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Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 96-12-17Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCYThessaloniki, December 17, 1996TITLES
NEWS IN DETAIL[01] 1997 BUDGET DEBATE BEGINS THIS EVENING IN PARLIAMENT'S PLENARY SESSIONAthens, December 17 (MPA)A five-day debate on the 1997 budget begins in the Parliament's Plenary session this evening, albeit preceded by country-wide strike held by public servants and Greece's labor force.Opposing the Government's austerity policy, those employed in the country's public service sector are currently participating in the 24-hour strike organised by the Civil Servants Supreme Administrative Council (ADEDY). Also, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) has announced a work stoppage for the last three hours of every shift and plans to conduct a rally this evening outside Parliament. Meanwhile, the country's seamen continue their two-day strike which they embarked on yesterday, rendering immobile the country's commercial ships and ferries. Meanwhile, according to National Economy Deputy Minister George Drys, the 1996 State Budget's revenue will reach 7.71 trillion drachmas, while the state income deficit will not surpass the 150 billion-drachmas mark. A.F. [02] PROTESTING FARMERS TO RALLY IN ATHENS ON THURSDAY WITH THEIR FAMILIESAthens, December 17 (MPA)Farmers from central Greece's Thessaly, the protesters' hard- core region, will bring their complaints over the Government's economic policy to Athens on Thursday, in a populous march where they will be flanked by their families.However, Thessaloniki's local farmers have announced that they do not intend to join their counterparts from Thessaly and are due to decide tomorrow on whether or not they will keep their road barricades in place. Meanwhile, in a move that can be construed as a goodwill gesture on behalf of the farmers, the national highway's Athens- Larisa route, up to the city of Almyros, has been opened, allowing for the unobstructed passage of traffic. Yesterday evening, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis spoke at Elefsina's Labor Center and said that the State is unable to meet the farmers' 800-billion-drachmas demands. He reiterated that the roads must first be opened before any sort of dialogue can be held between the protesting farmers and the Government. Meanwhile, the European Union's Agriculture Commissioner Hans Fishler and Greece's Agriculture Minister Stephanos Tzoumakas have agreed to discuss an increase of community funds to Greece's cotton producers during the upcoming EU Agriculture Ministers Council, to be held in January. A.F. [03] NATO DEFENSE MINISTERS MEET IN BRUSSELS TODAYBrussels, December 17 (MPA)Greece's Minister of National Defense Akis Tzohatzopoulos has departed for Brussels where he will attend a two-day conference of the NATO member-countries' defense ministers which begins today. The discussions will focus on the reform of the Alliance's military structure, based on the new geo-political developments in Europe. Moreover, the attending ministers are to approve the new peacekeeping force in Bosnia, which is to replace IFOR.Also to be brought up during the conference -albeit without any decisions expected to be drawn- will be NATO's eastwardly expansion, concurrently with the efforts to be undertaken in order to convince Russia to lift its objections over this direction. According to a BBC broadcast, the NATO Ministers, who are accompanied by the leaders of their respective countries' General Staff, are not expected to arrive at any conclusion regarding changes in the Alliance's interior adminstrative structures given that the United States are contrary to France's proposal to place a European administrator at NATO's headquarters in Napoli, Italy. According to BBC, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos has stated that the issue of re-activating Greece's heaquarters is not included in this conference's agenda. Nevertheless, he did clarify that in order to avoid misunderstandings, he will support the greek positions "in order to direct NATO's development from our behalf, so that it will be able to carry out its future role." According to the broadcast's commentary, the Greek Defense Minister has made it cleat that if a NATO headquarters is established in Greece's Larisa, once the turkish reservations are lifted, it would be managed exclusively by a Greek administrator, as opposed to a Greek and a Turk taking turns on the post which was proposed by Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller a week ago. Moreover, should any whatsoever change takes place in the functions of the NATO's headquarters in its member-countries, Greece would continue to control the Aegean's air space in its entirety, stated Mr. Tsohatzopoulos. A.F. [04] U.S. PRESIDENT VOWS THAT HE WILL STRIVE TO SOLVE CYPRUS PROBLEMWashington, December 17 (MPA)United States President Bill Clinton once again tabled his intent to resolve the Cyprus issue, as he stated yesterday during a White House conference where he was joined by Irish Prime Minister John Bruton, the current President of the European Union's Council of Ministers, and European Commission President Jacques Santer.President Clinton stated that ever since he came in office, he has spent a lot of time in trying to lessen the tensions and resolve the differences between Greece and Turkey. Also, he stated that he has exerted efforts in trying to resolve the problems related to Cyprus. Moreover, the U.S. President added that the future of the EU and the U.S. will be much brighter if these issues can be resolved. In turn, Mr. Santer stated that the EU policy concerning Cyprus has not changed since the island is a candidate-member of the European Community. A.F. Complete archives of the Macedonian Press Agency bulletins are available on the MPA Home Page at http://www.mpa.gr/ and on the U.S. mirror at http://www.hri.org/MPA/Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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