Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-10-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] INVESTIGATIONS EVERYWHERE

[02] TSOCHATZOPOULOS IN STABLE HEALTH

[03] GIOTOPOULOS SIDES WITH 17N

[04] GREEK TEAMS IN UEFA CUP NEXT ROUND

[05] THE BANK OF GREECE GOVERNOR DELIVERS THE INTERIM REPORT ON THE COURSE

[06] THOUSANDS OF "AERO LLOYD" PASSENGERS WERE SCHEDULED TO TRAVEL VIA

[07] SMALL LOSSES IN THE ASE

[08] SEPTEMBER'S INFLATION AT 2.1% IN THE EURO-ZONE

[09] AUTUMN SHOWERS

[10] THE ITALIAN EU PRESIDENCY TO PREPARE A COMPROMISE PROPOSAL ON THE

[01] INVESTIGATIONS EVERYWHERE

The investigation on unauthorized houses has been extended to cover all of Attica. The issue took on dramatic dimensions after the suicide of alternate director of the Ministry of the Environment's Land Service, Roubini Stathea. Her husband, P. Tzavaras, asked for the intervention of the Prime Minister during her eulogy, while he stated that the civil servant had been pressured to sign the recent demolition suspension.

[02] TSOCHATZOPOULOS IN STABLE HEALTH

The health of Ministry of Development Akis Tsochatzopoulos is coming along well, as he is undergoing a fibrinolysin treatment at the Areteio Hospital, where he was admitted after he felt some pains in his right leg. The doctors treating the Minister of Development are completely reassuring, but believe that he must remain there for monitoring for at least 48 hours. Prime Minister Costas Simitis was briefed on the Health of the Minister of Development in Brussels.

[03] GIOTOPOULOS SIDES WITH 17N

The panhellenic opinion poll of the Elefthertypia newspaper was characterized as positive by Alexandros Giotopoulos, alleged leader of the 17N terrorist group, who supported that the poll was in favor of the defendants. Eight out of ten people say that you are guilty, how can that be in your favor, asked President of the Court Michalis Margaritis, who expressed his opposition at the publication of such polls during the trial.

Meanwhile, the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses was questioned by defense attorney for 17 November suspect member Vassilis Jorjatos, Costas Papadakis, during his long closing statement in the trial of the 19 17N terrorist organization suspect members. Mr. Margaritis asked Mr. Papadakis to sum up, as it is the fourth day of his closing statement, pointing out that there are other defendants waiting to be heard.

Mr. Papadakis questioned the credibility of the witnesses who recognized Vassilis Jorjatos as a culprit in certain 17N actions, specifically the rocket attack against former Minister of Finance Ioannis Paleokrassas.

Also, according to Mr. Papadakis, Savvas Xeros confessions as far as his client is concerned, are completely vague, and do not mention what role it is that Jorjatos allegedly had in 17 November. In fact, he characterized Savvas Xeros' confessions as the product of pressures and torture while in the custody of the counter-terrorist service.

[04] GREEK TEAMS IN UEFA CUP NEXT ROUND

PAOK, Aris, and Panionios will be representing Greece is the UEFA cup this year, after they all beat their opponents in their matches yesterday.

PAOK qualified for the second round of the UEFA Cup in seven minutes, as Giasemis, Koutsis and Vokolos scored three goals from 53'-60' in the game against Lyn in Oslo. PAOK will be among the powerful teams, so a strong opponent is expected in the next round, and will be announced next Friday.

The goal of Giannis Lazanas in the 86th minute of the game against Zimbru Chisinau gave victory to Aris, and the ticket to the next round of the Cup. Zimbru scored the first goal at 19' with Sisselof, while Aris tied the game at 44' with a header from Koltsidas.

Panionios had their work cut out for them and only managed to score in the last minute of overtime, which however was enough in combination with the 2-1 score of the first game, for the team of Nea Smyrni to qualify for the next round.

[05] THE BANK OF GREECE GOVERNOR DELIVERS THE INTERIM REPORT ON THE COURSE OF THE ECONOMY

Bank of Greece Governor Nikos Garganas delivered the 2003 monetary policy interim report to Greek Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis.

Mr. Kaklamanis stated that Mr. Garganas briefed him on the steps made by the Bank of Greece to help in the efforts for stability, economic development and lower inflation.

