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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2004-03-04Macedonian 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, March 4, 2004 SECTIONS
NEWS HEADLINES[A] NATIONAL NEWS[B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS[A] NATIONAL NEWSSpeaking to Antenna TV this morning he responded to all those who accuse him of being too moderate and not being firm enough. He noted that he has worked with several Prime Ministers in Greece and abroad, and his conclusion was that showing arrogance and boasting is not the model for today's political life. However this does not mean that one must not be decisive, he added and said that he is decisive when he should be. He gave his reassurance that he will be decisive as Prime Minister, on interior and f oreign issues, and as a human being at the same time. As far as how he will govern is concerned, he pointed out that he will not cover up any problems. He characterized the state as a "great patient", which, as he said, does not observe its basic obligations to the citizens, stressing that there must be a drastic decrease of bureaucracy and a resolving of the issue of additional interest. Regarding the broader public sector the President of ND noted that there must be a significant increase in output underlining that there are honest and capable people in all sectors and no one has anything to fear. He accused the government of refusing to investigate 14 complaints in Parliament, although there was a DA's order, and added that corruption and small-exchanges appear when the law is not obeyed and when there is no political will, while he said: "The PA SOK government let these phenomena develop and grow". Finally, he repeated ND's proposal on the formation of an independent authority to check public sector commissions and Public works. The investigation aims at identifying those responsible and ascertaining whether they carried out offense of their own free will. Mr. Papaggelopoulos ordered DA Eleni Sotiropoulou to call the Greek Postal Service employees and higher officials as witness es and the party officials to testify. New Democracy General Director Yiannis Vartholomeos. Specifically, he referred to a statement made by PASOK leading party member Kostas Laliotis last Thursday according to which, PASOK was going to be the target of an attack by New Democracy, the statement made by PASOK party spokeswoman Anna Diamantopoulo u that PASOK was aware of the issue since Friday, as well as Sunday newspaper reports on the issue. Also, New Democracy sources pointed out that the witnesses called by PASOK, based on Theodoros Pangalos' lawsuit regarding the election law violations, are party unionists. According to New Democracy, the evidence mentioned above can prove that PASOK had planned to launch a provocation against New Democracy. Of the stocks trading today, 245 had gains and 65 had losses, while the value of 81 stocks remained unchanged. A total of 201 exhibitors will come from Greece, while 109 exhibitors will represent nine countries namely, Bulgaria, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, the Czech Republic and FYROM. The Turkish participation will be a major one with 64 furniture manufacturers, while the Greek-Italian Chamber will participate in the exhibition with 43 firms. A great number of visitors are expected in the exhibition both from Greece and abroad, mainly from neighboring countries, while it also targets the general public, which will have the opportunity to be informed on new furniture trends. The two government ministers clarified that an arrangement was reached with the Association of Polling Companies to refrain from publicizing information on exit polls' results before 7pm on Sunday afternoon. Both Mr. Alivizatos and Mr. Romeos gave assurances that all necessary measures have been taken to facilitate the voters in exercising their right. All election campaign activity will end at midnight on Friday. The deceased resigned from the Foreign Ministry in 1983 and took over New Democracy's International Relations, while two years later he became Konstantinos Mitsotakis' diplomatic adviser. He was elected Euro-deputy with the party of New Democracy in June 1989 and on November 22 of the same year he was elected vice-president of the Inter-Parliamentary Delegation of the European Parliament on the EU relations with Cyprus. He also served as vice-president of the Political Working Group of the European People's Party Parliament Group and became a member of the Development and Cooperation Committee. Mr. Karamanlis accused PASOK of trying to create phobic dilemmas during the past few days and pledged that his government will be a government of all Greeks regardless of the political party they support. Mr. Karamanlis stated that his priorities will be to form a capable and responsible government, more jobs, convergence of wages and pensions with the European average, support to the farmers and the small-medium sized businesses, equal rights for all cit izens, solutions for the everyday problems and successful Olympic Games. [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWSto find common ground on the time at which the Greek Cypriots should return to these territories. At the same time, Denktash left the stated that discussions may not be completed by May 1, while Washington is pressuring for the accession of a unified Cyp rus to the EU. "The two main opponents in Greece's parliamentary elections, social democrat Giorgos Papandreou and conservative Costas Karamanlis, are also competing in Germany, in order to win every last vote from the Greeks who live here", stressed the publication. According to the website, "Mr. Karamanlis spoke first, in mid February in Duesseldorf, in front of an audience of 3000. A week later, Mr. Papandreou was present, in front of twice as many people in Stuttgart. Now the fight has taken to the skies." As the publication points out, "the two major parties PASOK and New Democracy, aim at transferring 20,000 to 30,000 voters on charter flights by election day, this Sunday from Germany, the country with the largest Greek community in Europe, and other Eur opean countries. This transfer is estimated to cost them a total of 10 million euro". Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |