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Athens News Agency: News in English, 97-02-11

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.forthnet.gr/ape>


NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 11/02/1997 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

  • Rifkind's fears of war 'exaggerated', Athens says
  • EU Commission sees positive results in Greek economy
  • NATO Cincsouth to visit Athens
  • Cabinet to discuss social dialogue at Friday meeting
  • Policeman charged with killing of young Albanian
  • Yacht fire causes oil slick in Piraeus port
  • Police break up prostitution racket
  • Open Skies Treaty trial flights over Larisa
  • Striking teachers take protests to downtown Athens
  • Olympic Airways, Hertz offers special fly-drive deal
  • Macedonia-Thrace Bank enters EU investment programme

    NEWS IN DETAIL

    Rifkind's fears of war 'exaggerated', Athens says

    The government today expressed displeasure at statements by British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind who in an interview with BBC radio said there was a ''serious possibility'' of military conflict between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus.

    Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said it was ''exaggerated'' and ''unfair'' to Athens for any comparison to be made between Greece and the situation prevailing in other Balkan countries and in Turkey.

    ''It is impermissible when analyses and comments by international officials treat Greece as a country which consitutes part of a problem in the region, '' Reppas said.

    ''If there is a danger of conflict,'' he added, ''it emanates from the rash and aggressive policy of Turkey, which is disputing our country's sovereign rights. They cannot place Greece in the same boat with Turkey.''

    The spokesman called on all parties in any way involved with the issue ''to direct their observations, criticism and even accusations'' to Turkey.

    ''If we want peace in the region, we must render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and deal with the crux of the problem, something which is not evident in Mr. Rifkind's statements,'' Reppas said.

    Replying to reporters' questions, Reppas said that Turkish policy could, under certain circumstances, indeed lead to conflict, since the neighbouring country was operating as a destabilising factor.

    On the Cyprus problem, the spokesman underlined that Greece's positions were in line with UN resolutions, in contrast with those of Turkey which was obstructing a settlement of the problem.

    Reppas also reiterated the proposal of the Cyprus government for the demilitarization of the divided island.

    In the interview, Mr. Rifkind warned that there was a serious possibility of Greece and Turkey going to war over Cyprus and accused Athens and Ankara of lacking the political will to find a solution.

    "When relations are already bad and tense and difficult and both sides appear to be looking for an excuse to make them worse, that is pretty grim, " he said.

    Asked whether there might be conflict between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean, Mr Rifkind said: "It has to be a serious possibility."

    "I am not as confident as logic would imply because there has been a real lack of political will on both sides," he said.

    Britain expressed alarm last month over a Greek Cypriot decision to buy Russian surface-to-air missiles, saying it could destabilise what is already one of the most heavily militarised areas of the world.

    On a visit to the divided island in December, Mr Rifkind told Greek Cypriot leaders the planned purchase would be a "big step in the wrong direction."

    Commission sees positive results in Greek economy

    The European Commission's annual report on the performance of European Union member-states' economies in 1996, expected to be publicised in the next few days, acknowledges in its draft text on Greece that positive results are arising from implementation of a revised convergence programme.

    However, the Commission insists on the ascertainment that Greek public deficits have a structural nature, and for this reason structural policies are required to remedy existing fiscal imbalances.

    According to reports, the special chapter on the development of the Greek economy in 1996 is not expected to have major changes, additions and corrections reshaping its present content, but will contain predictions expressing satisfaction over the gover nment's efforts and estimates of a 2.4 per cent growth rate in the country over the past year.

    On the question of inflation, the report assesses an average of 6.9 per cent for 1997 and does not expect unemployment to exceed 9 per cent of the working population.

    The European Commission also hails a package of measures implemented by the government, for the first time in the country's history, and aimed at reducing public expenditures. The Commission anticipates that this initiative will result in almost the dou bling of the GDP's primary surplus in 1997 as against 1996, which in turn will contribute to a decrease in the country's excessive public debt.

    NATO Cincsouth to visit Athens

    The commander of NATO's southeastern wing, Admiral Joseph Lopez, is due to arrive in Greece for a two-day visit tomorrow at the invitation of the Chief of the National Defence General Staff, General Athanasios Tzoganis.

    On Thursday, Lopez will have talks with the political and military leadership of the National Defence Ministry focusing on issues of mutual military interest and Greece's relations with NATO.

    Cabinet to discuss social dialogue at Friday meeting

    The Cabinet will convene at noon on Friday to discuss proposals for social dialogue, during which Prime Minister Costas Simitis is expected to make relevant announcements, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said today.

    The meeting was originally scheduled for last Thursday but was postponed due to escalating protests by farmers in central Greece.

    Reppas said that social dialogue should have a permanent ''institutional'' nature and not be conducted only at times of crisis.

    Policeman charged with killing young Albanian

    A policeman charged with killing a young Albanian illegal immigrant three days ago was released on bail of 1 million drachmas on Tuesday.

    Miltiadis Andreopoulos, 31, has been charged with homicide with the possibility of it being wilful.

    The victim was a 19-year-old Albanian whose first name is Erion. No other details are available.

    Police said the incident took place three days ago in the area of Perikopi, Kastoria when Andreopoulos and a colleague tried to flag down a car with Albanian license plates.

    The car headed straight for them however and the policemen shot at the tyres to immobilize it.

    An initial report of Kastoria police headquarters said that one of the bullets went through the boot of the car and hit the 19-year-old Albanian in the head.

    The car came to a halt, the driver fled and another three Albanians gave themselves up to the police.