The Bank of Greece Governor expressed optimism stating that in spite of the slow recovery worldwide, Greece had a growth rate of 4% for the fourth year in a row. He also expressed the view that the Greek economy will not be affected negatively as a result of the pre-election period.

Mr. Garganas expressed concern regarding inflation, which is on the decline but nonetheless continues to be high. He also expressed concern on the public deficit, pointing out, however, that it is encouraging that there was some progress made, adding that there is optimism because the efforts made managed to bring it down to 1.2% from 1.4%.

[06] THOUSANDS OF "AERO LLOYD" PASSENGERS WERE SCHEDULED TO TRAVEL VIA GREECE

The German airline company Aero Lloyd, which stopped flying this morning in view of the bankruptcy process to get underway soon, had nine scheduled transit flights for today to and from four Greek airports.

Thousands of airline passengers were to travel via the airports of Thessaloniki, Kavala, Rhodes and Karpathos, according to information coming from the company Plotin that represents the German airline in Greece.

Aero Lloyd had a fleet of 21 airplanes that flew to 60 destinations in 13 countries, among them Greece.

[07] SMALL LOSSES IN THE ASE

Small losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.34% at 2.111,24 points, while the volume of transactions was at 96.7 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, the overwhelming majority of 228 recorded losses and 80 had gains, while the value of 76 stocks remained unchanged.

[08] SEPTEMBER'S INFLATION AT 2.1% IN THE EURO-ZONE

Inflation in the Euro-zone for the month of September remained unchanged at 2.1% above the 2% limit set as a ceiling by the European Central Bank.

According to figures given today to publicity by the European Statistics Agency, Eurostat, inflation increased in September by 0.3% at a monthly basis.

[09] AUTUMN SHOWERS

Clouds and storms are foreseen for the Ionian Sea, Ipiros, the North Aegean, the Western Sterea, Macedonia, and possibly Thessaly and the Western Peloponnesos will have locally violent storms. There will be snow in the mountains of Ipiros and Macedonia. Weather phenomena will decline in the evening.

[10] THE ITALIAN EU PRESIDENCY TO PREPARE A COMPROMISE PROPOSAL ON THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION

The Italian EU Presidency will prepare a compromise proposal on the new European Constitution and present it by mid November for the final decisions to be made. Prime Minister Kostas Simitis made the statement in a press conference he gave on the occasion of the completion of the morning proceedings of the Brussels Summit Meeting today. The goal, according to the Prime Minister, is to adopt effective regulations allowing the EU to have flexibility, prestige, voice and presence in the international scene.

The Prime Minister stated on the talks he had with his Turkish counterpart Mr. Erdogan that they focused on the imminent visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to Athens on October 21 and the intention to have improved mutual visits.

At this point, Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou clarified that the imminent visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Greece should not be associated with any change of framework in the relations between Greece and Turkey and underlined that the talk over trilateral meetings is unfounded.

Referring to the meeting he had with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr. Simitis pointed out that he raised to him the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

The Prime Minister stated that the Middle East problem and the situation in Iraq were discussed in the Brussels Summit. He said that it was pointed out that the UN Secretary General role in Iraq should be strengthened and characterized the situation in the Middle East as chaotic, while he gave the assurance that Greece will not participate in military operations in Iraq.

On the German Chancellor's decision to ask the French President to represent him in the Summit, Mr. Simitis stated that this move reflects the good cooperation between France and Germany and its nature is more of a symbolic one, given the fact that the representation will be made in the discussions over the conclusions reached.

Mr. Simitis also mentioned that Greece participates in the working group that examines the issues of the European Headquarters and European defense.

Presenting in detail Greece's positions in the European Constitution debate, the Prime Minister mentioned that Greece is in favor of a larger than six months European Council Presidency term and also, in favor of the European Commission proposals on the Council's composition and operation. He also pointed out that all the EU members should participate in the EU Presidency, while in the secondary councils a group presidency, made up of three member-states, should be adopted.

Mr. Simitis stressed that Greece supports the system of double majority because this way the majority of the member-states and the majority of the EU population will be able to express their views. On the revision of the Constitution, he said that the EU should not depend on a unanimous agreement and a way should be found allowing adjustments to be made more easily.

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