Subject: A.N.A. Bulletin 10/9/93 From: miltos@nfl2.irc.nrc.ca Athens News Agency Bulletin, September 10, 1993 =============================================== Athens 10/9/93 (ANA)--Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday requested the dissolution of parliament and said he would take the country to the polls before the end of his government's term to seek a new mandate from the people "to effectively confront the major national and economic issues facing us". At a news conference yesterday following a scheduled meeting with President Constantine Karamanlis and an emergency cabinet meeting, Mr. Mitsotakis said he had asked the president to dissolve parliament and call early elections, mandated, he said, by "critical national issues", including Skopje, Cyprus and the economy. Mr. Mitsotakis said the president had accepted his request and sources said the presidency would officially announce October 10 as polling day today. The government's decision to call early general elections was prompted by the decision Tuesday and yesterday of two New Democracy party deputies to declare their independence from the ruling party's parliamentary group, leaving the government without a clear majority in the 300 seat unicameral house. George Symbilidis, New Democracy party deputy for Kilkis yesterday declared his independence from the ruling party but said he would retain his seat, leaving the government with 150 seats in the House. Following Mr. Symbilidis' announcement, an emergency cabinet meeting was convened for 11:30 in advance of the prime minister's scheduled meeting with the president at 1 p.m. A statement issued by the Office of the president of the Republic following Mr. Karamanlis' 30-minute meeting with the premier said the president had accepted Mr. Mitsotakis' request in accordance with Article 41, paragraph 2 of the Constitution. "The President of the Republic, Mr. Constantine Karamanlis, today (yesterday) received the Prime Minister, Mr. Mitsotakis, who submitted a recommendation by the Cabinet calling for the dissolution of Parliament to renew the popular mandate in light of national issues of extraordinary importance", the statement said. "The President of the Republic, in accordance with Article 41, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, accepted the Prime Minister's recommendation. The Constitutional procedures will be implemented and the relevant cabinet ministers will be replaced in accordance with established procedures". Shortly before the premier's announcement, ruling New Democracy party deputy for Evros, Kyriakos (Akis) Gerontopoulos, resigned his parliamentary seat. Mr. Gerontopoulos, 37, was the third New Democracy deputy to resign his parliamentary seat this week. New Democracy deputy for Serres Nikolaos Klitos and deputy for Arkadia Vassilis Mantzoris resigned their seats Wednesday, following ND deputy Stefanos Stefanopoulos' decision to resign from the party but retain his seat as an independent Tuesday. Mr. Mitsotakis said that the government was seeking a renewal of the people's mandate "in order to effectively confront the major national and economic issues facing us". He said that Greece could not "proceed along its difficult path in a climate of wretched transactions and undermining of the government's work". The ruling New Democracy party had the courage to take major and difficult decisions, Mr. Mitsotakis said, adding that "we always put the interests of the country and the people above our petty partisan interests". "Our political opponents and the interests which support them had every reason to choose this moment to cause a crisis and anomaly. Their aim was to prevent the Greeks from seeing and enjoying the results of their own sacrifices", Mr. Mitsotakis said. At this critical moment, he went on, the question is clear: "Shall we go forward or turn back? Mr. Mitsotakis said that the people would provide the answer. "And I am certain that there will be only one answer: Greece will not turn back". Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - Main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) leader Andreas Papandreou said yesterday that his party welcomed the call for early elections and predicted a landslide victory for his party. "We are moving towards the elections with confidence... (PASOK) expresses the interests of our country and the Greek people and we look forward to a great victory for the people so that the country may enter a steady path of growth, democratic institutions may be restored and the horizons opened for the new generation", Mr. Papandreou told a news conference. The opposition leader said the government's policies had led Greece down "many blind alleys" in both domestic and foreign policy issues. "As far as Greece's national issues are concerned, (the government) has brought the country to... a great impasse with its servitude and inability to chart a national strategy. The Greek economy is suffering from a deep recession, unemployment and great insecurity. The gaps between the rich and the poor and various regions have widened dramatically and workers' real income is about two-thirds of what it was in 1989", he said. Mr. Papandreou said his party was ready for the" tough" fight ahead but said his party would set Greece on the right path. Coalition of the Left and Progress leader Maria Damanaki expressed her party's satisfaction at the call for early elections, saying they were necessary to "clear up" the current situation. "The Coalition, rallied together, will wage a great election battle aimed at becoming the third axis of political life and third-largest parliamentary party in order to set a barrier against the Right and right-wing policies", she said. The Coalition was formed by the Greek Left (EAR), the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and a host of smaller leftist parties to contest the 1989 general elections; the KKE subsequently withdrew from the grouping. Ms. Damanaki added that Greece's interests would be best served if elections were conducted under a caretaker government to prevent the exploitation of national issues for political expediency. Aleka Paparriga, secretary general of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), said the government's fall had been triggered by popular discontent over its policies and called for the elections to be held under a caretaker government. Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras said the resignations of New Democracy deputies reflected actions of political courage bearing hope for the country. "These courageous political decisions open the road for hope. We are turning a new page in the history of our country", he said. Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - Meanwhile, Interior Ministry sources said the ministry had begun preparing voter registration lists to be distributed to about 17,000 polling centres around the country. The same sources said they anticipated an estimated 300.000 new voters had been registered since the last election in April 1990 and that the cost of next month's elections would total four billion drachmas. Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - Prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis yesterday Kicked off his ruling New Democracy party's bid for re election, saying his party was fully prepared to win the election battle. "New Democracy Knows how to wage and how to win battles", he told a crowd of flag-waving and chanting supporters gathered outside party headquarters in Athens. The premier opened his speech with a direct challenge to both the main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and his new political rival, his former foreign minister Antonis Samaras. "Greece will not turn back. Those who have undermined the party of which they were supposedly members took the big step towards the big betrayal - betrayal of 47 per cent of the Greek people and betrayal of the interests of the entire Greek people", he said. His remarks were aimed at Mr. Samaras and the New Democracy deputies who left the ruling party this week, stripping the government of its absolute majority in parliament and forcing early elections. "The people won't forget the traitor Samaras", supporters chanted in response to Mr. Mitsotakis' remarks. Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - Eritrea's deputy defence minister will pay a five-day visit to Greece beginning September 12, defence ministry sources said yesterday. They said the minister would meet with his Greek counterpart Ioannis Stathopoulos and tour military schools and Armed Forces facilities. Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - Australia's federal opposition leader John Hewson is scheduled to begin a three-day official visit to Greece on September 16, the government said in an announcement yesterday. It said Dr. Hewson, leader of the Liberal-National Party coalition, would meet with Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis on September 17. The Australian opposition leader's visit to Greece is in the framework of a tour of European capitals. After Athens, he is scheduled to visit Rome and London before returning to Sydney on September 26. Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis met with presidium members of the Chamber of Hoteliers in a scheduled meeting at the Maximos Mansion yesterday evening. Chamber President Aristotelis Divanis told reporters after the meeting: "The prime minister received us in a scheduled appointment in which we exchanged views. Athens, 10/9/93 (ANA) - "The 58th Thessaloniki International Fair will exceed all previous fairs in size and results", Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis said yesterday in a special message released to mark the beginning of the fair on Saturday. The premier said he was confident that the number of Greek and foreign exhibitors and the quality of exhibits would confirm the fair's appeal to the commercial and business world. The message stressed that the growing significance of Thessaloniki to the Balkans and Europe should not be overlooked. "The dissolution of Yugoslavia and the collapse of the socialist regime in the Balkan peninsula and eastern Europe have created uncertain and unstable conditions. Prevailing conditions are a real challenge to Greek productivity, which may now engage in effectively developing creative activity beyond the borders", the message said. "Macedonia and its capital are called upon to play a determining role in the economic rehabilitation and political stability of its northern neighbours. "As the only Balkan country also a member of the European Community, Greece is the great hope of other Balkans countries for their development and modernisation. Thanks to the gigantic efforts made to achieve convergence of Greece's economy with those of other Community countries... Greece will succeed in satisfying the expectations of its neighbours and serve as an intermediary between the EC and the eastern European hinterland", the message said. "We are unswervingly engaged along the path to economic and monetary union", the message ended. Messages marking the fair were also delivered by main opposition leader Panhellenic Socialist Movement leader Andreas Papandreou, Coalition of the Left and Progress leader Maria Damanaki and Communist Party of Greece Secretary General Aleka Paparriga. Sofia, 10/9/93 (ANA/Macedonian Press Agency) - Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos, in Bulgaria on a five-day visit ending Sunday, yesterday appealed to schismatic to return to the body of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, headed by Patriarch Maximos and the Holy Synod he represents. "Patriarch Maximos is the embodiment of the Bulgarian Church", he said. The Patriarch's visit is expected to be instrumental in overcoming the schism that has torn Bulgaria's Orthodox Church since the collapse of communist rule. The Patriarch also had separate meetings with Bulgarian President Lyuber Berov and Bulgarian Parliamentary President Alexander Jordanov, following an earlier meeting with the ambassadors to Sofia of all Orthodox countries. In the afternoon he attended a dinner in his honour given by the ambassador of Turkey while in the evening he was a guest of the ambassador of Greece. Today, the patriarch is to meet with Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev. In statements yesterday, the Patriarch underlined that the schism now racking the Bulgarian Church "cast a cloud" over his visit to the country. He added that the freedom following the collapse of communism in Bulgaria had fragmented its Orthodox church, as it had done in other eastern European states. The reception ceremony for the Ecumenical Patriarch by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church could not be held in the building of the Holy Synod, which has been taken over by schismatics. Encouraged by the previous government, headed by the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), UDF deputy and Archimandrite Christophoros Sabeff and his followers had taken over the building in an attempt to overturn the leadership of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Maximos. Sabeff had later illegally proclaimed himself "Archbishop of the Orthodox Archbishopric of Bulgaria". On Wednesday evening the Patriarch had an unscheduled meeting with the gradually waning schismatic movement, urging them to return to the church.