Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 05-02-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] THE NEW HELLENIC REPUBLIC PRESIDENT IS ELECTED TODAY

[02] ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION

[03] INVESTIGATION ON THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THEOKLITOS

[04] ANTONAROS: THE GOV'T SUPPORTS THE CHURCH CLEANUP EFFORT

[05] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS LEAVES OFFICE WITH UNPRECEDENTED POPULARITY

[06] AGREEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORTATION

[07] THE GREEK JUSTICE MINISTER VISITS TURKEY

[01] THE NEW HELLENIC REPUBLIC PRESIDENT IS ELECTED TODAY

The Greek Parliament elects Karolos Papoulias at 7 pm this afternoon to the post of the Hellenic Republic President.

The 76-year-old former Foreign Minister will be the sole nominee for the post and he will be the 6th elected President of the 3rd Hellenic Republic with a record number of votes, expected to be 282 equaling the number of ruling New Democracy and main opposition Socialist Party of PASOK Parliament deputies.

The virtues Mr. Papoulias has guarantee that the choices made by New Democracy will be successful, stated Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis addressing the New Democracy Parliament deputies and stressed that the specific choice transcends dividing lines.

The Parliament deputies of the Communist Party and Coalition will not vote for Mr. Papoulias.

The new Hellenic Republic President will take the oath of office before the Parliament on March 12 when the term of outgoing President Kostis Stephanopoulos ends.

[02] ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION

The Greek people demand to put an end to the corruption phenomena, stated Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis referring to the latest accusations targeting both the Greek Orthodox Church and the justice system.

Mr. Karamanlis addressing the New Democracy Parliament deputies stated that the position of New Democracy is known, zero tolerance for corruption.

He said that the government supports every cleanup effort made by the Church, stressing that brave decisions and no compromise should be made to this effort, while he reiterated that the government is determined to strengthen the institutions no matter the cost.

Also, Mr. Karamanlis referred to the election of the new Hellenic Republic President by the Parliament this evening.

He spoke warmly about current President Kostis Stephanopoulos, while he praised the personality of Karolos Papoulias, stressing that he is more than certain that he will meet the high demands of the institution to the fullest.

[03] INVESTIGATION ON THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THEOKLITOS

The Church of Greece Holy Synod decided in favor of the appointment of a special examiner to undertake the investigation on immorality accusations targeting Metropolite Theoklitos of Thessaliotida.

In its meeting today the Holy Synod examined the accusations made against him and the written explanations he submitted characterizing them as unfounded.

Also, the issue concerning the interventions made during the election of Patriarch Erineos of Jerusalem has surfaced again.

Meanwhile, Piraeus Prosecutor Grigoris Peponis proposed the detention of Archimandrite Iakovos Giosakis accused of being involved in an antiquities smuggling case in the island of Kythera.

Ruling party of New Democracy Euro-deputy Yiannis Varvitsiotis backed the Church and State separation.

[04] ANTONAROS: THE GOV'T SUPPORTS THE CHURCH CLEANUP EFFORT

Responding to the question if the government examines the likelihood of the State-Church separation, acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros stated that there is no such issue for the government, adding that the issue was discussed during the review of the Constitution.

On the crisis in the Greek Orthodox Church, Mr. Antonaros cited the statement made today by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis during the ruling party of New Democracy Parliament deputies meeting namely, that there must be zero tolerance for corruption and everything necessary should be done to restore the people's confidence in the top institutions of society. He also stressed that the government supports the Church's cleanup effort.

Asked to comment if the government is in contact with the Church especially during this period, Mr. Antonaros responded that all contacts deemed necessary take place.

[05] PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS LEAVES OFFICE WITH UNPRECEDENTED POPULARITY RECORD

Hellenic Republic President Kostis Stephanopoulos completes his two five-year terms in office having won the hearts of the Greek people, given the fact that he was a model public servant constituting an example of political and social behavior.

In his ten years in the highest state office, Mr. Stephanopoulos won the respect, the trust and love of the overwhelming majority of the Greek people a fact always reflected on opinion polls results.

The first citizen of the country was always among the three most popular politicians and most of the time he was the most popular with over 90%.

Mr. Stephanopoulos has received 93.1%, the highest popularity rating ever received by a politician in Greece.

[06] AGREEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORTATION

Minister of Transportation and Communications Michalis Liapis and his Bosnian counterpart Branco Dokic, who is on a three-day visit to Greece, signed an agreement on international road transportation of people and goods today.

The agreement aims at contributing to the further development of bilateral cooperation in the transportation of passengers and goods and the promotion of trade transactions between Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina on the basis of reciprocity and mutual interest.

[07] THE GREEK JUSTICE MINISTER VISITS TURKEY

Greek Minister of Justice Anastasis Papaligouras will be on a visit to Turkey tomorrow until Friday as the formal guest of his Turkish counterpart Cemil Cicek.

Mr. Papaligouras will meet in Ankara tomorrow with his counterpart and President of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors.

On Thursday he will have successive meetings with the presidents of the Constitutional Court, the Turkish National Assembly, the Supreme Court and the State Council, while will also visit the Court Building in Ankara.

On Friday, he will visit Istanbul and meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

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