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Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 98-10-12

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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


MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Thessaloniki, October 12, 1998

SECTIONS

  • [A] NATIONAL NEWS
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • NEWS HEADLINES

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

  • [01] PREMIER COMMENTS ON LOCAL ELECTIONS: "WE RECEIVED THE MESSAGE"
  • [02] LOCAL ELECTIONS: SECOND ROUND IN THESSALONIKI, MAIN OPPOSITION LEADS
  • [03] AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR TO ARRIVE IN ATHENS THURSDAY
  • [04] ATHENS-HELD CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS COMPUTER MILLENNIUM BUG
  • [05] US EMBASSY AND CONSULATES CLOSED TODAY FOR COLUMBUS DAY
  • [06] PREMIER TO LAUNCH INT/L BUSINESS CONFERENCE IN NORTHERN GREECE
  • [07] "DYNAMIC MIX - ‘98" CURRENTLY HELD IN GREECE
  • [08] 466 MAYORS AND 15 PREFECTS WERE ELECTED IN THE FIRST ROUND
  • [09] THE GOVERNMENT GOT THE MESSAGE SENT OUT BY THE ELECTION RESULTS
  • [10] THE CANDIDATES OF PASOK AND ND IN THE PREFECTURE OF THESSALONIKI WILL BE IN THE SECOND ROUND
  • [11] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE SCHOOL BOOKS USED IN THE BALKANS
  • [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

  • [12] GREEK PREMIER TO MEET WITH TURKISH COUNTERPART IN ANTALYA TODAY
  • [13] ANTALYA SUMMIT BEGINS, GREEK PM AND FM PRESENT
  • [14] ANTALYA SUMMIT BEGINS TODAY
  • [15] MOUNTING PRESSURE ON MILOSEVIC AS NATO AWAITS "ACTIVATION ORDER"
  • [16] F.R.Y. DEFENSE MINISTER: NATO WILL NOT INTERVENE
  • [17] ALBANIAN VICE PRESIDENT: NATO SHOULD HIT SERB TARGETS IMMEDIATELY
  • [18] THE SIMITIS-YILMAZ MEETING WILL BE HELD IN ANTALYA THIS EVENING
  • [19] THE MILOSEVIC-HALBROOKE MEETING IS IN PROGRESS
  • [20] CYPRUS WILL BECOME AN EU MEMBER, STATED THE SOCIALIST GROUP LEADER IN THE EU PARLIAMENT
  • [21] THE ALBANIAN STATE TELEVISION INFORMS THE PEOPLE ON THE DEVELOPMENTS IN KOSOVO CONSTANTLY

  • NEWS IN DETAIL

    [A] NATIONAL NEWS

    [01] PREMIER COMMENTS ON LOCAL ELECTIONS: "WE RECEIVED THE MESSAGE"

    On the aftermath of the yesterday's local elections, where the conservative main opposition party gained the lead in the country's three largest municipalities, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis stated that the results sent messages to the government and, he said, "we received them and we will evaluate them."

    Mr. Simitis added that yesterday's election proved that the government's policy for self-government and decentralization has the support of the Greek people.

    Yesterday, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said that regardless of the final results, the government will press on with its task and will be judged on its total work in the general elections of the year 2000.

    [02] LOCAL ELECTIONS: SECOND ROUND IN THESSALONIKI, MAIN OPPOSITION LEADS

    Ruling PASOK-party candidates are left licking their wounds, or rolling their sleeves up for the second round, after the main opposition-backed candidates gained the lead in the country's three largest municipalities during yesterday's local government elections -municipal and prefectural.

    In Athens, incumbent mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos enjoyed an unprecedented sweeping victory having earned 55.3% of the votes, while in Thessaloniki, New Democracy backed candidate Vasilis Papageorgopoulos amassed 44.4.% of the votes, while the PASOK candidate Thrasyvoulos Lazarides, gathered 31.3%. In Piraeus, the main opposition's candidate Agrapides was ahead of the PASOK- backed candidate Fotiou. Both Thessaloniki and Piraeus are headed for a second round next Sunday as the winning ticket in these two cities failed to receive the absolute majority of votes.

