Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English, 99-06-17

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

BRIEF GREEK NEWS BULLETIN BY THE MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY

Thessaloniki, June 17, 1999

TITLES

[01] GREEK, ROMANIAN PRESIDENTS GIVE JOINT PRESS INTERVIEW

[02] GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER TO MEET WITH BRITISH COUNTERPART

[03] CONSUMERS ALARMED OVER CONTAMINATED FOODS SCANDAL

[04] AGREEMENT REACHED ON KOSOVO TROOPS ADMINISTRATION

[05] KIDS WHOSE PARENTS WERE KILLED IN WAR ARRIVE IN THESSALONIKI

[06] US PRESIDENT CLINTON IN FRANCE, TO MEET WITH JACQUES CHIRAC

[07] EU TO SPEND UP TO $ SIX BILLION ANNUALLY TO REBUILD BALKANS

[08] UN ECONOMIC BODY: BALKAN RECOVERY TO TAKE AT LEAST 10 YEARS

[09] CONSULTATIONS UNDERWAY FOR GREECE’S SHARE OF 3RD CSF

[10] DECEASED HIJACKER’S BROTHER THREATENS TO TAKE REVENGE

[11] US SPRINTER MAURICE GREEN BREAKS WORLD RECORD IN ATHENS

[12] GREEK OFFICIAL TO HEAD IMF DELEGATION IN ROMANIA

NEWS IN DETAIL

[01] GREEK, ROMANIAN PRESIDENTS GIVE JOINT PRESS INTERVIEW

Bucharest, June 17 (MPA)

The two heads of state also referred to the excellent level of Greek-Romanian relations and the opportunities for further development in the sectors of culture, combating cross-border crime and illegal immigration. President Stephanopoulos stated that Greece would support Romania's efforts to embark on NATO and European Union adherence talks at Helsinki’s EU summit to be held in December. The President stated that the Greek Republic believes Europe will not be complete unless it includes all the states on the continent, and it has the keenest interest in Romania's and Bulgaria's integration. President Constantinescu said the Agreement signed by the Romanian and the Greek Governments in the health domain would be followed by others in the sectors of transport, customs and agriculture. Their talks also touched upon the regional issues and the necessity of urgently enforcing the procedures of the Pact of stability for south-eastern Europe, which presupposes the installation of certain democratic principles in all the countries of the region, and mainly in Yugoslavia, as President Constantinescu said. He characteristically stated that the Balkans’ image of a “powder-keg” should be transformed into one of a “freight container”.

In turn, President Stephanopoulos stated that he and his Romanian counterpart agreed that the EU and the United States must work harder to achieve stability and development in the Balkans. The President stressed that Greece had already put forward a concrete proposal relative to the development in the Balkans and the lending of European help for this area.

President Stephanopoulos, who is accompanied by a delegation of Greek businessmen, will give an address at the Economic Forum and will also visit the Romanian Parliament where he will hold talks with the Speaker and vice president of the House. He will also meet with leading members of the Greek-Romanian community and with the Greek students in Bucharest. The Greek president will be awarded the Star of Romania, the highest distinction of that country. A.F.

[02] GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER TO MEET WITH BRITISH COUNTERPART

London, June 17 (MPA)

The meeting will be held this evening at 6:30, while it will be preceded by talks between Mr. Papandreou and Britain’s Defense Secretary George Robertson. A.F.

[03] CONSUMERS ALARMED OVER CONTAMINATED FOODS SCANDAL

Thessaloniki, June 17 (MPA)

[04] AGREEMENT REACHED ON KOSOVO TROOPS ADMINISTRATION

Helsinki, June 17 (MPA)

[05] KIDS WHOSE PARENTS WERE KILLED IN WAR ARRIVE IN THESSALONIKI

Thessaloniki, June 17 (MPA)

The 36 youngsters, children of the victims who were killed during the attack against the Yugoslav television station RTS, as well as kids of the Tanjung news agency’s staff, arrived in Thessaloniki yesterday evening for a 15-day visit, at the initiative of the Macedonian Press Agency.

Twenty-year-old Neboisa Jovanovic, whose father was killed when the RTS building was bombed was at a loss of words.

“I really can’t describe exactly how I feel. The only thing I know is that I feel anger, outrage... What can I say? How do I feel that my dad was killed?”, he told the MPA. Neboisa experienced the horror of war “up close and personal” when he saw his life fall apart and is suddenly faced with another reality. “I had to pretend that nothing has changed,” he said, “that I would continue to live just like I did before.”

Even now that peace has been achieved “if I could call it that” he said, it’s something that leaves him untouched, since the bombings took his father away forever.

“The most frightening thing is the sound of the siren,” 19-year-old Yelena Vukovic said.

Her parents work at Tanjung. “We were inside the shelters and we knew that we could be the next target, the person next to me or myself.

