National Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis reiterated Saturday that Greece would not take part in a military intervention in Bosnia and stressed the government's belief that "dialogue and negotiations" could achieve a settlement to the Bosnian crisis.
Greece, "being aware of the conditions and the territory, would rather opt for dialogue and negotiations" in order to achieve a settlement to the Bosnian crisis, Mr. Arsenis told reporters a meeting here Saturday of 15 NATO and European Union defence ministers to discuss the formation of a rapid reaction force to protect UN peacekeepers in Bosnia.
The force, of up to 10,000 men, is to become operational by the end of the month and is intended to prevent future hostage-taking, open supply routes to isolated enclaves and deter cease-fire violations. Britain and France will provide the bulk of the troops. Mr. Arsenis said efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis should continue, adding that "even now there are still chances for a defusion of the crisis."
Replying to a press question, the minister said the UNPROFOR mandate remained unchanged, but expressed fear of a worsening of the situation and the danger of more victims. In statements before departing for Paris, Mr. Arsenis said Greece was opposed to any military intervention in Bosnia and described as "a positive development" the release by Bosnian Serbs of 120 UN hostages. But, despite the release of the peacekeepers early Saturday, Mr. Arsenis said, "the difficulties and problems are not yet over".
Mr. Arsenis said he would impress upon his counterparts at the Paris meeting that Greece was opposed to military intervention in Bosnia and would urge "responsibility, cool-headedness and the intensification of efforts to create a climate which will allow a peaceful resolution of the problem".
Meanwhile, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said that the Greek government was ever ready and willing to offer its good services to help attain peace in Bosnia. Speaking in Thessaloniki, Mr. Venizelos said that Greece was in a position to communicate with all the warring factions and "our mediation is always dependable".
"The Greek government is closely following developments. We continue to hope that there will be a de-escalation of the present tension and that a lasting, peaceful settlement will be attained. In this respect, every move which helps in this direction is welcome," he said.
Former premier Constantine Mitsotakis also expressed concern over developments in Bosnia but held out hope that a settlement might be attained. "The crisis is escalating. But it is precisely this escalation which might help towards finding a solution at the last moment," he said.
The honorary president of the main opposition New Democracy party, speaking to reporters shortly before departing for the United States on Saturday, also expressed satisfaction that "the West is beginning to have a more realistic policy towards Serbia".
"If elections were held today, PASOK would win with three percentage points ahead of New Democracy," the ruling party's Central Committee secretary Akis Tsohatzopoulos said in an interview in Iraklion, Crete, yesterday. He said he was not simply speculating, but speaking on the basis of an opinion poll and analyses at his disposal.
According to the poll, he added, PASOK had lost zero ground to the main opposition, while, regarding undecided voters, in their majority, they were PASOK supporters who had not yet seen the results of the government's social policy.
Referring to the economy, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said it was in the best shape for 20 years, and in full stability, heading to convergence with the other European Union economies. This policy, he added, guaranteed the satisfactory redistribution of incomes for 1996.
"Greece respects and is implementing UN resolutions on the embargo against rump Yugoslavia and is one of only a few countries which has suffered from the imposition of the sanctions," government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said Saturday.
The spokesman made the statement when asked to comment on an ANA despatch from Washington that a State Department report confirmed that Greece was in no way violating the embargo against rump Yugoslavia.
"We know from press sources that this report does indeed exist," Mr. Venizelos said, adding that "all documents, whether international or domestic, which confirm this truth are positive". "This, of course, holds for the general spirit of the report. There are, however, individual points which are open to discussion and which do not reflect the overall view but rather the view of the person who drew up the report," the spokesman said.
Asked whether these points concerned Greece, Mr. Venizelos replied: "They are individual references concerning the description of the situation."
The ANA despatch said that the official State Department report would be released today, adding that it had been drawn up on instructions from Congress in accordance with legislation governing foreign aid for financial year 1995.
Albanian newspaper "Zeri I Populit" published an interview yesterday with the head of Albania's Socialist Party and former Albanian prime minister, Fatos Nano, who is currently serving a 12-year prison term for embezzlement. Mr. Nano described an agreement signed between PASOK and Albania's Socialist Party as "an agreement of good will." "It isn't just an agreement between leaders," he said.
"It's an important agreement between the political forces of the two countries for the institutionalisation of relations of good neighbourliness and the encouragement of inter-Balkan co-operation."