    Minister of Press and Media Dimitris Reppas stated that regardless of the final results, the government will press on with its task.

    These elections are the first to take place after the merging of a multitude of small communities into larger municipal units.

    [03] AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR TO ARRIVE IN ATHENS THURSDAY

    Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima is expected to arrive on an official visit to Athens on Thursday, as part of a tour of all European Union capitals.

    Mr. Klima, who will be received by Greek Premier Kostas Simitis, currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

    [04] ATHENS-HELD CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS COMPUTER MILLENNIUM BUG

    The Greek Management Association, in cooperation with the European Council of Management, is to host a conference concerning the various ways to address the computer millennium bug in the year 2000.

    Minster of the Interior Alekos Papadopoulos and the managing director of Commercial Bank of Greece, George Michelis are to address the event, which will be held this Thursday and Friday, October 15-16, and which will be inaugurated by the British Ambassador to Athens Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith.

    The conference will present solutions to the millennium bug applied by international corporations in sectors including industry and services.

    The bug will cause many computers to fail by reading the date 2000 as 1900 because computer software programmers have abbreviated each year to the two final digits in order to save computer memory.

    The conference is being held under the aegis of the British Embassy in Athens.

    [05] US EMBASSY AND CONSULATES CLOSED TODAY FOR COLUMBUS DAY

    The United States embassy in Athens and its general consulates in both the capital and Thessaloniki, along with all US federal government agency offices in Greece, will be closed today in honor of Columbus Day, a national holiday in the US.

    [06] PREMIER TO LAUNCH INT/L BUSINESS CONFERENCE IN NORTHERN GREECE

    Prime Minister Kostas Simitis will inaugurate an international business conference to be held in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupolis on October 22-25.

    Expected to attend the conference are officials from seventy six countries including ministers, ambassadors, trade attaches and bank governors.

    Among the items on the agenda are energy networks, transport, telecommunications, small and medium-sized enterprises, and peace and security in the region.

    Moreover, the event will review the prospects for a new economic area after the year 2000 spanning the Mediterranean, Balkans and Black Sea.

    Greece's Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who is also the head of the conference's organizing committee, has personally called on the delegates to forge contacts in order to help expand cooperation in the region.

    Organizing the event is the Foundation for Mediterranean Cooperation, backed by the European Parliament, the European Investment Bank, the Foundation for Mediterranean Studies and local authorities in the north.

    [07] "DYNAMIC MIX - ‘98" CURRENTLY HELD IN GREECE

    The final phase of NATO's exercise "Dynamic Mix '98 is to be held tomorrow near the northern Greek city of Kilkis, in the presence of Defense Undersecretary Dimitris Apostolakis.

    The exercise is concurrently being held in Italy and Turkey. The hypothetical scenario of the exercise involves the dispatch of peacekeeping forces and humanitarian aid.

    [08] 466 MAYORS AND 15 PREFECTS WERE ELECTED IN THE FIRST ROUND

    Fifteen prefects and 466 mayors were elected in the first round of the local administration elections held in Greece yesterday.

    There will be a second round of voting in the municipality of Thessaloniki where Vasilis Papageorgopoulos, from the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy got 44.3% of the votes and Thrasivoulos Lazaridis, backed by the governing socialist party of PASOK, got 31.3%.

    Spiros Vougias, who had the support of the Coalition of the Left and the Environmentalists, got 15% of the vote and suggested to his followers to vote by conscience. According to statements he made to MPA, he will not meet with Mr. Papageorgopoulos or Mr. Lazaridis.

    From his side, Mr. Lefteris Konstantinidis, who was backed by the Democratic Social Movement, stated that in the second round he will vote for the candidate backed by PASOK, namely Thrasivoulos Lazaridis but added that he can not commit his voters to do the same.

    [09] THE GOVERNMENT GOT THE MESSAGE SENT OUT BY THE ELECTION RESULTS

    The government got the message of the elections but this message must be received by everyone, stated acting government spokesman Yiannis Nikolaou, who clarified that no government reshuffle is being considered.