“No one could do anything. I just told myself that at some point it would be over. I would sit and wait for the bomb to fall on me because I told myself that I, too, could be a target of the bombings.”

How did she feel when she learned that Tanjung would be one of the next targets?

“Overall, I had a strange feeling... I cant explain it. The only thing I knew was that I didn’t have the right to stop thinking and living.”

Yelena, who is studying English literature at the University of Belgrade, confided this to us: “When we entered Kumanovo (FYROM), I saw a helicopter flying above the bus. And by just saying this, I get the same feeling I had when the sirens screeched in Belgrade...”

The 36 children will be hosted and entertained at summer camps in the Chalkidiki peninsula, an event sponsored by the Municipality of Kalamaria.

They will be honored during today’s welcoming event, where they will be greeted by the Mayor of Kalamaria Christodoulos Economides and the MPA’s General Director Spyros Kouzinopoulos.

As it has previously been reported, Tanjung, which is Yugoslavia’s official news agency, constituted one of the NATO’s imminent targets. Understandably, Tanjung’s staff members and their families were subject to an unfathomable psychological ordeal that lasted the full duration of the war, 2 1/2 months. The MPA had extended the invitation to host the small children on May 20 and while the bombings were occurring at full scale. The Municipality of Kalamaria rushed to embrace the MPA’s initiative by undertaking the majority of the costs. Another group of children will be hosted by the MPA the following month, comprising children of the Albanian Telegraph Agency’s staff, as well as children of Kosovar journalists who were forced to flee their houses and seek refuge in Albanian and FYROM shelters. A.F.

[06] US PRESIDENT CLINTON IN FRANCE, TO MEET WITH JACQUES CHIRAC

Paris, June 17 (MPA)

He was also expected to note "the appropriateness of the EU taking the lead" on that front. "But we do need to do our share", the spokesman added. A.F.

[07] EU TO SPEND UP TO $ SIX BILLION ANNUALLY TO REBUILD BALKANS

Bonn, June 17 (MPA)

The Europeans would not be facing up to their responsibilities if they did not supply the necessary funds," Mr. Prodi said, adding that the Balkans were a major test for the EU.

"Only the European Union can ensure long-term stability" for the region, the EC chief said, adding that a decision-making body must be set up if progress was to be made. A.F.

[08] UN ECONOMIC BODY: BALKAN RECOVERY TO TAKE AT LEAST 10 YEARS

United Nations, June 17 (MPA)

"Ten years is an optimistic assessment," Yves Berthelot, head of the UN's Geneva-based Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), told a press conference.

"The situation in the Balkans was already poor before the conflict (over Kosovo). The war has simply aggravated a difficult situation," he added.

He refused to put a cost figure on reconstruction without precise details of how much damage had been caused. According to the French news agency AFP, EU and World Bank experts are due to travel to Kosovo in the near future to make an initial assessment, although Brussels has already put out a provisional figure of three billion dollars for Serbia alone. Mr. Berthelot said the region was already poor even before fighting began in Kosovo in March. Average earnings were only around 50 percent of the level of central European countries such as Poland, Hungary and the then Czechoslovakia in 1990.

But, he warned that ostracizing Yugoslavia and President Slobodan Milosevic might aggravate the situation further. Because of Serbia's strategic position and close economic ties with its neighbors, regional reconstruction could be jeopardized if Serbia itself did not recover. A.F.

[09] CONSULTATIONS UNDERWAY FOR GREECE’S SHARE OF 3RD CSF

Athens, June 17 (MPA)

[10] DECEASED HIJACKER’S BROTHER THREATENS TO TAKE REVENGE

Thessaloniki, June 17 (MPA)

According to reports, 23-year-old Edi Pisli, whose brother was killed by the Albanian authorities after having driven the bus and the hostages near Elbasan, told some of the locals at the village of Scholari, 30 kilometers east of Thessaloniki, where the bus was hijacked from, that he will soon take revenge for the tragic incident that claimed the lives of his 21-year-old brother and one of the hostages, the 28-year-old Scholari resident George Koulouris. The police have been alerted to these reports, as well as to Pisli’s threats that he, too, will soon hijack a bus for revenge.

The community of Scholari is being closely patrolled by police whose presence is also felt in another village in the Pieria prefecture, the home of his Greek girlfriend.

A high-ranking police officer told the MPA that the 23-year-old Albanian has served as an officer in the Albanian army and is presently armed with automatic rifles and hand grenades. A.F.

[11] US SPRINTER MAURICE GREEN BREAKS WORLD RECORD IN ATHENS

Athens, June 17 (MPA)

[12] GREEK OFFICIAL TO HEAD IMF DELEGATION IN ROMANIA

Bucharest, June 17 (MPA)

According to Romanian press reports, the main topics of discussion will be the budget deficit and private investors credits. A.F.

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