Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-09-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] CONSUMERS BOYCOTT GREEK MARKET

[02] S. XEROS TAKEN TO CORYDALLOS

[03] STEPHANOPOULOS: GERMANY HAS TO PAY REPARATIONS FOR THE DAMAGES SUFFERED

[04] MIKIS THEODORAKIS ON TERRORISM

[05] COMMENTS ON TOMORROW'S CONSUMER BOYCOTT

[06] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON TERRORISM

[07] PROTOPAPAS ON THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

[08] BIG LOSSES IN THE ASE

[09] PROTOPAPAS ON THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC ORDER PRESS REPORTS

[10] GREECE MOST SUCCESSFUL IN DEALING WITH POVERTY IN 1975-1995

[11] PROTESTS DURING THE TIF

[01] CONSUMERS BOYCOTT GREEK MARKET

With the slogan, not a single euro will go into the market, consumer organizations have called Greeks to boycott expensiveness and profiteering.

Along with consumer organizations, producers and vendors will also participate in the boycott in order to show that they are not responsible for the product markups. At the same time, the General Union of Greek Employees is attempting to consolidate a front against markups by mobilizing all employees in Greece to participate in tomorrow's boycott and by recruiting the country's social bodies in order to deal with the issue more effectively.

President of New Democracy Kostas Karamanlis spoke on the issue of expensiveness from Corinth, from where he accused the government of being inactive in the face of methodical profiteering evident in the market.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Ministry of Development, after its failed encounter with representatives of the business and trade world in order to achieve new agreements, is trying to moderate the wave of markups hitting the market, with market inspections as their only weapon.

Markups in the price of electricity and telephone communications are also some of the main points of tomorrow's protests. Consumers all over the country have been called to drop their power switches at 10pm on September 3 and not to use their telephones.

[02] S. XEROS TAKEN TO CORYDALLOS

Savvas Xeros passed the threshold of the Corydallos Penitentiary this afternoon, after 65 days of hospitalization at the Evaggelismos hospital. Earlier, the doctors gave the green light for his transfer, while the operation was extremely fast, escorted by a large police force. Security measures were extreme throughout the trip from the hospital to the penitentiary.

Savvas Xeros was taken to the same cell his brother Vassilis and Christodoulos have been placed. According to information from his attorney, he is still facing mobility problems as well as some hearing and sight problems.

The 40-year-old's transfer to Corydallos completed the first round in the case of eradicating November 17.

Meanwhile, the court order to receive blood samples from the 15 accused, is expected to be issued within the next 15 days, in order to carry out DNA tests, to compare the genetic material of the suspects to that found in the terrorist hideouts.

[03] STEPHANOPOULOS: GERMANY HAS TO PAY REPARATIONS FOR THE DAMAGES SUFFERED BY GREECE IN WWII

Germany has an obligation to pay reparations for the damages suffered by Greece during WWII, stated President Kostis Stephanopoulos, stressing that this is a moral victory for the victims. Mr. Stephanopoulos attended today the events in memory of the holocaust of the people of Hortiatis, near Thessaloniki, on September 2, 1944. It is the first time that these events were held in the presence of a Greek President.

The issue concerning the reparations and the restitution of the victims' relatives was raised by Hortiatis' Mayor Theodoros Christodoulou, who observed in his speech that the people of Hortiatis do not ask for revenge in memory of the victims but they just want reparations and restitution.

On September 2, 1944 a German soldier was killed and three others were injured in a Greek ambush. In retaliation, the Germans sent a military convoy of 32 army vehicles in Hortiatis and the locals were ordered to gather at the town's central square. Some of them were executed, while others were burned alive. Only 6 managed to survive, while among the 149 victims there were 39 children, 32 of which were under the age of 12 and many were just a few months old.

[04] MIKIS THEODORAKIS ON TERRORISM

Terrorism, as it appears, is an unburied corpse that has begun to smell bad. Terrorism must be buried as soon as possible, stated Greek music composer Mikis Theodorakis during his visit to the Kalamaria Conservatoire, where a hall is named after him.

Mr. Theodorakis congratulated the Prime Minister, the Minister of Public Order and the Greek Police for the blow they delivered on terrorism and stressed that the Prime Minister made a historical move, while he also wondered why this did not happen earlier.

Meanwhile, he stated that he has filed suits against right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy Parliament Deputy Nikitas Kaklamanis, the newspaper Eleftheri Ora and its publisher and director Grigoris Michalopoulos. Mr. Kaklamanis had stated in a television interview with Mr. Michalopoulos that four performances of the theater play Lisistrati had cost 1.6 billion drachmas and a big part of that money was received by Mr. Theodorakis.

