Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-02-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] SELF-PURIFICATION IN THE JUDICIARY

[02] ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS PLEDGED FOR REFORM IN THE CHURCH

[03] BAD WEATHER CONTINUES IN N. GREECE

[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE

[05] THE FARMERS MOBILIZATIONS

[01] SELF-PURIFICATION IN THE JUDICIARY

Supreme Court President Kappos announced that deputy prosecutor Nikos Athanasopoulos and first instance court judges Panagiota Tsevi and Antonia Ilia will appear before the Supreme Court plenary session facing expulsion from the judiciary sector on charges of corruption.

Also, charges are pending against first instance court president Leonidas Stathis.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis had called yesterday on the justice sector leadership and the judges themselves to expel from the judiciary their few corrupt colleagues.

Other four members of the judiciary are expected to appear before the Supreme Court plenary session after surfacing incriminating evidence against them. The Supreme Court plenary session will convene in April.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras has announced a number of measures aimed at combating corruption in the judiciary.

The investigation on the alleged illegal networks has expanded to Thessaloniki and according to an order by the Supreme Court prosecutor, a number of court decisions concerning drug cases and inmate releases will be placed under the microscope.

[02] ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS PLEDGED FOR REFORM IN THE CHURCH

My main concern is reform in the Church to proceed unhindered, said Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece in a statement he made today after accusations on alleged involvement of clerics in an illegal judiciary network.

Earlier, the Athens Archbishopric had denied any link between the Archbishop and Archimandrite Giosakis who appears before the Piraeus examiner tomorrow to testify on an old case of illegal trade of antiquities in Kithira, while he is also indicted to appear in a Church court in a case brought against him by Metropolite Panteleimon of Attiki.

The Holy Synod will deal with the issue on Thursday and Metropolite Theoklitos of Thessaliotida has placed himself at its disposal.

[03] BAD WEATHER CONTINUES IN N. GREECE

Temperature has dropped to 8 degrees centigrade in the northwestern Greek city of Kastoria, while in most parts of northern Greece car drivers face problems because of the low temperatures and the frost.

In large parts of the provincial road network cars need non-skid chains because of the frost. Traffic police calls on the car drivers using the provincial road network and specifically the roads leading to the skiing centers in Macedonia to be careful and use non-skid chains.

Also, non-skid chains are necessary in the mountain road network in the prefectures of Kastoria and Grevena and in the Florina-Kastoria road.

During the night, temperature dropped below zero even in low altitude coastal regions in northern Greece. Specifically, Kozani had 7 degrees Celsius, Ioannina and Serres 4, Alexandroupolis 3 and Thessaloniki 2.

[04] LOSSES IN THE ASE

Losses were recorded in the Athens Stock Exchange today. The general index dropped to -0.24% at 2912.87 points, while the volume of transactions was at 242,1 million euros at the same levels with yesterday's session.

Of the stocks trading today, 94 had gains and 190 had losses, while the value of 137 stocks remained unchanged.

[05] THE FARMERS MOBILIZATIONS

Reason prevailed and the striking farmers lifted the road blockades, stated acting government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, reiterating that the dialogue between the government and the farmers continues.

Meanwhile, the cotton producers in the prefecture of Pella, northern Greece, will continue the road blockades until Thursday when a scheduled meeting with Minister of Agriculture Evangelos Basiakos will take place. The future of their mobilizations will depend on the outcome of their meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The cotton producers in Thessaly, supporting the ruling party of New Democracy withdrew their tractors from the national motorway at Tempi, central Greece this morning after 12 days of mobilizations.

Farmers in Larisa decided unanimously to suspend mobilizations giving the government until February 24 to meet their demands.

The farmers supporting the Communist Party continue the mobilizations at Karditsa, Tirnavos and Elassona, while farmers in Serres decided to keep their tractors at Promachonas until tomorrow.

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