Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-12-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] PASSENGERS UNATTENDED

[02] EFTHYMIOU: ND SEES DIPLOMAS AS PRODUCTS

[03] SECRETARY OF CHINA'S CP IN ATHENS

[04] NEW ATTACK ON KARAMANLIS

[05] SIMITIS' CONDOLENCES FOR THE TWO JAPANESE DIPLOMATS KILLED IN IRAQ

[06] SIMITIS' TELEGRAM OF CONDOLENCES TO AZNAR

[07] SIMITIS-VERHOFSTADT MEETING IN ATHENS

[08] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[09] 90 YEARS OF THE CRETAN UNIFICATION

[10] GREEK EURO-DEPUTY ON THE VIOLATION OF THE TREATY OF LAUSANNE BY TURKEY

[11] GREECE IN 1ST GROUP OF EURO 2004

[12] FIRST GENERATION GREEKS DECREASED BY 6.7%

[01] PASSENGERS UNATTENDED

The four-day strike of the Flight Attendant Steward Association was completed today, after flights were cancelled and with great discomfort for passengers, even though the Athens court of first instance had ruled that the mobilization was illegal and excessive. The administration is exploring the possibility of referring the strikers to the Dismissal Council, which has resulted in the flight attendants threatening of a long strike. According to an announcement by Olympic Airways, 22 flights will be cancelled today, while the flights of Macedonian Airlines and Olympic Aviation, will be carried out normally.

[02] EFTHYMIOU: ND SEES DIPLOMAS AS PRODUCTS

Minister of Education Petros Efthymiou made mention of a grand scheme on the side of New Democracy, commenting on the provision proposed by ND's EuroMP Costis Chatzidakis, which will open the way to the recognition of the diplomas of thousands of graduates of private higher education institutions.

Speaking to Flash radio, Mr. Efthymiou accused the Opposition of seeing diplomas as products and added that it scored two misses. And that, he explained, is because on the one hand it revealed a hidden program for education and on the other it placed itself against the Greek Constitution in an effort to pass the issue of diploma recognition through the Interior Market Committee.

He pointed out that if necessary he will appeal to the European Court and he stressed that it could be dealt with as a product, but as an educational system.

It should be noted that the European Parliament's legal affairs committee accepted the provision in question, which essentially recognizes diplomas issued from various private colleges throughout Europe as normal university diplomas, if those institutions are in cooperation with European universities.

The provision in question is expected to be discussed on December 17 in the Plenary of the European Parliament.

[03] SECRETARY OF CHINA'S CP IN ATHENS

A delegation of the Chinese Communist Party is Athens, headed by the Party's Central Committee Secretary He Yong, after an invitation extended by the Secretary of PASOK's Central Committee, Michalis Chrysochoidis. The 19 member Chinese delegation will meet with Mr. Chrysochoidis and Minister of the Interior Costas Scandalidis, and it will be received by Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

[04] NEW ATTACK ON KARAMANLIS

"Costas Karamanlis does not have the proper training to become Prime Minister, and if he ever does manage it, it will not be in Greece's interest", stressed the Head of PASOK's Election Campaign Committee Theodoros Pagalos, in an interview to the "Ta Nea" newspaper. In response to a question regarding New Democracy, the former minister expressed the view that "ND lives like a parasite on PASOK's "trunk", choosing not to present a program". Former Minister and independent MP Stelios Papathemelis announced the foundation of a new political party.

[05] SIMITIS' CONDOLENCES FOR THE TWO JAPANESE DIPLOMATS KILLED IN IRAQ

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis expressed regret for the death of two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq, in a telegram of condolences he sent to the Japanese Prime Minister.

Mr. Simitis extended his condolences to the Japanese Prime Minister, the Japanese people and the families of the victims.

[06] SIMITIS' TELEGRAM OF CONDOLENCES TO AZNAR

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis sent a telegram of condolences to his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar for the loss of 7 Spanish soldiers killed in an attack in Iraq.

Mr. Simitis extended his condolences to the Spanish Prime Minister and the families of the victims.

[07] SIMITIS-VERHOFSTADT MEETING IN ATHENS

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and his Belgian counterpart Guy Verhofstadt in the meeting they had in Athens today shared the same views on issues concerning the European defense and the special majority issue raised in the talks on the new EU Constitution.

The two Prime Ministers adopted a positive stance toward the plan of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg on structural cooperation in the sector of defense, underlining the need for a European defense operating in a close cooperation with NATO.

On the special majority issue, Greece and Belgium are in favor of strictly observing the text and the proposals of the inter-governmental conference based on which, the criteria for the special majority decisions are the agreement of 50% of the states and 60% of the population.

Mr. Simitis and Mr. Verhofstadt pointed out that the two countries share the same positions on the most important issues of the European Constitution.

Mr. Simitis gave a special emphasis on the need for the discussion on the European Constitution to conclude to a functional result and avoid postponing the discussion on important issues.

[08] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.28% at 2.163,93 points, while the volume of transactions was at 102.9 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 134 had losses and 153 recorded gains, while the value of 96 stocks remained unchanged.

[09] 90 YEARS OF THE CRETAN UNIFICATION

President of the Greek Republic Costis Stefanopoulos and former President of the Cypriot Republic Glafkos Cliridis, are participating in the events for the celebration for the 90th anniversary since Crete's unification with Greece, which is being organized this year by the Eleftherios K. Venizelos Research and Studies Foundation. The events are taking place in Chania, under the auspices of the Greek Parliament.

[10] GREEK EURO-DEPUTY ON THE VIOLATION OF THE TREATY OF LAUSANNE BY TURKEY

Urgent parliamentary questions to the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers were submitted by Greek Euro-deputy Yiannis Marinos, elected with the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, on the occasion of the Turkish efforts to legalize the seizure of Greek property in the islands of Imvros and Tenedos, northeastern Aegean, through the drawing up of the new Turkish Land Register.

Mr. Marinos points out in his introductions to the two EU bodies that native Greeks live in the islands of Imvros and Tenedos for the past 3,000 years, while according to article 14 of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne those islands were given to Turkey provided that they will have a special administration made up of local elements with guarantees for the native non-Muslim population regarding local administration and the protection of life and property. In the same article is mentioned that law and order will be safeguarded by a force which will be made up of members of the native population, it will be formed by the local administration and will be under its command.

The New Democracy Euro-deputy underlines, that in 1927 Imvros was populated, based on an official Turkish population census, by 7,000 Greeks and a negligible number of Turks, while Tenedos had a population of 2,500 Greeks and 1,247 Turks. Today, only 250 Greeks have been left in Imvros and a total of 9,000 Turkish settlers now live in the island. On the other hand, just 30 Greeks are left in Tenedos and the Turkish administration has proceeded to change the formal names of the two islands, which were used for thousands of years, to Gokce Ada and Bozca Ada respectively.

[11] GREECE IN 1ST GROUP OF EURO 2004

The Greek national football team will play in the first group in the EURO 2004, to be held this summer in Portugal. Specifically, after lots were drawn in Lisbon, the Greek national team will play in the first group with Portugal, Russia and Spain. Greece will be once again playing in a European Championship after 23 years, with Otto Rehagel at the helm, who renewed his contract until 2005.

[12] FIRST GENERATION GREEKS DECREASED BY 6.7%

A decrease of 6.7% during the 1996-2001 period was noted in the number of first generation Greeks living in Victoria, according to the information of the latest census, presented by the New World. There are 116,431 Greeks that were actually born in Greece living in Australia. Of those, almost half (49.6%) live in Victoria, 31.7% in New South Wales and 10.1% live in South Australia.

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