Mr. Theodorakis stated that they had at least to check their information before going public and stressed that he never took one cent from the Greek state.

An intervention on the issue has been made by Athens Megaron Music Hall President Christos Lambrakis, who underlined in a letter that the six and not four performances of Lisistrati had cost 700 million drachmas and Mr. Theodorakis received no money to compose the specific opera.

[05] COMMENTS ON TOMORROW'S CONSUMER BOYCOTT

The government is neither for nor against the consumer boycott which is organized by non-governmental organizations, stated government spokesman Christos Protopapas. He made the statement responding to a question by a reporter on the occasion of the consumer boycott scheduled to take place tomorrow in protest to the high prices in the Greek market.

The government should not interfere with the work and moves of non-governmental organizations, stressed the government spokesman and added that every move made by autonomous social organizations aimed at activating the citizens has a value of its own.

[06] THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN ON TERRORISM

The issue of terrorism is very serious and demands a responsible stance. It cannot be approached like a television show or entertainment from which some seek to have a profit, reiterated today government spokesman Christos Protopapas.

Mr. Protopapas stated that some appear like wandering story-tellers to different television channels in an effort to involve PASOK members in the case of terrorism.

The government spokesman also referred to the statements made by right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy Parliament Deputy Mr. Polidoras, who stated that PASOK was a political shell for terrorism, and called on the party of New Democracy to take a stand on the issue immediately.

[07] PROTOPAPAS ON THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

The medical care and living conditions for the illegal immigrants in Greece are much better compared to other countries, stated government spokesman Christos Protopapas pointing out, however, that there are problems and a continuous effort is being made to improve their living conditions.

Responding to a question on the living conditions for the 800 illegal immigrants in Thrace, northeastern Greece, Mr. Protopapas admitted that the conditions they live in are not ideal, adding that it is normal to be faced with difficulties when hundreds of people enter the country unexpectedly.

[08] BIG LOSSES IN THE ASE

Big losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -1.39% at 2.099,56 points, while the volume of transactions was at 69.9 million Euro.

Of the stocks trading today, 83 recorded gains and the overwhelming majority of 218 had losses, while the value of 73 stocks remained unchanged.

[09] PROTOPAPAS ON THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC ORDER PRESS REPORTS

Government spokesman Christos Protopapas denied a press report according to which, Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrisochoidis is destined by the Prime Minister for the post of the governing Socialist Party of PASOK Central Committee Secretary.

Mr. Protopapas stated that the specific press report has no relation with reality.

[10] GREECE MOST SUCCESSFUL IN DEALING WITH POVERTY IN 1975-1995

Greece had the best performance among the developed countries in the efforts against poverty in the period 1975-1995. According to an OECD recent report, the conclusions of which are published on the Athens newspaper Imerisia, the inequality in the distribution of income was notably limited in the Greek society.

For the record, Greece is the only country with a big drop in the basic poverty indexes in the period 1975-1995, in spite of the fact that in the period 1985-1995 there were no notable changes. The lowest income classes had experienced almost no income increase and therefore, they were placed at a relatively worse position in the mid 90s compared to ten years earlier.

[11] PROTESTS DURING THE TIF

Intense mobilization has been planned in Thessaloniki by a series of bodies and unions for the 6th and 7th of September, the weekend the 67th Thessaloniki International Fair will be opened by Prime Minister Kostas Simitis.

Farmers, workers, unions and initiatives from Thessaloniki, regions of N. Greece, Thessalia and Athens, are preparing themselves for the protests against globalization.

The mobilizations will begin on Friday, September 6, the opening day of the TIF, with a panhellenic rally of farmers associations, outside the TIF's facilities in the YMCA square. The tip of the farmers' spear for protesting, is cotton and indemnities for the crops destroyed by the bad weather.

On Saturday, farmers' associations will participate in a rally organized by PA.ME (Panhellenic Fighting Front), against government policy in general.

The General Council of the confederacy of the Civil Servants Union, as well as the Association of Non-appointed Teachers, have decided to participate in the September 7 rally.

On the same day, the initiative for the Greek Social Forum has organized a meeting at the Venizelos statue with the participation of the Civil Servants Union, against neo-liberalism, war and racism.

The plenary session of the Workers-Employees Center of Thessaloniki (EKTh), decided no to participate in the protests during the TIF. The EKTh decided to organize a rally on September 19 against expensiveness, markups, the rise in unemployment and the de-industrialization of Thessaloniki.

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