Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 03-12-10

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW

[02] CONSTITUTION OR RIFTS WARNS SIMITIS

[03] RESPONSE AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

[04] HUMAN RIGHTS CLASS IN SCHOOLS

[05] KARAMANLIS-VITORINO MEETING

[01] TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW

The highest foreseen penalties for the 11 convicted defendants in the 17N case, for whom no mitigating evidence were recognized, was proposed by DA Christos Lambrou, who called the organization "a fascist morpheme with a Stalinist outlook", causing intense reaction among the defendants. Alexandros Giotopoulos, Dimitris Koufontinas, Vassilis Djorjatos and Iraklis Costaris are facing a life sentence, while mitigating evidence has been recognized for Patroklos Tselentis, Sotiris Condylis, Thomas Serifis and Constantinos Tellios. Nikos Papanastasiou and Pavlos Serifis will be convicted for participation.

[02] CONSTITUTION OR RIFTS WARNS SIMITIS

The danger of the creation of rifts between European countries if negotiations for the European Constitution take forever, was pointed out by Prime Minister Costas Simitis, two days before the Summit Meeting to complete the Italian Presidency. France and Germany repeated at the highest possible level yesterday that they are not prepared to back down so that an agreement can be reached at any cost.

[03] RESPONSE AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

The discussion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's response to the Hierarchy, which rejected the proposal on the Metropolises of the so-called New Countries, was postponed to a meeting of the Holy Synod after the Christmas holidays, while full observation of the 1928 Act was demanded. In statements after yesterday's meeting, the spokesperson of the Holy Synod mentioned the interest of the Church of Greece to resolve all differences peacefully, stressing that it will go to any length to find a peaceful solution.

[04] HUMAN RIGHTS CLASS IN SCHOOLS

Her proposal for the introduction of a class on human rights in schools was repeated by PASOK EuroMP and President of the Committee for Women and Equal Opportunities of the European Parliament, Anna Karamanou, drawing on Human Rights Day.

In the framework of this effort Mrs. Karamanou sent a memo to Minister of Education Petros Efthymiou on November 24, asking that he makes sure that children are taught to respect human rights form a preschool age, and to extend the research for the incorporation of the class in all levels of education.

The respect of human rights secures the personality of each individual anywhere on the planet and its defense is a supreme duty for us all, underlined Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece Christodoulos, in his message on Human Rights Day.

In his message, Mr. Christodoulos stressed that Christianity gave a steady foundation for human rights and raised human kind offering an authentic and essential content to the notions of equality, freedom, justice, work, security, and solidarity.

[05] KARAMANLIS-VITORINO MEETING

Proposals for a joint European Coastguard and a European Body of Border Guards were expressed by President of New Democracy Costas Karamanlis, during his meeting with Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino, while he stressed that it is very important for Piraeus to be the operational center for the protection of the sea borders of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Participants in the meeting included International Relations and European Union Secretary for New Democracy, Professor Giannis Valinakis, and New Democracy Press Spokesperson Thodoris Roussopoulos. Immediately following the meeting, Mr. Karamanlis stated:

With Mr. Vitorino we discussed the issue of the control and administration of the Union's exterior borders. It is a very important issue, which greatly concerns Greece. That is because Greece is the only European country that does not border with other EU countries. And of course it has very extended sea borders, thus leaving it greatly exposed to crimes of modern human trafficking, illegal immigration, with the well known negative results.

It has been a long time since we proposed and we continue to insist on the formation of a Joint European Coast Guard, a European Body of Border Guards, in order to deal with the problem.

It is obvious that the European Union will realize that there is an issue, and steps are being taken, significant steps. I want to stress that it is important for Piraeus to become the seat of the operational center for the protection of the Eastern Mediterranean sea borders. I think that that will be a very significant step forward.

Macedonian Press Agency: Brief News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article