Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 04-04-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] ERDOGAN TO THRACE, KARAMANLIS TO IMVROS

[02] THE BROADENED SYNOD OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE CONVENES TODAY

[03] NEW DEMOCRACY IS AHEAD ACCORDING TO AN OPINION POLL

[04] OVER 100,000 FOREIGN STUDENTS STUDY IN GREEK SCHOOLS

[05] THE PRIME MINISTER'S LABOR DAY MESSAGE

[06] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[07] OVER 485 MILLION PEOPLE MAKE UP THE EUROPE OF THE "25"

[08] PAPANDREOU-DE SOTO MEETING

[09] KARAMANLIS-DE SOTO MEETING

[10] MEETING OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE HOLY SYNOD

[11] EVENTS CELEBRATING THE EU ENLARGEMENT

[01] ERDOGAN TO THRACE, KARAMANLIS TO IMVROS

Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis will visit the islands of Imvros and Tenedos in northeastern Aegean after the NATO Summit in Istanbul, according to unconfirmed information.

The visit will be held after the tour of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Thrace within the framework of his visit to Greece to be launched on May 6.

PASOK commented that the government has offered land and water to Turkey.

Mr. Karamanlis has not danced a zembekiko before his Turkish counterpart. The approach is different, was the government's response.

[02] THE BROADENED SYNOD OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE CONVENES TODAY

The broadened Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the first held after 1918, convenes today in Istanbul. The Synod takes place after the election by the Church of Greece of four new Metropolites in the so-called New Countries

In the Synod participate Metropolites from all over the world and under discussion will be all pending issues with the Greek Church. The 44 hierarchs will decide on what will be the stance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate toward the Church of Greece and determine what will be the climate of the day after in the relations and communication between the two sides.

According to an opinion poll conducted by the Global Link company and published on the Athens newspaper TA NEA, 61% of those asked stated that they want total State-Church separation, while regarding the dispute between Archbishop Christodoulos and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 53% of the New Democracy voters believe that the Archbishop is right, while 40% of the voters of PASOK side with the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Also, 69% believe that the Church displays an excessive interest in issues of power and authority, while regarding its Christian role 60% believe that it serves it well and 35% have a negative opinion. Finally, 43% responded that they want female clerics.

[03] NEW DEMOCRACY IS AHEAD ACCORDING TO AN OPINION POLL

According to the first opinion poll held after the March 7 parliamentary elections and conducted by the Greek Public Opinion, GPO, polling company, the governing party of New Democracy is leading main opposition party of PASOK with 6.9 percentage points. Specifically, New Democracy has 41.8% compared to PASOK's 34.9%.

The opinion poll was conducted on behalf of the Athens newspaper Eleftheros Tipos in the period of April 26-28. Based on the opinion poll, the Communist Party got 7%, Coalition of the Left 4.2%, LAOS 2.6% and DHKKI 1.2%.

Responding to the question which party will win in the Euro-elections next June the voters gave New Democracy 71.1% and PASOK 12%.

Also, 54.5% responded that the picture they have of the government is positive or rather positive, 14.3% negative or rather negative, 27.5% neutral and 3.7% gave no response to the question.

Regarding the image of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, 60% of those asked expressed a positive or rather positive view, 13.4% negative or rather negative, 23.9% neutral and 2.7% gave no response.

Regarding the image of PASOK President Giorgos Papandreou, 33.3% expressed a positive or rather positive view, 27.3% negative or rather negative, 37% neutral and 2.4% gave no response.

[04] OVER 100,000 FOREIGN STUDENTS STUDY IN GREEK SCHOOLS

A total of 98,241 students whose parents are foreigners and 31,873 students whose parents are repatriated Greeks study in Greek schools making up 9% of the student population in the country.

The overwhelming majority (72%) comes from Albania, Bulgaria (3%), Georgia (2.2%), Russia (2.1%), Ukraine (1.5%), Romania (1.2%) and Armenia (1.1%).

