Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou dismissed calls from the main opposition leader for early elections yesterday, saying Miltiades Evert would have to "wait".
"Mr. Evert will have to wait until the end of the (government's present) four-year mandate and then try again after another four-year mandate, if he is still leader of (the main opposition party) New Democracy then," Mr. Papandreou told reporters on the island of Tinos, where he was on a pilgrimage to the Church of Virgin Mary.
Earlier in the day, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said Mr. Evert's call for early elections was "a nice idea but unfortunate." He also said he found Mr. Evert to be "going too far" with his criticism of the government over decisions taken by the previous Mitsotakis government, adding that Mr. Evert's criticism of the policies of the previous conservative government while calling for the same policies were "paradoxical" and a "contradiction in terms". He advised Mr. Evert that silence on this issue was the wisest course.
Mr. Venizelos said the previous government's practice of privatizing state-owned firms with insufficient conditions posed a dilemma for the current administration. "Either the government can cancel the contract (of sale) and close down the firm or closely follow developments with an eye to assisting," he said. "The government has selected the second alternative."
Mr. Venizelos further added he hoped that the deadline for the privatization of the Skaramangas Shipyards by the European Union at the end of this month would be extended "since the procedure has begun." The international tender for the shipyards drew one bid, from the Peratikos Group, which said a fortnight ago that it was withdrawing its offer and also shutting down the Elefsina Shipyards.
Concerning the revised contract for the Spata airport, the spokesman said the airport was "necessary" and "beneficial". "All the (present) government did was to convert an unfavorable (for Greece) agreement, initialed by the Mitsotakis government, to a favorable deal for the Greek state," he said.
"The prime minister, divorced from reality, a permanent tourist in political life, in the light of day sees a midsummer's night dreams," