Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-12-06

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

CONTENTS

[01] OPINION POLLS CONFIRM EACH OTHER

[02] MINISTER OF FINANCE AGAINST EX-MONARCH

[03] PASCHALIDIS-MILLER: GREAT EFFORTS FOR CYPRUS

[04] ALL TERRORISTS WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

[05] GREEK CYPRIOT SIDE HANDS LETTER TO UN

[01] OPINION POLLS CONFIRM EACH OTHER

A lead of 6.1 points was given to New Democracy in the opinion poll carried out by MRB, which was published today. To the question of most suitable Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis is very slightly ahead of Prime Minister Kostas Simitis.

Concerning vote intention, New Democracy concentrated 38.5%, in contrast to PASOK's 32.4%. The same company's last poll, carried out two weeks before the municipal elections, found that there was a 7.2% gap between the two parties. In fact, in its poll in June, prior to the terrorism case developments, the difference was at 9.5%.

Other results of the poll, recorded 5.3% for the KKE (Greek Communist Party), 3.5% for the Coalition of the Left, 2.3% for LA.O.S. (People's Orthodox Alarm), while 15.8% were undecided.

Kostas Karamanlis has a very small lead as most suitable prime minister ahead of the current Prime Minister, with 39.5%, while Mr. Simitis has 39.1%.

59.1% believe that ND will win the next elections, while 27.8% believe that PASOK will win them.

[02] MINISTER OF FINANCE AGAINST EX-MONARCH

The intention of former king of Greece Konstantinos to found a public benefit institution called Anna-Maria with the money the European Court of Human Rights ruled should be paid to him by the Greek state (13.7 million euro), has caused the intense reaction of Minister of Finance Nikos Christodoulakis.

It's about time former king Konstantinos stopped provoking the Greek people, and especially, stop provoking the Greek tax payer, stated Mr. Christodoulakis, in response to Konstantinos' press conference, held in London yesterday. It was the first time Konstantinos had ever announced his intention of returning to Greece with his family before 2004.

Konstantinos stressed that the issue of the so-called royal estates been closed, repeating that he had never asked the government for money, his only goal was to regain his house.

No act is more unfair and barbaric than having your house taken away. (The Court ruling) was a great victory for me. The only great loss was the unwillingness of the government to come to an understanding with me.

He stressed that the foundation would have had more power of the amount ruled by the court had been higher, and that he had no intention of becoming involved in politics. However he did comment on national issues, stating that they were more important than the estates. He also stated that the Cyprus issue should be resolved based on the Annan proposal.

As far as the objects transferred from the Tatoi estate to London during the Mitsotakis government are concerned, he stated that the entire procedure was legal with the permission of the government.

The Greek Minister of Finance responded intensely to the former king's comments about the royal estates. What we said was that he has already taken a large portion of the estate, during a process that took place 10 years ago, when ND was the governing party. It would also be very interesting for the Greek people to know how much that part of the estates cost, in order to evaluate how much that dynasty finally cost them, not counting of course the disasters, the betrayals, and the dead ends which the Greek people had been led to during the decades it was in power.

Mr. Christodoulakis also stressed that the decision of the European Court put the former king in his place to a great degree. The Greek state paid this amount to all the beneficiaries, but once more, I will say that it neither belongs to him, nor does he deserve it.

Commenting on the Anna-Maria foundation, he underlined that where he is, and where he will remain, he can do whatever he likes, but he stressed that it would be a great provocation to create a royal foundation in Greece, because the Greek people remember the dark part played by a similar foundation I think his mother Frideriki had founded it which supposedly provided dowries to various cases of poor girls, while in reality it was a political tool, which, in many cases, was implicated in political actions and machinations against Democracy, he added.

Consequently I believe that it is about time, in this sector also, that the insolent king stop provoking the Greek people, he ended.

These harsh statements were confronted by honorary President of New Democracy Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who supported that the former king does indeed not want to involve himself in politics, and at the same time stated that the man was just expressing his opinion and was absolutely right.

Concerning the Court ruling, Mr. Mitsotakis stated that unfortunately, once more, Greece lost a case. It was proven that we are a third world country, despite our belonging to Europe, since we do not respect human rights.

He attacked the press and Mr. Christodoulakis, stating that if he believes that by vulgarly insulting a defenseless man he rises in the eyes of the people, he is wrong. He also announced that he will not in the future discuss his own moves concerning the former king.

[03] PASCHALIDIS-MILLER: GREAT EFFORTS FOR CYPRUS

His belief that on December 12 the Greek government will achieve the unhindered accession of Cyprus to the EU, was expressed by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace, Giorgos Paschalidis.

We are fighting, aiming at the accession of the Cypriot Republic to the EU, without any footnotes, as Prime Minister Simitis stated. We believe that on December 12 we will succeed in this, he underlined.

It is quite possible to have a great success in Copenhagen stated US Ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller, responding to questions on the Copenhagen Summit and possible developments in Cyprus' accession and the resolving of the Cyprus issue.

I do not know what exactly will happen. A great success is a possibility. I know that some very significant work is taking place in many capitals, including Athens, and that there will be a lot of work in the following week. Many opportunities are appearing for the first time and the question is whether we will be able to take advantage of them. I will not make any predictions.

In his speech, shortly after these statements, at the conference on Euroatlantic: A community of values, he pointed out that the next few days leading to the Copenhagen Summit on December 12 will be the most important of the last decades. He recommended wisdom and courage, and said that the US support Cyprus' accession to the EU and greet the steps being taken by the Turkish government towards its country's accession to the EU.

[04] ALL TERRORISTS WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

The US government is working very closely with the Greek authorities and we will make every necessary effort to ensure that all terrorists in Greece are arrested and put on trial, stated US Ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller.

When asked if he believes we are finished with terrorism in Greece, he noted two things. Firstly, he congratulated the Greek government on its success and, secondly, pointed that he does not know exactly how much more work will be necessary to fully eradicate terrorism.

[05] GREEK CYPRIOT SIDE HANDS LETTER TO UN

Undersecretary to the Cypriot President Pantelis Kouros handed to the UN the reply of the Greek Cypriot side to a letter sent by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last week requesting the points it wished changed in a Cyprus solution plan submitted by the UN chief on November 11.

Kouros presented the letter tonight to a representative of the UN chief's Special Adviser on Cyprus Alvaro de Soto, at the Presidential Palace.

(MPA-CNA)

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