[05] THE PRIME MINISTER'S LABOR DAY MESSAGE

In a message on the occasion of the May 1st Labor Day celebrations, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis reminded the commitments he has undertaken to deal with unemployment, create a strong economy, secure a strong society and create a social state with open channels of communication with everybody.

Mr. Karamanlis stresses in his message that the May 1st celebrations pay homage to the struggles of the workers, adding that they coincide with the EU enlargement and Cyprus' EU accession.

[06] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -1.02% at 2517.62 points, while the volume of transactions was at 147.8 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 115 had gains and 188 had losses, while the value of 80 stocks remained unchanged.

[07] OVER 485 MILLION PEOPLE MAKE UP THE EUROPE OF THE "25"

The European Union proceeds tomorrow, May 1st, with its greater enlargement since 1973 when Denmark, Britain and Ireland joined the then EEC (Greece became a member in 1981, Spain and Portugal joined in 1986 and Austria, Sweden and Finland in 1995) by welcoming to its seat in Brussels the representatives of 10 new member-states.

As a result of the enlargement, the European Union becomes an internal market of about 456 million people (its population currently is 380.75 million and 75 million will be added with the ten new members) extending from the Baltics in the east to the British isles in the west and from Scandinavia in the north to the Iberian Peninsula, Greece and Cyprus in the south. The enlarged European Union will cover an area of 3,706,714 square kilometers.

This year, May 1st will be a historic day for the European continent as a whole and the formal accession ceremony will be held in Brussels, the administrative seat-capital of the European Union.

The 10 new EU member-states are Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which are in the Baltics, and Cyprus and Malta, which are island states of the European south, while Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are countries of the central-east European mainland.

The 15 states that are already members of the European Union are, Austria Belgium, France Germany, Denmark, Greece, Britain, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland.

[08] PAPANDREOU-DE SOTO MEETING

UN Secretary General special adviser on Cyprus Alvaro de Soto expressed reservations regarding the likelihood for a new initiative for the solution of the Cyprus problem after the meeting he had with PASOK President Giorgos Papandreou at the party's central offices in Athens today.

On his part, Mr. Papandreou pointed out that the international community should not take the no of the Greek Cypriots in the referendum on the Annan Plan as a rejection and leave the door open for a new initiative in the future.

Mr. De Soto thanked Mr. Papandreou for the cooperation and refused to make any statements to reporters.

After the meeting, Mr. Papandreou said that it is time look ahead as tomorrow Cyprus will be a member of the EU.

[09] KARAMANLIS-DE SOTO MEETING

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis had a 45minute meeting with UN Secretary General special adviser on Cyprus Alvaro de Soto in Athens today and discussed the situation after the no of the Greek Cypriots to the April 24 referendum.

Mr. De Soto did not make any statements to reporters after the meeting with the Prime Minister.

[10] MEETING OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE HOLY SYNOD

The broadened Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that met in Istanbul today has been completed. The Holy Synod convened after the election of four Metropolites in the so-called New Countries by the Church of Greece.

In the Synod participated hierarchs from across the Christian Orthodox world.

The decision reached by the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will be signed by the participants, while a message by the Ecumenical Patriarch is likely after the decision is made public.

[11] EVENTS CELEBRATING THE EU ENLARGEMENT

Cyprus participates in a number of events organized on the occasion of the EU enlargement on May 1 through its diplomatic missions in European and other countries

The events are organized at the initiative of the European Commission, the EU member-states, the 10 EU acceding countries or the diplomatic mission of Cyprus itself.

Major events are being held in Ireland, currently holding the EU Presidency, where the formal EU enlargement will take place. Cyprus participates both in the events organized in Dublin and in the city of Bray where celebrations are dedicated to Cyprus.

Cypriot Republic President Tassos Papadopoulos will represent Cyprus in the Dublin celebrations.

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