Mr. Konstantopoulos made the clarification after the reactions caused by his participation in an event organized by the New Democracy youth movement, ONNED, on the occasion of the Athens Polytechnic School Uprising anniversary where the main speaker was Mr. Karamanlis. His presence in the event was translated as a "green light" by the Prime Minister on the likely candidacy of Mr. Konstantopoulos for the post of the President of the Hellenic Republic.

Mr. Konstantopoulos reiterated his position that the new President should come from the Left.

Mr. Moliviatis will also visit Berlin next Monday and on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Ministers Council he is also expected to meet with his British counterpart.

Diplomatic sources mention that Athens' goal is to make the Greek positions clear to the EU partners in view of the crucial European Council meeting to take place on December 17.

The Greek-American delegation received the assurance that the United States will back the efforts to reach a solution to the issue of the FYROM name within the UN framework and if Athens and Skopje reach an agreement Washington will recognize FYROM under

whatever name results from the negotiations.

In the meeting Archbishop Dimitrios of America had with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the only meeting Mr. Powell had due to the fact that he has resigned, he conveyed the discontent of the Greek-American community and Greece on the issue of the FY ROM recognition by the United States.

The head of the Christian-Orthodox Church of America expressed the disappointment of the Greek-American community for the surprise US decision.

After the meeting, the Archbishop expressed the belief that there will be positive steps and predicted positive prospects for the solution of the FYROM name problem.

The strong winds blowing in the region yesterday forced Mr. Parvanov to stay in the small port town of Ouranoupolis in Chalkidiki because the boats to Mount Athos were not allowed to leave port.

The Bulgarian President was able to depart for Mount Athos this morning. His initial itinerary included visits to the Mount Athos capital of Karies, and to the Holy Monasteries of Zografou and Hilandariou.

the meeting Greek Foreign Minister Petros Moliviatis and his Bulgarian counterpart Solomon Pasi had in Sofia today.

Mr. Moliviatis assured his Bulgarian counterpart that the construction works for the opening of the Dramas-Gotse Delcev border crossing will proceed according to schedule and the project will be ready in the first half of 2005.

Sofia, on its part, proposed the opening of another border crossing specifically, between the Greek village of Kiprinos and the Bulgarian town of Ivajlovgrad.

Of the stocks trading today, 79 had gains and 213 had losses, while the value of 127 stocks remained unchanged.

Responding to a relevant question, Mr. Antonaros stated that the Greek government is not worried about stability in the Balkans after the resignation of Mr. Kostov.

Mr. Spiliotopoulos will meet with his British counterpart Geoffrey Hoon in a working dinner in London this evening, while tomorrow they will hold a separate meeting.

They will discuss defense policy issues concerning NATO and the European Union, the participation of Greece and Britain in peace missions and issues concerning the organizing of armed forces.

Also tomorrow, Mr. Spiliotopoulos will meet with deputy minister Lord Bach, responsible for armaments issues.

in which Greece will bring deficit under 3% given the fact that it was proved that since 1999 the deficit was never under 3%.

According to Ministry of Finance sources, there will be no sanctions or additional tough measures in spite of the pressures expected to be exerted by the European Union.

Greece received a two-year deadline by the Council of the Ministers of Finance of the 12 Euro-zone states, the Eurogroup, to bring fiscal deficit under 3% of the GDP and Greek Minister of Finance Mr. Alogoskoufis expressed satisfaction for the decision.

The Council of Finance Ministers of the 25 EU member states, the ECOFIN, is expected to ratify the Eurogroup proposal, while the new European Commission will decide if sanctions will be imposed on Greece because it violated the deficit criterion.

According to the ECOFIN conclusions, the Greek fiscal deficit was over 3% in the years before Greece's accession into the Euro-zone underlining, however, that the decision for the country's accession into the Euro-zone in June 2000 was based on statistic al figures that were provided by the Greek authorities and were ratified by the European Statistics Agency, Eurostat, based on the then followed procedure.

The Council called on Greece to take all necessary measures aimed at the speedy reduction of deficit.

Mr. Stephanopoulos, who is accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Panagiotis Skandalakis, met with the three-member Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency and in statements he made referred to the situation in the Balkans and the US decision to recognize FYROM un der its constitutional name.

The impression is that the hurried move by the US to recognize FYROM under its constitutional name does not facilitate the efforts for a desirable solution, stated Mr. Stephanopoulos, adding that Greece's sincere intention is for the dialogue to reach a conclusion acceptable by both sides.

On his part, acting Bosnia-Herzegovina President Bosnian-Serb Borislav Paravac pointed out that Greece has played a great role in Bosnia-Herzegovina's way to Europe, particularly when it held the EU rotating presidency. He added that this policy reached its apex with the Thessaloniki Summit meeting.

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