From: tzarros@ccs.carleton.ca (Theodore Zarros) Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Wed, 14 Sep 1994 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa). Athens News Agency Bulletin, September 14, 1994 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Tirana refuses Greek diplomat appointment, escalates tension again * Van den Broek spokesman * Papoulias briefs SYN leader * Senior US diplomat in Athens today * Patriarch Vartholomeos meets with Dr. Kissinger * Senior UN envoys in Athens consultations on Cyprus * NATO team at Chalkida meeting * French group call on House vice president * Marginal drachma hike against foreign, European currencies * Banks lower interest rates * To Readers of the Daily Bulletin Tirana refuses Greek diplomat appointment, escalates tension again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): Greece yesterday accused Albania of intensifying tension, following Tirana's refusal to accept the appointment of a Greek diplomatic official. "Albania is escalating tension with Greece. This strategy cannot contribute to a good climate of relations between the two states," government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said. Diplomatic sources in Athens noted Tirana had refused the appointment of a Greek military attachi, citing allegations of increased troop movement along Greece's border with Albania and violations of Albanian airspace. Commenting on a message of support by Turkish President Suleyman Demirel to Albanian President Sali Berisha on Monday, Mr. Venizelos said Turkey was stepping up tension between Greece and Albania. He said Athens was right in criticising Turkey of inciting Albania's policy of straining relations with Greece. Meanwhile in Bonn, President of Parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis, currently participating in a meeting of the Presidents of the European Union National Parliaments, yesterday pointed out that the issue of the human and minority rights protection of the ethnic Greek minority in Albania, although not originally included on the agenda, was discussed during the meeting upon his demand. Addressing a joint press conference of EU troika National Parliament Presidents, Mr. Kaklamanis said his act was aimed at drawing the attention of his counterparts to this pressing issue. "Greece follows a policy of peace and stability in the Balkans," he said, adding that an inter-party committee would launch a series of briefing visits to the European capitals. Mr. Kaklamanis handed his counterparts a resolution of the Greek Parliament regarding the conviction of five ethnic Greeks by an Albanian Court last week, which caused Greek-Albanian relations to plunge to an all-times low. The five ethnic Greek members of the political Organisation Omonia, charged with spying for Greece and illegal possession of weapons, were convicted and handed down jail sentences of between six to eight years. They were arrested after a fatal attack against a border conscript centre inside Albania led to a growing crisis between Athens and Tirana. Albania accused Greece for launching the attack which resulted in the death of two Albanian conscripts, but Athens flatly denied the charges. Athens has condemned the trial as a political fabrication aimed at terrorising its ethnic minority in Albania, and retaliated by blocking European Union aid to Albania and tightening land and sea border control. Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou told a press conference on Sunday that Greece's stance against Albania was "tough and would become even tougher." His statement was reiterated to the press by Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias, who said Greece would respond to fresh provocations by Albania with tougher action. Van den Broek spokesman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brussels, 14/9/1994 (ANA/F.Stangos): Meanwhile, in Brussels, European Commissioner for external affairs Hans van den Broek held a meeting with Albanian Ambassador to Brussels, Artour Kuko, focusing on Greek-Albanian and Albanian-European Union relations. The meeting lasted about an hour and was held at the request of Mr. Kuko. After the meeting, a spokesman for Mr. Broek told the press the European Commissioner had stressed to the Albanian Ambassador that "the European Commission is ready to help towards a settlement of the Greek-Albanian crisis to such degree as would be desirable by the two sides." According to the spokesman, the Albanian envoy said his government was willing to enter dialogue with Greece. The spokesman added that Mr. Broek stressed to the Albanian Ambassador the "significance which the Commission attributes to a continuation of Albania's democratisation process." At the same time, the European Commissioner said " macro-economic aid to Albania is considered a matter of urgency by the European Commission." Mr. Broek stressed that the Commission would do everything in its power to release shortly European Union funds to the Albanian government. The spokesman avoided direct comment to press questions as to whether or not Mr. Broek had discussed the release of the five ethnic Greeks with Mr. Kuko. Athens blocked a 15 million ECU ($18 million) European Union aid package, the first part of a 30 million ECU ($42 million) European Union loan to strike back at Albania after a Tirana court charged with espionage and eventually sentenced to prison the five ethnic Greek Omonia leaders. Greece said it had blocked European Union funds to Albania, because the neighbouring country had failed to improve its human and minority rights record, or meet European Union Foreign Ministers' terms. Greece also ruled out dialogue with Albania on the grounds of absence of good will in the neighbouring country, and failure to release of the five ethnic Greeks. Athens called for international pressure on Tirana to release the five ethnic Greek Omonia leading members and requested the European Union to show solidarity with Greece, by putting its common foreign policy to the test. Papoulias briefs SYN leader ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias yesterday briefed Coalition of the Left and Progress (Synaspismos) leader Nikos Constantopoulos on results of his recent visit to Cyprus and the informal Council of European Union Foreign Ministers in Germany, at an hour-long meeting held at