    The injured Albanian died on the way to hospital.

    An official investigation into the incident was ordered yesterday and a public prosecutor charged Andreopoulos with homicide.

    Yacht fire causes oil slick in Piraeus port

    An American-registered yacht sank after catching fire today while docked at a marina near Piraeus, causing a one kilometre long oil slick.

    The 45.89 ton "Tatiana" was docked at a marina in Faliro Bay when it caught fire early this morning due most likely to a short circuit in its generator, according to the skipper, who was the only person on board at the time.

    The diesel oil in the Tatiana's fuel tanks spilled into the sea when the yacht sank after the blaze was put out. Three boats specialised in containing oil spills and carrying dispersants have rushed to the site

    The Piraeus Port Authority is investigating the causes of the fire.

    Police break up prostitution racket

    A Greek furniture-maker has been arrested near Serres for allegedly supplying nightclubs in northern Greece with prostitutes from Balkan countries.

    Petros Stoyiannis, 43, a resident of Skydra, Pella was arrested in his car while transporting three Romanian girls from the Greek-Bulgarian border to Thessaloniki.

    The three Romanians have already been deported.

    According to the police, Stoyiannis filled ''orders'' from nightclub owners in various towns and cities of northern Greece, arranging to bring young girls from Balkan countries to work as prostitutes, in cooperation with a Bulgarian gang.

    Open Skies Treaty trial flights scheduled over Larisa

    Greece will cooperate with Germany in the use of a German aircraft for trial flights to observe and photograph the Larisa region between Feb. 10- 15 within the framework of preparing implementation of the Open Skies Treaty.

    Observers from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Italy and Spain have been invited to attend the flights.

    The Open Skies Treaty was signed in Helsinki on March 24, 1992, and establishes a system of overflights over all territory of participant countries, which aims to achieving transparency on military activities. This facilitates control regarding compliance with existing or future agreements on controlling and reducing armaments, while the possibility of preventing conflicts is also provided.

    In this context, every signatory is obliged to accept a number of photo reconnaissance flights, and at the same time it has the right to perform an equal number of flights over other countries. Two or more countries can cooperate in observation flights.

    Countries having ratified the treaty include Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Britain, Georgia, Italy, Kirgizhstan, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United States , Hungary and Iceland.

    Greek Parliament ratified the treaty on March 20, 1993.

    Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are expected to follow suit and ratify to enable the treaty to be fully implemented.

    Striking teachers take protests to downtown Athens

    Striking teachers' morale appeared to be high yesterday as the fourth week of strike actions began, with strikers enjoying a concert outside the ministry before marching off to Parliament and then to the finance ministry.

    Meanwhile, Education Undersecretary Yiannis Anthopoulos told reporters that making up for lost school time by extending the school year "was an extreme situation", and that there were other ways to deal with the situation.

    Asked whether there were any margins for improving teachers' wages, one of their main demands, Mr. Anthopoulos said if teachers accepted a proposal put forward by the president of the teachers' federation, Nikos Tsoulias, then they would see a rise in total yearly income of between 400,000-900, 000 drachmas.

    However, the administrative board of OLME, the high school teachers' union, decided yesterday to propose to a general assembly meeting today that the strike continue for a fifth week.

    A final decision will be taken tomorrow, at a meeting of the heads of local teacher unions.

    Meanwhile, workers at state childcare centres have given notice that they will join colleagues in strike action this month.

    An announcement said a 48-hour strike had been called for Feb. 12-13 and a three-day strike for Feb. 19-21.

    OA, Hertz offers special fly-drive deal

    Olympic Airways (OA) has signed a deal with Hertz rent-a-car to offer its economy and executive class passengers, as well as its frequent flyers, cut- rate prices when renting cars in most OA destinations within Greece and abroad. The offer is also availab le to OA package-ticket (airline and hotel) customers as well as to airline staff.

    Macedonia-Thrace Bank enters EU investment programme

    A draft agreement was signed yesterday on the accession of the Macedonia- Thrace Bank to the financial intermediates network of the European Union's "JOP PHARE-TACIS" programme. The draft agreement anticipates cooperation between the bank and the EU in the framework of the programme of promoting investments in central and eastern European countries, as well as in the Russian Federation, particularly in relation of supporting the creation and development of joint businesses between EU partners and these countries.

    The programme's beneficiaries are the small- and medium-sized enterprises of EU member-states and their financial support will be anticipated for establishing, in cooperation with local partners, joint enterprises headquartered in central and eastern Eu ropean countries as well as in the Russian Federation. Investments to be financed include all sectors and business activities.

    WEATHER

    Fair weather in most parts of Greece, except for some local clouds in the south and local frost and fog early tomorrow morning. Athens and Thessaloniki will be mostly sunny with temperatures ranging from 4-16 in the former and - 1 to 14C in the latter.

    FOREIGN EXCHANGE

    Closing rates - buying US dlr. 257.603 Pound sterling 420.925 Cyprus pd 520.800 French franc 46.158 Swiss franc 181.253 German mark 155.789 Italian lira (100) 15.848 Yen (100) 210.125 Canadian dlr. 190.583 Australian dlr. 195.275 Irish Punt 413.267 Belgian franc 7.553 Finnish mark 52.516 Dutch guilder 138.721 Danish kr. 40.870 Swedish kr. 35.107 Norwegian kr. 39.476 Austrian sch. 22.132 Spanish peseta 1.841 Portuguese escudo 1.555

    (M.P.)


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