concerning the EU.

Mr. Dimas ruled out the likelihood of early retirement saying that the tendency in the EU is quite the opposite and denied that Greece is in a difficult position as a result of the fiscal data records, while he characterized as reasonable and expected fo r the Greek government to brief the EU on the course of the state budget.

Greek governing party of New Democracy Euro-deputy Ioannis Varvitsiotis stated after the meeting he had with Mr. Karamanlis that the after-clap of the fiscal data case is not as strong as it appears to be in Greece.

The road to heal the wounds and transcend the passions and mistakes of the past, first of all, passes through the creation of a strong basis of communication, dialogue and trust between us, underlined Minister of State and government spokesman Thodoris R ousopoulos in his message to the ABNA General Assembly.

Greece wants to contribute with all its powers to the European integration of the Balkans, stated Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Nikos Tsiartsionis during the dinner he gave in honor of the ABNA members General Directors.

In the General Assembly proceedings that took place this morning they decided the creation of an ABNA portal on the Internet to present all the news agencies in Southeastern Europe and the establishment of annual prizes for journalists who help with thei r news reports in the efforts for the development of inter-Balkan cooperation, peace and security in the region.

In the opening of the meeting messages were read sent by Minister of State and government spokesman Thodoris Rousopoulos and Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Christos Folias, while a special reference was made to the meeting Minister of Macedonia-T hrace Nikos Tsiartsionis had yesterday with the members of ABNA and the dinner he gave in honor of the ABNA officials.

MPA General Director and ABNA General Secretary Mr. Spiros Kouzinopoulos addressed the members of ABNA and stated, among others, that in the 10 years since its founding ABNA has managed to survive in spite of the difficulties it faced from time to time. He said that ABNA promotes the high goals it has set from the beginning and its basic vision was to erase the boundaries of information.

Referring to the work done in the 10 years of ABNA's operation, Mr. Kouzinopoulos stressed that it did a significant work in the efforts against nationalism, xenophobia and racism.

Albanian News Agency General Director Frrog Cupi stated that ABNA played a leading role in pluralistic information and Balkan cooperation, mainly between the region's mass media, a fact that is recognized by the governments and the region's institutions.

Bulgarian news agency, BTA, General Director Maxim Mintchev pointed out the need to strengthen the role of ABNA through joint activities, while Turkish news agency Anadolu deputy General Director Elvan Baransel underlined the decisive role of the Associa tion in erasing anachronistic points of view from the mass media and its contribution to the consolidation of peace in the region.

Athens News Agency, ANA, Editing Director Nikolaos Voulelis conveyed the messages of outgoing General Director and new President and General Director, Andreas Christodoulidis and Giorgos Tabakopoulos respectively, observing that ABNA is a very good mecha nism of cooperation between news agencies, mass media and the peoples in Southeastern Europe.

ABNA's decisive role to the development of information in the Balkans and the peaceful cohabitation of the peoples, underlined FYROM news agency deputy General Director Djeljal Zejmeli.

The Bosnian News Agency will take over the ABNA Presidency next year and its General Director Milos Solaja praised ABNA's role and that of the Thessaloniki-based General Secretariat.

The representatives of the Balkan news agencies elected unanimously MPA General Director Spiros Kouzinopoulos to the post of the General Secretary recognizing his personal contribution and the news agency's given the fact that the Association was founded

at its initiative.

The road to heal the wounds and transcend the passions and mistakes of the past, first of all, passes through the creation of a strong basis of communication, dialogue and trust between us, underlined Minister of State and government spokesman Thodoris R ousopoulos in his message to the ABNA General Assembly.

Greece wants to contribute with all its powers to the European integration of the Balkans, stated Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Nikos Tsiartsionis during the dinner he gave in honor of the ABNA members' General Directors. In his message stressed, among ot hers, that the Balkan news agencies played a decisive role in the creation of a new environment in the region within the framework of the European integration, stressing that the timely, reliable and objective information, for which the Balkan news agenci es work every day, contribute to the cooperation and development in the region.

Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Christos Folias underlined that the news agencies and mass media in the region play the role of a catalyst in the promotion of the respect of political, cultural and religious diversity of different peoples.

He made the statement when he was asked to comment on the decision by the Municipality of Skopje, FYROM to erect statues of Alexander the Great, Justinian and King Phillip in Skopje and Bitola.

Regarding the statement made by Minister of Tourism Dimitris Avramopoulos on the issue of the Patriarchate, Mr. Rousopoulos pointed out that one of the issues that concern the EU is the respect of religious rights, which is a precondition for a country t o become a member of the EU.

Bilateral agreements will be signed during the visit of the Greek Prime Minister to the country.

The visit constitutes an important milestone in the long course of bilateral cooperation and aims at the further improvement of bilateral relations for the benefit of both countries and both peoples, said Mr. Rousopoulos, adding that Greece strongly supp orts Russia's relations with the EU.

Of the stocks trading today, 141 had gains and 156 had losses, while the value of 123 stocks remained unchanged.

Minister of Health Nikitas Kaklamanis conveyed the Prime Minister's position to reporters.

The Prime Minister's statement comes one day before the meeting of the New Democracy Central Committee during which Mr. Karamanlis is expected to send messages to every direction concerning the policy he intends to follow.

The recognition of the Cypriot Republic by Turkey is included in the Copenhagen criteria, stated Mr. Christofias, and called on Turkey to adjust to the principles and traditions of the EU saying characteristically that in the EU everybody gives and takes .

Responding to a question by a reporter on how far Turkey's behavior can go in view of the EU Summit meeting on December 17, he said that Turkey must get rid of the attitude it has since the Ottoman Empire, which was consolidated after Ataturk's revolutio n.

Thessaloniki mayor Mr. Papageorgopoulos stressed that the struggle must continue to the end and that the declaration signed by the 170 mayors will be sent to all the EU leaders, the US President and the members of the US administration, the United Nation s, Prime Minister Karamanlis, the leader of the main opposition party of PASOK and the political parties as well as to the Council of Hellenes Abroad.

In the protest resolution, the 170 mayors state that they are determined to defend the Greek history and national identity and that no pseudonymous name will be able to salvage the viability of FYROM in the long run because if it does not change policy i t will remain a state with an expiration date while, at the same time, it will be a slow burning bomb in the guts of the Balkans.

The US ambassador asked from Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul that the Ecumenical Patriarchate should be respected and be allowed to function unhampered given the fact that Ankara questions the ecumenical character of the Patriarchate.

At the same time, the United States have made it clear that they recognize the Ecumenical Patriarch as the spiritual leader of millions of Orthodox Christians around the world. According to a US official statement, for years the firm US position is that the Theology School of Halki should reopen, a development placed for the United States within the framework of the protection of religious freedoms and human rights.

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