Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-12-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] KOUFONTINAS INSISTS ON N17'S POLITICAL CHARACTER

[02] HIGHEST ABORTION RATE

[03] SIMITIS-DRYS IN MADRID-LISBON

[04] KONSTANTOPOULOS-TSOVOLAS IN CYPRUS

[05] DPT. FOREIGN MINISTER IN LEBANON-SYRIA

[06] DANISH PM IN ATHENS

[07] CYPRUS NON-ACCESSION WILL CAUSE AN EU CRISIS

[01] KOUFONTINAS INSISTS ON N17'S POLITICAL CHARACTER

I could have escaped, but that would have been against my revolutionary ethics and ideals, stressed Dimitris Koufontinas, suspected leading member of the November 17 terrorist group, in an interview to the Eleftherotypia, in his first communication to the press after he turned himself in to the authorities.

Dimitris Koufontinas insisted on the political character of N17's actions, characterizing it as a small revolutionary organization, without captains and soldiers, while he stands by those comrades of his who broke and talked, in complete solidarity.

He only named Savvas Xeros, whom he called a valuable comrade and an important member.

He described the historical framework that gave birth to armed organizations in Greece, but did not refer to any other organizations. He refuted the statement of Minister of Public Order Michalis Chrysochoidis, that N17 was planning a big strike.

He avoided discussing specific cases, with the exception of the Riancour case, on which he was ironic of the official and unofficial police stories.

Referring to himself, he stressed that his future holds in view an underground cell, for the rest of his life.

[02] HIGHEST ABORTION RATE

Greece has the highest abortion rate, both when compared to other European countries and to the United States. The high number of abortions being carried out, both before and after marriage, and which can cause serious complications in women's health, is the main reason for the very low birth rate in Greece. According to abortion surgeons, 40% of the decrease in women's fertility is due to abortions. It is estimated that approximately 150,000 couples in Greece are unable to have children, because they have at least one abortion in their history. There are more than 250,000 abortions a year, 40,000 of which are carried out on young girls under the age of 16. Also, one third of the women are married, who would have not had abortions if they had the financial means to support a larger family.

This sadly impressive data was announced by Professor of Obstetrics-Gynecology at AUTh, Ioannis Bonnis, speaking at the 2nd Panhellenic Conference of the Greek Fertility and Impotency Association, which is being held in Thessaloniki.

During the 1980-1999 period, fertility in Greece has dropped by 41%, twice the percentage decrease of the rest of Europe, while the US had an increase of 14% of their fertility rate.

[03] SIMITIS-DRYS IN MADRID-LISBON

Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and Minister of Agriculture Giorgos Drys will visit the Iberian Peninsula on Monday. The Prime Minister will leave for Madrid, where he will meet with his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Asnar. Their discussions are expected to concern Cyprus' accession to the EU, in view of the upcoming crucial Summit Meeting next Thursday in Copenhagen, as well as developments around the Cyprus issue and Turkey's European prospects.

Meanwhile, in his meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday in Rome, Mr. Simitis ascertained that they had common views both on Cyprus' accession as well as on Turkey's European prospects.

The two Prime Ministers agreed that Cyprus' accession to the EU, is not connected to resolving the political issue, while they stated that the initiation of Turkey's accession negotiations must not be significantly delayed, and that the date should be set for them within 2004.

Minister of Agriculture Giorgos Drys will also visit Madrid, and he will then travel to Lisbon. Both visits are part of his second round of contacts in European capitals, in view of Greece's upcoming European Presidency.

On Monday morning, Mr. Drys will depart for Madrid, where he will have a formal meeting with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Arias-Canete. Their discussions will mainly concern issues on the European enlargement and the revision of the Common Agricultural Policy, as well as the Mediterranean policy on fishery.

In the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Drys will travel to Lisbon, where he will have a similar meeting with the Portuguese Minister of Agriculture, Armando Sevinate Pinto. During his visit to the Iberian Peninsula, Mr. Drys will refer to the priorities of the Greek government and will try to be briefed on the agricultural issues concerning the two countries.

[04] KONSTANTOPOULOS-TSOVOLAS IN CYPRUS

President of the Coalition of the Left Nikos Konstantopoulos will be heading his party's delegation which will visit Cyprus on Monday, in view of the developments on the Cyprus issue and Cyprus' accession to the EU.

The Coalition delegation will meet with President of Cypriot Republic Glafkos Cleridis, the President of the Parliament Dimitris Christofias, as well as political party leaders.

He will also meet with the leadership of the four left and progressive Turkish Cypriot parties and a delegation of 92 Turkish Cypriot NGOs, which organized a major rally last week for the reunification of Cyprus and European accession.

The President of the Coalition will also meet with Greek and Turkish Cypriot professors from the University of Cyprus. Upon completing his visit, Mr. Konstantopoulos will hold a press conference.

President of DIKKI Dimitris Tsovolas will visit Cyprus tomorrow, in order to participate in a rally organized by the Pancypriot Citizens' Movement, which will take place in Nicosia's Liberty Square at 6pm.

[05] DPT. FOREIGN MINISTER IN LEBANON-SYRIA

Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Loverdos is on a working visit in Syria and Lebanon. The object of his visit, which will be completed on Tuesday December 10, is Greece's developmental cooperation with the two countries.

[06] DANISH PM IN ATHENS

The Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will make a working to Athens, beginning on Monday, December 9, and ending the following day. Mr. Rasmussen will meet with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis at the Maximos Mansion on Tuesday at 9:30am.

[07] CYPRUS NON-ACCESSION WILL CAUSE AN EU CRISIS

His appreciation that a delay in Cyprus' accession, using the unresolved political problem as a pretence, would cause a serious crisis within the European Union and would be a strike to its credibility, was expressed by Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou, in an interview to the Imerisia newspaper.

Mr. Papandreou expressed his certainty that Cyprus will be among the 10 countries to be incorporated to the EU during the Copenhagen Summit.

I do not believe that there will be any member states to retract the decisions and undermine the goals of the EU concerning the enlargement. If this happens by using the unresolved Cyprus issue as a pretext, then we will have a serious crisis of the EU itself, its credibility and its strategy, a major political and institutional crisis, which will take us a long way back, pointed out the Foreign Minister.

Mr. Papandreou noted that there is very little time until December 12 for there to be an agreement in principle. It would be a grave error, he stressed, to squeeze the procedure for a solution into the tight deadline remaining until the Copenhagen Summit, or to attempt to find a quick solution in the margin of the European Council meeting in the name of Cyprus' accession.

He also added that such a possibility, which would be rejected, would offer a bad service not only to the Cyprus issue, but to the EU and the credibility and effectiveness of the UN. The historical burdens of the Cyprus issue cannot be fitted into a few days, because that would undermine the goal of a viable and functional solution.

He repeated that conditions and prerequisites that would keep the dynamics for the resolving of the Cyprus issue alive, even after Copenhagen and the decision for the accession of Cyprus, must be formed, and he characteristically stressed that the doors must not be closed for the continuation of the efforts.

Greece speaks the language of truth

Referring to Turkey's accession negotiations, the Foreign Minister once again stressed that Greece supports Turkey's European course, he was swift, however, to point out that a date cannot be an end in itself.

Mr. Papandreou supported that Greece is speaking to Turkey in the language of truth. There is no issue of a European identity of Turkey. Turkey is a candidate country, it has the same rights and obligations, which it must cover, as the EU asks of all countries, he stressed.

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