    He stressed that the government remains firm in its basic political choices (EMU etc) but it got the message sent out by the electorate and will take it under consideration. He called on right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy to stop gloating over the defeat of its rivals because there is still a second round of voting in many regions and stressed that the socialist governing party of PASOK remains a dominant force in the local administration, backing the whole institution and leading it to new paths.

    [10] THE CANDIDATES OF PASOK AND ND IN THE PREFECTURE OF THESSALONIKI WILL BE IN THE SECOND ROUND

    The candidate backed by the governing socialist party of PASOK for the post of the prefect of Thessaloniki Kostas Papadopoulos will try and form alliances with the candidates who were excluded from the second round of voting that will be held next Sunday, October 18. Speaking to MPA, Mr. Papadopoulos stated that he is satisfied with the election results.

    Christos Koskinas, the candidate backed by the right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy, speaking to MPA referred to the small lead he has over Kostas Papadopoulos and said that he has already started efforts to reach a cooperation agreement with the candidates who were left out of the second round.

    [11] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE SCHOOL BOOKS USED IN THE BALKANS

    Important conclusions derived from scientific research on the way neighboring peoples are being presented in the Balkan school books, will be presented in the international conference on the issue that will be held in Thessaloniki on October 16, 17 and 18.

    The conference is organized by Thessaloniki's Aristotle University School of Philosophy.

    [B] INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    [12] GREEK PREMIER TO MEET WITH TURKISH COUNTERPART IN ANTALYA TODAY

    Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mesut Yilmaz this evening, on the sidelines of the Balkan Summit held in Antalya, Turkey.

    Also this evening, Mr. Simitis will meet with his Bulgarian counterpart Ivan Kostov and the President of Serbia Milan Miludinovic.

    During his address at this morning's meeting among the leaders, Mr. Simitis referred to the Kossovo crisis and tabled specific proposals for its resolution.

    The Minister of Press and Media Dimitris Reppas, told the Macedonian Press Agency that Greece will not allow NATO aircraft overflights in its national airspace.

    Mr. Reppas stressed that only two NATO bases will be used n Greece.

    [13] ANTALYA SUMMIT BEGINS, GREEK PM AND FM PRESENT

    The two-day second summit of heads of states and governments from south-eastern Europe began today in Antalya, Turkey, with Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis and Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos present.

    Bilateral talks among the Balkan leaders are expected to begin this afternoon, although a meeting between Mr. Simitis and his Turkish counterpart Mesut Yilmaz has yet to be finalized.

    The Summit meeting, which constitutes a continuation of last year's summit held in Crete, is held under a dark cloud of a potential NATO air strike against Serb military targets at Kosovo. The first step towards establishing an across-the-board level of cooperation among the Balkan states was taken at the Crete summit, premised on the belief that "what unites these countries is greater than what divides them."

    The highlight of last year's Summit was also the meeting between Serb President Slobodan Milosevic and Albania's then- Premier Fatos Nano, the first such meeting in the past 50 years.

    Neither of the two men will be in Antalya as Mr. Milosevic is dealing with a hard task at home, while Mr. Nano recently resigned from the premier's post.

    Also absent from the Summit are FYROM's President Kiro Gligorov and Albania's newly-elected Premier Padeli Majko.

    [14] ANTALYA SUMMIT BEGINS TODAY

    The second summit meeting of heads of states and governments from south-eastern Europe is to begin today and tomorrow in Antalya, Turkey. The meeting, which constitutes a continuation of last year's summit held in Crete, is held under a dark cloud of a potential NATO air strike against Serb military targets at Kosovo .

    Prime Minister Kostas Simitis is expected to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mesut Yilmaz on the sidelines of the conference tomorrow, while the foreign ministers of both Greece and Turkey, Theodoros Pangalos and Ismael Cem respectively, are also expected to hold talks.

    [15] MOUNTING PRESSURE ON MILOSEVIC AS NATO AWAITS "ACTIVATION ORDER"

    International pressure is mounting on Serb President Slobodan Milosevic as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is literary on the brink of a military intervention.

    US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is pressing on with his efforts to mediate for a peaceful resolution to the Kosovo crisis, having held marathon talks with Mr. Milosevic last night.

