From: zarros@turing.scs.carleton.ca (Theodoros Sp. Zarros)
Subject: News (in ENGLISH)- Sat, 23 Oct 1993 (Greek Press Office BBS, Ottawa).

Athens News Agency Bulletin, October 23, 1993

	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): Ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement
(PASOK) deputy Apostolos Kaklamanis was yesterday elected House
Speaker with 165 votes against 110 votes for the main opposition
New Democracy (ND) candidate Athanasios Tsaldaris. Today will
see Premier Andreas Papandreou deliver the government's policy
statement to begin debate in the House. The debate will
culminate in a vote of confidence midnight Monday. Of the 298
deputies who voted for the new speaker, 22 cast blank ballots
and one vote was invalid. Two deputies were not present for the
vote, one from PASOK and one from ND.

	In a short speech, Mr. Kaklamanis asked for the co-operation
and support of all deputies in carrying out his new duties. He
said that in consultation with the political parties, he would
request changes in the rules governing the operation of
parliament. The new 300-member parliament that emerged from
October 10 general elections was sworn in Thursday.

	In the single-chamber House, the PASOK, controls 170 seats
against 111 by ND, 10 by Political Spring and 9 by the Communist
Party of Greece. The House also elected Panayiotis Criticos
(PASOK) as its first vice-president, Pavsanias Zakolicos (PASOK)
- second vice-president, Panayiotis Sgouridis (PASOK) - third
vice-president, Nikos Katsaros (New Democracy) - fourth
vice-president and Nikitas Venizelos (Political Spring) - fifth
vice-president.


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou
will set out his government's policy statements today in the
parliamentary debate to begin at 6:30 pm. Opposition leaders --
Constantine Mitsotakis for the New Democracy party, Antonis
Samaras for the Political Spring party and Aleka Paparriga for
the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) -- will address parliament
tomorrow afternoon. speakers for both the government and the
opposition will then take turns in addressing parliament. The
coalition of the Left and progress, which is not represented in
parliament, will reply to the government's policy statements at
a press conference due to take place at the party's offices at
noon tomorrow.


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): Archbishop Serapheim of Athens and
All Greece was released from the Athens Medical Centre yesterday
after undergoing his annual checkup. he told journalists that
all was well with his health. The Archbishop is scheduled to
leave for the United States October 30 at the invitation of
Archbishop Iakovos of North and south America. He will remain in
New York for one week and will be accompanied by Metropolitan
Chrysostomos of Dodoni.


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): EC foreign ministers will hold a
special session of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on
Tuesday to focus primarily on preparing the summit due to take
place in Brussels on October 29-30. Greece will be represented
by Alternate Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos.

	According to reports, EC foreign ministers will also examine
the European Commission's report on the Community's economic
recovery, matters concerning the implementation of the second
stage of economic and monetary union, institutional aspects of
the Community's enlargement and the GATT issue. The special
session will also examine the implementation of the Maastricht
treaty. The European Council is expected to issue a statement on
the Maastricht treaty which is due to take effect on November 1.

	Another issue heads of state and governments are expected to
probe is designating the European Monetary Foundation's base as
well as that of its president. Frankfurt is the favourite,
according to reports, but London, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and
Strasbourg are also candidates. In a letter to the Belgian prime
minister, who presides over the European Council, governors of
EC central banks propose International Settlement Bank Governor
Alexander Lambalousie for president of the European Monetary
Foundation which will start operating on January 1 1994 in
accordance with the Maastricht treaty. 


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): National Economy Under-secretary
George Romaios will represent Greece at the EC Council of
Economic and Financial Ministers to be held in Brussels on
Monday. The meeting will discuss the European Commission's
proposals on development and employment in the light of the
October 29 summit meeting, preparations for the second phase of
the economic and monetary union to begin on January 1, the
appointment of the president of the European Monetary Foundation
and the harmonisation of taxes on road transport in EC member
states and travel exemptions. 


	New York 23/10/1993 (ANA): Greece will be a member of the
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as of
January 1. Greece was elected to the Council yesterday by secret
ballot. Diplomatic observers attribute particular importance to
the fact that Greece's accession to the Council will coincide
with its assumption of the Community presidency. The same
observers pointed out that Greece's election confirmed its
ability to play a serious role in the shaping of the economic
and social framework of the international community. 


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): Health Minister Dimitris Kremastinos
will fly to Brussels Thursday to meet with his Belgian
counterpart Magda de Galan, government sources said yesterday.
They said the ministers would discuss Greece's upcoming
presidency of the European Community and exchange views on the
national health systems of Greece and Belgium. 


	Bonn, 23/10/1993 (ANA - P. Stangos): Ecumenical Patriarch
Vartholomeos yesterday began a seven-day visit to Germany, at
the invitation of the heads of the Catholic and Evangelical
Churches, Bishops Karl Leman and Klaus Engelhardt, with a church
service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Bonn in the presence of
2,000 worshippers. During his stay, the Patriarch will meet
German leaders and will tour six cities -- Bonn, Cologne,
Dusseldorf, Hanover, Magdeburg and Munich.

