From: than...@athena.mit.edu (Thanos Tsekouras) Subject: Greek news 19/5/93 Date: 22 May 1993 01:06:15 GMT News bulletin from Athens News Agency for May 21, 1993. Athens, 21/5/93 (ANA). Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday underscored the government's determination to complete its economic recovery programme and emphasised the need to build "a climate of confidence" in the Greek economy. "The first prerequisite for the programme's success is that it be continued ... but the most decisive is to instill a climate of confidence", the premier told the annual meeting of the Federation of Greek Industries (SEB). Noting that the economy was "one step away from final success", the premier projected sharp drops in inlfation and interest rates and called on the private sector to launch investment initiatives. Mr Mitsotakis said improvements in all economic indicators had been acknowledged by all serious analysts and international financial organisations but pledged that the government would continue its disinflationary policies. The privatisations of state telecommunications company OTE and debt-laden refineries, scheduled this year, are also crucial for economic success, Mr Mitsotakis said. He said the government had succeeded in liberalising the banking system and money markets and in turning the budget deficit into a surplus for the first time in many years. The premier also critised opposition parties for adopting "tactics of total rejection". "Despite strong reaction, in the last three years, the public sector has been curbed through our privatisation policy, the social insurance system has been streamlined, large infrastructure works have been implemented with European Community assistance, a surplus has been created in the (primary) budget, and the unreasonable vested interests of state monopolies have been curtailed", Mr Mitsotakis said. He added that the government would not bow to pre-election political expediencies but would remain firm in implementing its goals. "Expenditures will be adapted to the goals set for the deficit and inflation. This government came to power to pull the economy out of its crisis. Now that the final target is within reach, it would be inconceivable to back down and waste the Greek people's sacrifices", he said. Meanwhile National Economy and Finance Minister Stephanos Manos said he would not saddle tax-payers with additional taxes if the government failed to meet the targets of its economic convergence plan for Greece's participation in EC economic and monetary union. "If we note a deviation, our efforts will then shift in the direction of combatting tax-evasion and spending cuts in the fields of state subsidies and funding", Mr Manos told the SEB General Assembly meeting. He said the government's economic policy was based on making structural changes, limiting state intervention and encouraging investments, as well as a strict fiscal and monetary strategy that would curb the rate of inflation and boost investments. Mr Manos said Greece's inflation rate, the highest in the EC, would drop to an average rate of 12 per cent rate by the end of the year, noting "serious prospects of it dropping to single-digit levels" by December. It would be the first single-digit figure in 20 years. The ambitious five-year economic convergence plan, approved by EC finance ministers in March, sees inflation of four per cent in 1998. Mr Manos also stressed the need for cooperation between the private and public sector and strict adherence to the "rules" of the government's economic policy, saying they were necessary conditions for the successful implementation of the economic austerity programme. Athens 21/5/93 (ANA). The Federation of Greek Industries (SEB) said yesterday that the implementation of the government's stabilisation programme had been imperative and warned that any retaxation next year would necessitate even greater sacrifices in the future. Speaking at the federation's annual assembly, Executive Committee Chairman Iason Stratos said that the stabilisation programme had been necessitated by the threat of state bankruptcy and shrinking of the private sector. The prospects for 1994 are "extremely uncertain", Mt Stratos said, "and any giving way would multiply the cost of sacrifices which will be demanded in the future" and eliminate Greece's chances of moving forward together with the rest of Europe. Stabilisation must not be jeopardised by "hand-outs" or "excessive demands", Mr Stratos warned, adding that "we must turn with determination towards development, not with deficit-creating state spending, but by creating conditions which will enable the recovery of the private sector". He said that SEB would seek further cuts in public spending, "mainly through measures of a structural nature and not wage cuts". Strict adherence to the budget, he added, is a prerequisite for progress in the area "as is the continuation of denationalisation with procedures which cannot be called into question". The federation, he went on, also desired the improvement of the country's infrastructure, the reduction of the cost of money and the implementation of an exchange policy. Addressing the assembly, chairman of the federation's board of directors Stelios Argyros said that industry could serve as the linchpin for new development "which could drag the Greek economy out of the crisis creating new conditions for substantial convergence with the other countries of the Community". "The problems in the economy can be overcome and we could soon be on the road of rapid development", Mr Argyros said. He warned, however, that "we could easily find ourselves in the vicious circle of deficits and inflation and after a few years be called upon once again to make even bigger sacrifices". Mr Stratos said that SEB was working on a proposal for the formation of an Economic and Social Council, made up of representatives of the producer classes, "to examine economic policy issues from the viewpoint of the economy's needs, consider possibilites and put forward feasible solutions". The federation's main aim in the coming years, Mr Stratos said, was to increase the efficiency of Greek industry so that it could cope with the conditions of tougher competition, while at the same time increasing its size. "This will require investments for the modernisation of existing undertaking and new investments in industry which will secure the transfer of advanced technology and increase efficiency throughout the sector", he said. Mr Stratos said that investments were presently being made in industry, "indeed, at greater pace than in other sectors". He cited private investments in the processing sector which represented just 12 per sent of total investments in Greece in 1985, while in 1991 they accounted for over 17 per cent. This had mainly been due to modernisation investments by existing industrial undertakings, he said, adding, however, that the picture was not as positive with regard to new investments. Policies to be implemented in the near future, Mr Stratos said, must aim at narrowing "the huge" disparities" in profitability by resorting competitive conditions for all economic activities. Rome 21/5/93 (ANA-S.Aravopoulou) Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou yesterday expressed satisfaction over the Western European Union's (WEU) rapid development and the institutionalisation of political dialogue, twice a year, with central and east European countries in general. Addressing a press conference at the end of the meeting, between the WEU and nine countries (Bulgaria, the Czech republic, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) which are continuing to turn towards closer cooperation with the West on matters of European security, Mr Papaconstantinou said a convergence of views existed on the Yugoslav issue and that all favoured a peaceful solution based on the Vance-Owen plan. "We spoke in particular of the Danube embargo and the way in which sanctions can be controlled with the participation from now on of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, which are countries of particular interest to us", he said. On the sidelines of the two-day Rome meeting, Mr Papaconstantinou held talks with the two WEU and NATO Secretary Generals, W Sillem van Eekelen and Manfred Woerner respectively, his EC counterparts, Douglas Hurd of Britain, Javier Solana of Spain, Alain Juppe of France and Willy Claes of Belgium with whom he agreed to hold talks at the NATO meeting in Athens in June and in Troika framework (since Belgium assumes the EC presidency as of July 1 and immediately afterwards Greece follows as of January 1, 1994) including an explanation by him of the Belgian presidency's plan. "I had a private discussion with Bulgarian prime Minister (Lyuben) Berov, Turkish Defense Minister (Nevzat) Ayaz and Romania Foreign Minister (Teodor) Melescanu to whom I announced that today Greece was the first country to ratify Romania's association agreement with the Community", he said. In yesterday's meeting, both Mr Papaconstantinou and Defense Undersecretary Spilios Spiliotopoulos stressed the significance of the Athens Conference and the signing of the Vouliagmeni Accord, despite the outcome of the Bosnian Serb referendum, while Mr Papaconstantinou said: "We insist on our position that the Serbs themselves could impose the blockade of the Bosnian Serbs much better than anyone else, and without us being opposed to the arrival of observers (in which Greece participates) or the arrival of peacekeeping forces, in which we do not participate, since the participation of any Balkan country, in our view, would revive old passions and would not help towards the peaceful cohabitation of Balkan countries in the future". Mr Papaconstantinou stressed the need for the establishment of a Greek embassy at the WFU in Brussels, where the WFU is based, due to its rapid development. Rome 21/5/93 (ANA-S. Avaropoulou). Foreign Minister Michalis Papaconstantinou yesterday attended a religious ceremony at the old Christian Basilica of Saint Clement in honor of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. A reception at the Greek embassy at the Vatican which organised the events was also held. The Metropolitan of Italy Spyridon officiated at a service held in one of the Basilica's crypts, attended by Mr Papaconstantinou, accompanied by members of the Thessaloniki Municipal Council and Greece's ambassadors to the Vatican and Rome. Short addresses were made during the ceremony by Mr Kosmopoulos and Greece's Ambassador to the Vatican Mr Christoyannis who referred to the great apostolic and cultural work of the two Greeks from Thessaloniki and its significance for modern-day Europe. Pope John Paul II proclaimed the two saints "co-protectors of Europe" in 1980 because they converted the Slav race to Christianity. The Greek delegation will be received by Pope John Paul II today. Athens 21/5/93 (ANA). Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis met with the heir to the Thai throne, Prince Maha Vagiralongkorn, who arrived here yesterday on an official visit. After an exchange of gifts, a luncheon was given in the prince's honour, attended by Mr Mitsotakis, Deputy Premier Tzannis Tzannetakis, several ambassadors and a number of government officials. Romanian president Ion Iliescu yesterday briefed Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis by telephone on the results of his recent tour of Slovenia, Croatia and rump Yugoslavia. National Defense Minister Ioannis Varvitsiotis and his Cypriot counterpart Costas Eliades held "friendly and productive" talks yesterday on the entire spectrum of relations. They said talks will continue until thoughts set out in yesterday's meeting are fully shaped. Mr Varvitsiotis said the issue of whether or not UN peacekeeping forces will stay in Cyprus and of possible alternative solutions to maintain security on the island was not examined. The talks were attended by National Defense Undersecretary Ioannis Stathopoulos, National Defense Chief of Staff General Dimitris Skarvelis and National Guard General Inspector in Cyprus Lieutenent-General G. Siderakis. Thessaloniki mayor Costas Kosmopoulos will meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican today to present Greece's positions of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Mr Kosmopoulos is currently in Rome attending ceremonies in memory of missionaries Cyril and Methodius, whom the Pope recently named as patron saints of Europe for their important role in converting the Slavs to Christianity. Copied by Thanos Tsekouras