Mr. Constantopoulos' request. Mr. Papoulias made no statement afterwards, but Mr. Constantopoulos declared he had stated the Coalition's views on Greek-Albanian relations and the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Mr. Constantopoulos noted it was necessary to redefine foreign policy along clearly defined axes, namely: a solution to the FYROM issue in the framework of UN-sponsored dialogue, coupled with specific diplomatic initiatives to exit the present morass in Greek-Albanian relations, since tension had a destabilising effect. "The problem of Greek-Albanian relations is neither marginal nor regional. It is a problem of strategic significance to Greece, the Balkans and the European Union. It is necessary to chart a long-term policy that will make it easier to cope with the provocative attitude of Turkey and its policy, and foil all plans or decisions aimed at driving Greece into third speed EU," he said. Commenting on the FYROM issue, Mr. Constantopoulos said Greece should launch an initiative for UN-sponsored dialogue to promote a solution to the problem. The Coalition position, he said, is that dialogue should also be held in the framework of the UN on the issue of the name FYROM). Mr. Constantopoulos told a questioner current foreign policy on Greek-Albanian relations should be maintained at the same level of calm and stability. Senior US diplomat in Athens today ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): US Deputy Secretary of State Peter Tarnoff arrives in Athens from Zurich today, for talks with Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias, a Ministry announcement said yesterday. Foreign Ministry officials did not reveal items on the agenda of Mr. Tarnoff's talks. The visit comes a week after a leading advisor of US President Clinton flew to Athens to discuss developments in strained relations between Greece and Albania. Patriarch Vartholomeos meets with Dr. Kissinger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Istanbul, 14/9/1994 (ANA): Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos yesterday met with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who is visiting Turkey at the invitation of Ahmet Ertegun, owner of the Atlantic Recording company. Patriarch Vartholomeos attended an official dinner at the Ciragan Hotel, offered in honour of Mr. and Mrs. Kissinger. Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller also attended the dinner. Senior UN envoys in Athens consultations on Cyprus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): Two top UN envoys arrived in Athens yesterday, for talks with the Greek government on the deadlocked Cyprus issue. The UN Secretary-General's special envoy for Cyprus Joe Clark arrived from London, where he held talks with British Foreign Office officials, as part of renewed UN efforts to end the current stalemate in the Cyprus peace negotiations. From Athens, Mr. Clark will go to Ankara for talks with Turkish officials and Nicosia, where he will meet with Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. UN chief's resident representative in Cyprus Gustave Feissel arrived from Larnaca. Both Mr. Clark and Mr. Feissel will hold talks with Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias today. NATO team at Chalkida meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): Leading NATO officials are to hold this month two meetings in Chalkida, Evia, to discuss military training issues, National Defence Ministry sources said yesterday. An initial two-day meeting begins today, and another on Monday through September 22. Representatives of European states participating in Nato's 'Partnership for Peace' programme will attend, the sources added. French group call on House vice president ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): A visiting French parliamentary delegation yesterday held talks with Parliament First Vice President Panayiotis Kritikos. Talks focused on issues of mutual interest, including upgrading the role and increasing the responsibilities of national parliaments in the framework of the European Union. The French delegation arrived Monday, and will stay until September 18. Marginal drachma hike against foreign, European currencies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): The drachma rose marginally against foreign and European currencies in August, according to a report issued yesterday by the Exports Research and Studies Centre (KEEM). It said the weighted index for the basket of all currencies dropped 0.25 per cent based on Greece's overall trade. The corresponding index for the basket of European currencies depreciated 0.19 per cent, KEEM said. It added the cumulative rise of the basket of all foreign currencies during the eight-month period January through August was 3.54 per cent . European currencies marked a 4.36 per cent rise during the same period. Banks lower interest rates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): The downward trend in bank interest rates is continuing, while liquidity continues to be high and inflation has stabilised at about 11 per cent. Inter-bank interest rates showed a small increase, but continue to remain at relatively low levels. The overnight interest rate ranged between 18.5-19.5 per cent, and inter-bank interest rates for one year ranged between 19 per cent and 20.50 per cent. Banks reducing their interest rates, include Ergobank which lowered the main interest rate on working capital from 28 to 27 per cent and the Bank of Central Greece from 28 to 27 per cent respectively, while the Egnatia Bank reduced its main loans interest rate to 28 per cent. To Readers of the Daily Bulletin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Athens, 14/9/1994 (ANA): The Athens News Agency (ANA) provides a same-day, around-the-clock-news service in English to keep subscribers up to date on the issues that shape Greece's political and economic scene. The ANA Special English Service offers diplomats and journalists the latest news by telex on the country's foreign and domestic policies, its political parties, trade unions and pressure groups, the economy, industry and transport, and visits by officials from abroad. For further information, please call Chris Eliou, Director of the Special English Service on 3639816, Ext. 47. You may order subscriptions from George Tsambras, Public Relations Officer, on 3637523.