    Following the meeting, Mr. Holbrooke did not comment on the details of his negotiations, which he characterized as intense. He announced that will meet with the Serb President anew today.

    [16] F.R.Y. DEFENSE MINISTER: NATO WILL NOT INTERVENE

    The Defense Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Pavle Bulatovic opined yesterday that NATO will not act on its threats to strike against Serb military targets in Kosovo, since the policy exercised by Yugoslavia will soon lead to the peaceful resolution of the crisis.

    "Nothing can warrant the potential attack of Serb forces by NATO," Mr. Bulatovic stated, stressing that such strike will not facilitate the peace process but, on the contrary, will worsen the situation and harm the stability not only in Kosovo but in the wider Balkan region as well.

    [17] ALBANIAN VICE PRESIDENT: NATO SHOULD HIT SERB TARGETS IMMEDIATELY

    Albania wants NATO to strike Serb targets in Kossovo immediately, as the country's Vice President Ilir Mehta told the Macedonian Press Agency, adding that such strike would force Serb President Slobodan Milosevic to put an end to the bloodshed in the region.

    According to Mr. Mehta, Albania is capable of carrying out a significant role in resolving the Kossovo crisis.

    Moreover, Mr. Mehta stressed that his government is convinced that all the efforts exerted by the international community for resolving the issue peacefully have gone astray.

    "The Albanian government sees that Belgrade, instead of reacting positively to the pressures of the international community, provokes episodes at the Albanian-Yugoslav borders, thereby intensifying the tension."

    He concluded that the Albanian military forces are in a state of readiness in order to face any episodes that might erupt in the border region.

    On the same note, Albanian's Minister of Defense Luan Hidaraga also stated "we hope NATO's intervention takes place as soon as possible."

    [18] THE SIMITIS-YILMAZ MEETING WILL BE HELD IN ANTALYA THIS EVENING

    The meeting of prime minister Kostas Simitis with his Turkish counterpart Mesut Yilmaz will be held at 7.30pm this evening on the sidelines of the Balkan states summit meeting in Antalya, Turkey.

    Prime minister Simitis is scheduled to meet this afternoon with his Bulgarian counterpart Ivan Kostov and Serb president Milan Miludinovic. In the morning meeting of the Balkan leaders held earlier, Mr. Simitis referred to the Kosovo problem and made specific proposals for its solution.

    According to a statement made by Greek government spokesman Dimitiris Reppas, in response to a question by MPA, Greece will not allow to NATO aircraft to use its air space, adding that only the two NATO bases will be used in Greece.

    [19] THE MILOSEVIC-HALBROOKE MEETING IS IN PROGRESS

    The new meeting of US mediator Richard Halbrooke with Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade is still in progress.

    Meanwhile, in Brussels the political representatives of NATO are expected to decide today if there will be air strikes against targets in Yugoslavia.

    The Russian foreign minister stated that in the case of a NATO military intervention in the region he will encourage other countries to use force too in order to solve their differences.

    [20] CYPRUS WILL BECOME AN EU MEMBER, STATED THE SOCIALIST GROUP LEADER IN THE EU PARLIAMENT

    The Socialist Group leader in the European Parliament and Labor Party Euro-deputy Ms. Pauline Green, expressed the certainty that Cyprus will become a member of the European Union. The statement was made after the meeting she had with Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides.

    Ms. Green attributed the problems created by certain EU member-states to the international "game" which is aimed at exerting pressures for the solution of the Cyprus problem.

    [21] THE ALBANIAN STATE TELEVISION INFORMS THE PEOPLE ON THE DEVELOPMENTS IN KOSOVO CONSTANTLY

    The Albanian state television informs the Albanian citizens constantly on the developments in Kosovo and the likelihood of a military operation by NATO forces against Serb targets.

    Albanian minister of defense Luan Haidaranga expressed the hope that the NATO armed intervention will take place as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Albanian government deputy prime minister Ilir Meta stated to MPA that the Albanian government is certain that all the efforts made by the international community for a peaceful solution of the problem have been wasted.


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