education infrastructure and to institutional changes in order to decrease the amount each family spends on education and was in favor of extending the institution of all day schools. Mrs. Pap ariga stated that there must be equality for all and that there must be no class borders in education and asked for 15% of the state budget to be directed to the sector. Mr. Constantopoulos asked for a drastic increase in funds for education, 12 years of obligatory education, the institution of general education secondary schools and free access to universities. The President of DIKKI was opposed to the creation of private non-profit universities, while he stressed that "education must be provided to all freely with no obstacles".

Of the stocks trading today, 220 had gains and 63 had losses, while the value of 107 stocks remained unchanged.

At the opening of the debate, television viewing reached 86.3%, corresponding to a total of 3,700,000 viewers. An estimated 50% were over the age of 45 and 25% between the ages 15 and 24.

Most of television viewers were over 45, as one out of two in that age group watched the debate.

New Democracy spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos stated that Mr. Karamanlis responded to the questions made to him using arguments and with complete knowledge of the issues discussed. He added that New Democracy would be happier if Mr. Papandreou accepts to

hold a debate with Mr. Karamanlis a proposal that will be open until next Friday.

According to the statements Mr. Papadopoulos made upon leaving the Presidential Mansion, if the discussion on the first group of issues is completed, the two sides will proceed to the issue of the territories to be returned. Regarding today's agenda, Mr.

Papadopoulos said, "we are continuing on the issues we were discussing yesterday, the so-called first group, and if we finish we will proceed to the issue of the territories to be returned". To a question on whether the two sides are close on the issue o f the presidential council, as so called Prime Minister of occupied Cyprus Mehmet Ali Talat stated, the President of the Republic responded, "I do not know what Mr. Talat said."

Yesterday, discussions were on the issue of the degree to which the state will be functional and the way in which the members of the senate will be elected, while the President of the Republic responded in writing, point by point, to the positions presen ted by Mr. Denktash in the document he submitted on Tuesday night, which the Greek Cypriot side found unacceptable.

According to the available figures, Greece had the highest inflation rate last month compared to the rest EU member states followed by Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg (2.3% each). On the other hand, Finland managed to bring inflation below 1% to 0.8%, whil e in Denmark it was at 1%.

In the Euro-zone, annual inflation dropped to 1.9% in January compared to 2% in December, while in the EU 15 member-states it remained unchanged at 1.8% compared to the same month last year when it was at 2%.

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