	Addressing the congregation, the Patriarch referred to the role
played by Orthodoxy in conjunction with international
developments, saying: "today, religion in general and orthodoxy
in particular has a great mission to accomplish, both world-wide
and in Europe, which is experiencing unification and in whose
East hideous atheism tried in vain for more than seven decades
to dethrone God until it was dethroned itself and collapsed like
a house of cards together with those who inspired it".

	Addressing the Patriarch, Bishop of Germany Avgustinos referred
to "the preparation of the European Orthodox Christian. The time
of conserving the traditions and customs of the birthplace has
passed. Today we live in multinational Germany and we serve
multicultural coexistence". The Patriarch will meet President
Richard von Weizsaecker, who visited the Phanar in 1988,
Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President of Parliament Rita Zusmuth
on Monday. On Sunday, he will meet North Rhein-Westfalia Prime
Minister Johannes Rau. The Turkish ambassador Onur Etmen will
offer an official dinner for the Patriarch at the Turkish
embassy and a reception will be held at the home of Greek
ambassador Yiannis Bourloyiannis-Tsangaridis. Commenting on the
Patriarch's visit, the German press said the Patriarch was an
"apostle of dialogue" between Churches.

	The Cologne newspaper Statanzeiger published a report entitled
"Patriarch of good will sends messages", the Bonn newspaper
"Generalanzeiger" called the Patriarch's trip a "Gift for all
Churches" and "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" said Vartholomeos
was "A representative of the East and inter-Christian dialogue".
All reports refer to problems created between the Orthodox and
Catholic Churches due to the latter's activities in the former
socialist countries which belong religiously to the Orthodox
sector.


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): A statuette dating back to the 3rd
millennium B.C., a unique specimen of Cycladic culture, was
yesterday presented to the press for the first time by Niki
Goulandris, director of the Goulandris Cycladic Art Museum. The
statue is already on display at the Museum. The marble statue
depicts a nude woman wearing only headgear in a standing
position and is 23.4 cm high. It belongs to Berlin's State
Museum which has loaned it to the Goulandris Museum for three
years.

	Although Cycladic art researchers have not yet ascertained
whether the statue depicts a mortal woman or a goddess, it is
considered to be of great importance in examining the era's
artistic approach.


	United Nations, 23/10/1993 (ANA - M. Georgiadou): The UN
General Assembly will adopt a resolution Monday based on the
ancient Greek tradition of a truce during Olympic Games. The
resolution, proposed by over 60 countries, including Greece,
Cyprus and EC countries, refers to "the efforts of the
International Olympic Committee to restore the ancient Greek
tradition of the Ekecheria, or 'Olympic Truce', in the interest
of contributing to international understanding and the
maintenance of peace". 


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): The provision of the royal decree
providing for Belgian recognition of Skopje under the name
"Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) explicitly
refers to Skopje's recognition on April 9 when it became a
member of the UN, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said
yesterday. Charging the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party
with "irresponsible criticism" against the present government,
Mr. Venizelos said that during the period ND was in power,
Skopje was recognised with the name "Macedonia" in chronological
order by Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, Belarus, Russia,
Lithuania, Albania, Switzerland, Austria, Indonesia, Ukraine,
Iran and Pakistan.

	The spokesman added that in the same period, Skopje was
recognised as FYROM, either de facto or de jure, by the EC
countries Belgium, Italy, Spain, Britain, Ireland, Denmark,
Germany and by Sweden. The worst thing however, the spokesman
went on, was that during the period of the ND government, Skopje
was admitted to the UN under the "joint-guardianship" and with
the positive vote of Greece.


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): The Political Spring party yesterday
called on the government to convene a political party leaders
meeting to discuss Belgium's recognition of Skopje as the
"Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". "This is an unpleasant
development which demands the taking of immediate and effective
action at all levels", an announcement said. Political party
leaders should gather under the chairmanship of the president
and the issue should be brought back to the EC level, so that
"the principle of solidarity among EC member states be set in
motion", it said. 


	Athens, 23/10/1993 (ANA): Former premier Constantine Mitsotakis
chaired his last meeting of the New Democracy parliamentary
group yesterday. He stressed his decision to resign the
leadership would serve both party as well as national interest,
thanking ND deputies and telling them "we will all carry on with
the struggle together". He reiterated he would not become
involved in any manner in the procedure of electing the new
leader, since this would damage party unity.

	The former party leader added he had devoted a major part of
his life to the party, and pledged he would support the new
leader will all his power. Mr. Mitsotakis recalled that the
biggest problem besetting New Democracy during his leadership
had been unity at a leadership level, in contrast to the rank
and file who had displayed an admirable sense of unity.

	Meanwhile, Sotiris Kouvelas, one of the candidates for party
leader, said yesterday he "deplored" former education minister
George Souflias' decision to withdraw his candidacy, especially
because of the reasons that had prompted it. "Those who 'scheme'
and 'concoct' should not gain the upper hand. Their outlook and
practices should not be rewarded. The bromide of 'manoeuvres',
'challenges', concessions and compromise never leads to
victory", Mr. Kouvelas stressed. END