He said, however, that "there is no clear platform or coherent positions (currently) which would lead to the real development of Greek-Albanian relations," adding that meetings between committees of the two countries must be followed by such gestures of goodwill such as the opening of joint Greek-Albanian banks and other investments.
A German woman was wounded by gunshots on Saturday after an unidentified Albanian in civilian clothing opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle on a small boat near the Albanian coast.
The other two passengers in the boat, including the woman's five-year-old son, were unharmed. The tourists, Hakman Gunter, 37, Constanze Bjorn, 28, and her son Oliver, 5, had hired the inflatable craft from Corfu on Saturday morning with the intention of visiting the Albanian coast opposite the island.
Shortly after reaching the Bay of Vouthrotos, near Ayioi Saranta, they were fired upon from the Albanian coast by an unidentified man wearing a white turban standing ten metres away. Bjorn was hit by a bullet in her right hand. According to Corfu coast-guard officers, who examined a bullet found in the craft, the weapon used in the attack was a Kalashnikov.
The three tourists managed to get away and return to Corfu where they were given assistance by the owner of a se aside hotel. Bjorn was taken to hospital and shortly after being treated and discharged, flew back to Germany.
Three holidaymakers died over the weekend in three separate drowning incidents. A Norwegian man, identified as Sund Finn-Harald, 41, drowned while swimming off the coast of Achladies on the island of Skiathos, it was announced yesterday, while a German woman, identified as Erika Schongar, 61, died while snorkelling with a group off Kerio, Zakynthos on Saturday.
Later yesterday, it was announced that German national Leo Johann Miksch, 70, had drowned while swimming at Lagomandra in Halkidiki. The Zakynthos harbour police were conducting an investigation into Schongar's death.
Secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement, PASOK, Akis Tsohatzopoulos said Saturday PASOK was "obviously" in favour of a federal European Union. He made the statement at the closing session of a two-day party conference on next year's intergovernmental conference to revise the Maastricht Treaty.
"If we restrict ourselves to intergovernmental co-operation (on a European Union level) then we will lead ourselves into a conservative European Union with all the disadvantages of a unified market which lacks the potential of social intervention," Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said.
"On the other hand, a European Union with a prospect of federalisation will lead to a vision of a social Europe," Mr. Tsohatzopoulos said, adding that the all would be decided by "the results of the political conflict between European conservatives and socialists."
Eurodeputy Paraskevas Avgerinos, speaking for the second time, said that enlargement had to be accompanied by further integration and an increase in the Union's own resources. In an indirect apparent reference to Turkey, he added that enlargement could not include countries violating democratic and human rights.
EU Commissioner Christos Papoutsis said, among other things, that Greece ought to be at the forefront of the fight against fraud in the Union, adding that an investigation was underway into programmes worth 270 billion drachmas, launched when the New Democracy party was in government.
Former finance minister Dimitris Tsovolas warned that the federal option held serious dangers for the country's sovereign rights, and called for a referendum on the issue. Eurodeputy Yiannos Kranidiotis said in reply, that far from holding dangers, the federal option could facilitate in the resolution of our national issues through the principle of Community solidarity.
On the occasion of the celebration of World Environment Day today, Environment Minister Costas Laliotis said yesterday that the drafting of programmes and projects for environmental protection was a national priority. He added that over 800 billion drachmas will be provided for this purpose between 1994 and 1999, and over 3.5 trillion for large public works of a national and regional scale.
In the framework of events planned by the Environment Ministry, popular composer Dionysis Savvopoulos is to hold a performance in Ermou St, in Athens' commercial district. Merchant Marine Minister George Katsifaras has issued a message to all Greek seamen, stressing the importance of safeguarding and protecting the marine environment.
New Democracy party deputy Costas Pylarinos has asked for the convening of the party's Ethics Council to look into charges levelled by former Under-Secretary Achilleas Karamanlis at last week's meeting of the ND parliamentary party that former premier Constantinos Mitsotakis is undermining party unity.
In a letter to the chairman of the Council, Athanasios Tsaldaris, Mr. Pylarinos said that "the unprovoked and of a personal nature attack, which consciously undermines the unity of New Democracy... is an event of multiple significance, and party organ s must immediately look into it."
Mr. Tsaldaris said he would study the letter and consider its
The Chief of Romania's General Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Gheorghe Grigoras, will pay an official visit to Greece from tomorrow through to Thursday, at the invitation of his Greek counterpart, Lieutenant-General Constantine Voulgaris. During his stay, General Grigoras will meet with the political leadership of the National Defence Ministry, pay a courtesy call on the Chief of the National Defence General Staff, Admiral Christos Lymberis and have talks with General Voulgaris on issues of mutual interest. General Grigoras will also visit a number of army camps and archaeological sites.
Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis yesterday received the five ethnic Greeks from Albania released earlier this year by Tirana. Mr. Kaklamanis said the meeting had focused on the problems faced by the ethnic Greeks of Albania, adding that the continuous improvement in relations between the two countries would facilitate an improvement in the position of the ethnic Greeks in Albania. Mr. Kaklamanis said that Parliament would continue to strive on behalf of the ethnic Greeks in the neighbouring country, in matters of education, freedom of worship and equality before the law.
The five - Vangelis Papachristos, Thodoros Bezianis, Iraklis Sirmos, Panayiotis Martos and Costas Kyriakou all members of the ethnic Greek political organisation "Omonia" in southern Albania - were arrested in April last year after gunmen killed two Albanian conscripts at an army camp near the border with Greece.
Their arrest and conviction in August rekindled a simmering feud between Athens and Tirana over the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania, estimated by Athens at 400,000. Albanian President Sali Berisha released one of the five on Christmas Eve and the remaining four, on appeal to Albania's Supreme Court, had their sentences reduced and suspended.
Relations between the two Balkan neighbours have since improved considerably. Speaking on behalf of the five, Mr. Bezianis thanked Mr. Kaklamanis for Greece's support during their ordeal, adding "We belong to Hellenism and we are struggling for Hellenism".
Referring to the conditions for the recognition of all former Yugoslav republics, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Radoje Kontic told an international meeting of journalists on Saturday that new Yugoslavia will not recognise the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) before it settles all pending issues with Greece, and, by extension, with the European Union.
Chairman of the Greek Union of Jurists Panayiotis Costakos told the body's general meeting yesterday that an attempt by FYROM to be accepted as a member of the International Union of Jurists under the name of 'Macedonia' had been averted, thanks to the Greek representative's intervention. It was granted observer status only, under the name of FYROM.
The Balkan Forum of the Left yesterday wound up its sessions here with the unanimous adoption of an "appeal for peace in the Balkans" which calls on the warring parties in former Yugoslavia to put an end to the conflict and seek solutions through dialogue.
The two-day forum, entitled "The Balkans on the road to 2000", which brought together 16 party delegations from the Balkans and 12 from the rest of Europe, was organised by the Coalition of the Left and Progress.
The appeal for peace stressed that "nothing can justify the continuation of a war which has caused rivers of blood and brought destruction to the peoples involved, and which poses a threat to peace in the entire Balkans and to European security".
"There are no solutions to violence, to nationalism and militarism," the appeal said, calling for "a cessation of conflict, reconciliation and dialogue".
Participants at the forum underlined that common security, co-operation and development was the only road towards the 21st century.
Closing the sessions, Coalition leader Nikos Constantopoulos said it had been agreed that the forum participants should meet again in one year in Sofia, at the invitation of the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Mr. Constantopoulos said that the Balkan countries should undertake political and diplomatic initiatives to confront the situation in former Yugoslavia and in order for dialogue and co-operation to develop among all the countries of the region. He described the forum as "a meeting of hope and a step towards the future", saying that the two-day meeting in Athens had shown that "there are creative forces which can contribute to the resolution of problems".
Trade and Industry Minister Costas Simitis yesterday expanded on basic policy guidelines in the sectors of industry, trade, research and technology, during a ruling PASOK party one-day conference in Larissa yesterday.
Pointing out that the "era of protectionism and unlimited loans has passed", he stressed that competition through quality and certification of products must be the main concern of Greek firms. In this framework, there was a need to redefine aims and decide which sectors lent themselves to development, and which had to be abandoned.
The development strategy of Greek businesses should involve co-operation between them, in the framework of sectors of similar enterprises. The crucial element (for survival) in the globalisation of markets now is not size, but the ability of firms to adapt to modern demands.
Greece has many small and medium size enterprises which are favoured by this element, but must modernise in structure, technology, operational methods and human potential. The new markets in the Balkans and eastern Europe must be the main field of action for Greek trade, but this should not involve the transfer of productive activities at the expense of employment at home.
"The policy of the state vis-u-vis all these," said Mr. Simitis, "will be to create a favourable framework so that it is firms that develop, and not their subsidisation. Let us all find solutions at this crucial transitional period. Do not expect everything from the government." He made it clear that the government would not meet sectoral demands when these came into conflict with consumers' interests.