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

	Athens, 23/11/1993 (ANA): Israeli Foreign Minister Simon Peres
and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Yasser
Arafat will pay visits to Greece today and tomorrow, the
government said yesterday. Describing the visits as
"interrelated", government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said
that Mr. Peres was due to arrive in Athens today for talks with
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and Foreign Minister Karolos
Papoulias. The spokesman said that Mr. Peres would also have
talks with Alternate Foreign Minister Theodore Pangalos on
Israel's request to join the European Community. Mr. Arafat is
due in Athens tomorrow for a one-day official visit at the
invitation of Mr. Papandreou, the spokesman added. He said that
Mr. Arafat would be received by President Constantine Karamanlis
at noon before talks with Mr. Papandreou and an official
luncheon to be given in the PLO leader's honour. Later in the
afternoon, Mr. Arafat will have talks with Mr. Papoulias before
visiting parliament where he will meet with House Speaker
Apostolos Kaklamanis. In the evening, Mr. Arafat will attend a
dinner to be given in his honour by PASOK Secretary General and
Interior Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos. During his stay, Mr.
Arafat will meet with Arab ambassadors accredited to Athens and
may have talks with Archbishop Serapheim of Athens and all
Greece. Commenting on the two visits, Mr. Venizelos said that
the Greek government had welcomed the historic PLO-Israeli
agreement "with particular satisfaction". 

	Meanwhile, PLO Ambassador to Athens Abdullah Abdullah told the
Athens News Agency that Mr. Arafat would ask Greece to "support
politically and financially the new Palestinian entity in the
Gaza strip and in Jericho on a bilateral level as well as during
its presidency of the EC". He said there were no plans for an
Arafat-Peres meeting. "Mr. Arafat is paying an official visit to
Greece for talks with the Greek government only", Mr. Abdullah
said. "The idea of the Mr. Arafat's visit is to brief the Greek
government on the peace process and ask support on all levels
for the new-born Palestinian entity", he told the ANA. "This
support can be provided through bilateral relations or through
the European Community which Greece will preside for beginning
January", Mr. Abdullah told the ANA. Mr. Abdullah also
underlined "the traditional friendship linking the two peoples
as well as the old-standing personal friendship of the
Palestinian leader with Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou". Mr.
Arafat, who last visited Greece in January 1989, had initially
planned to travel to Greece in late September at the invitation
of the previous government. The visit was postponed because of
Greek general elections last month. Mr. Abdullah said Mr. Arafat
would hold a joint meeting of the 12-member Council of Arab
Ambassadors during his one-day trip. 


	Athens, 23/11/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou
yesterday declared a state of emergency in Athens as heavy
rainfall, which caused widespread flooding in the city's
southern suburbs, was expected to continue. Government spokesman
Evangelos Venizelos told the press that Mr. Papandreou asked the
competent ministers to report on the lack of infrastructure,
which was made apparent after three days of heavy rain flooded
hundreds of people out of their homes, washed away cars and
disrupted telephones and power supplies. The fire department
said it had received more than 1,000 calls to pump water out of
homes and businesses while thousands of police were called in
for emergency duty. Interior Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said
the state would compensate those who suffered damage. 


	Athens, 23/11/1993 (ANA): Three ministers were sworn in
yesterday at a ceremony attended by President Constantine
Karamanlis and Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. Dionysis
Livanos, formerly a PASOK Eurodeputy, was sworn in as tourism
minister, Maria Arseni assumed the post of under-secretary to
the Prime Minister's Office responsible for equality of the
sexes, and Manolis Beteniotis was sworn in as national defence
under-secretary. The appointments were announced last Thursday. 


	Luxembourg, 23/11/1993 (ANA - P. Stangos / Reuter): Greece's
Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias is expected to visit Belgrade
to present the EC's new Bosnia plan for peace before the EC
formally convenes to discuss the plan in Geneva on Monday. At a
one-day meeting in Luxembourg yesterday, the 12 ministers
discussed a new attempt to bring peace to Bosnia by offering to
ease sanctions against Serbia if the Bosnian Serbs cede more
land to the Moslems. They also considered ways of setting up
protected routes to ferry humanitarian aid into Bosnia as winter
threatens some 2.7 million Bosnians with starvation. Talking to
Greek reporters after the meeting, Mr. Papoulias termed the
Community's decision a "turn", adding that "until recently none
of the partners wanted to hear of the embargo being lifted". Mr.
Papoulias briefed is EC counterparts on the results of his
recent tour of Balkan capitals, invoking Bosnian Prime Minister
Haris Silajdzic's positive attitude towards Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic, according to which "he (Milosevic) needs
support because he is the one who agrees to the Serbs making
territorial concessions to the Moslems". Mr. Papoulias warned
his counterparts of the consequences of a further polarisation
of internal Serbian politics due to the effect of the sanctions:
"It is necessary to overturn the negative atmosphere prevailing
in Serbia due to the sanctions in view of the December 18
elections because there is a danger of political balances being
upset", he said. In his view, nationalist and far-right forces
in Serbia might be strengthened if no progress is made on the
sanctions issue.

	Referring to humanitarian aid to Bosnia, Mr. Papoulias said
that medicine, foodstuffs and fuel was included. He said that
the eventuality of such aid reaching both Serbs and Montenegrins
was mentioned. However, "if the interested parties do not agree
with the EC's proposals on Monday, then the situation will
become particularly difficult", he said. Belgian Foreign
Minister Willy Claes, whose country currently holds the
Community's presidency, said that the EC would put its proposals
on peace and aid deliveries to the Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and
Moslems next Monday in Geneva. These include trying to get the
three sides to allow aid corridors protected by extra troops and
offering Serbia. If the warring parties sanctioned the aid
corridors, Mr. Claes said, the EC had agreed force would be used
against any renegade groups which interfered with them. "At that
moment, we will not hesitate to use force", he told a news
conference. 


	Luxembourg, 23/11/1993 (ANA - G. Daratos / P. Stangos): The
Western European Union (WEU) will help in strengthening the
participation of European nations in NATO and the development of
a European character in the defence and security sectors will be
a basic goal of the transatlantic relationship, WEU foreign and
defence ministers said yesterday, the first meeting since the
EC's Maastricht treaty came into force last month. The treaty
lays out a role for the WEU in implementing a common foreign and
security policy. The ministers, including Greece's Foreign
Minister Karolos Papoulias and National Defence Minister
Gerasimos Arsenis, primarily examined relations and ties with
the European Community, prospects for NATO's January 10 summit
and relations between the WEU and NATO. In a joint communique,
the ministers reaffirmed the fundamental significance of
European security and stability, underlining their wish to
develop the WEU as a means of strengthening the alliance's
European pillar. Aware that it is necessary for them to
anticipate exclusive European military options outside the
defence framework set by article 5 of the Washington Treaty
(NATO), the ministers expect the January NATO summit to approve
the principle by which the WEU should not only be able to use
the European allies' forces and infrastructure but NATO's
collective defence means as well. The ministers expressed
satisfaction at decisions taken by the EC's foreign ministers on
former Yugoslavia yesterday morning. Mr. Arsenis underlined the
WEU's role as the future agency of the European Community's
joint security policy. Mr. Arsenis said Greece will ratify the
WEU treaty in parliament by the end of the year, adding that the
delay was due to technical reasons resulting from the October
elections. Mr. Arsenis did not rule out the possibility of the
future participation of Greek forces in the Strasbourg-based
"Eurocorps" which already included French, German and Belgian
forces, while a decision for Spanish participation is also
expected. He denied that Turkish participation is impending.
"Turkey has shown interest in participating but an official
application and official invitation is necessary for this to
come about and this does not exist for the time being", he said.
At a meeting of the European Armaments Committee, attended by
defence ministers of NATO's 14 European member-states, a
decision was taken to transfer its secretariat from Lisbon to
Brussels and include it in the WEU's structure which, Mr.
Arsenis said, "constitutes an important step towards promoting
the European defence entity". The meeting also agreed to promote
an exploratory programme entitled "Euclides" concerning the
co-ordination of European military industry production,
including Greece's. 


	Athens, 23/11/1993 (ANA): Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou
said yesterday that the political aspect of the arrest of two US
diplomats in Athens last week had "closed". He said however that
the Public Order Ministry was investigating a number of "police
aspects" of the incident which remained unsolved. The two US
diplomats, who have since left Greece, were arrested last
Tuesday after an anonymous caller tipped off police about a van
which had been parked in the same spot for several days in
downtown Athens. Police found wigs and transmitters in the van
of the two diplomats, who were armed. "We have no objections to
co-operating with the Americans", Mr. Papandreou said, "but only
on the condition that it is in collaboration with and under the
supervision of the Ministry of Public Order". The premier said
that any future collaboration (with the Americans) "will always
be under the aegis of the Public Order Ministry". Speaking to
the press, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos reiterated
that, politically, the case was closed. Earlier, Public Order
Minister Stelios Papathemelis had a meeting lasting over one
hour with US Ambassador Thomas Niles which focused on last
week's incident. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, both
officials said that it was the intention of both the Greek and
US sides that the affair should be closed, given that the US
envoy had given his undertaking that there would be no
repetition of such incidents and that there would be joint
co-operation on serious issues. Mr. Niles expressed the US
government's regret over the incident and assured Mr.
Papathemelis that there would be no repetition. Mr. Papathemelis
described his talks with Mr. Niles as "useful and constructive".
Replying to questions, Mr. Papathemelis said that Greece and the
US would co-operate at the level of combating organised crime
and narcotics trafficking and the training of special police
units.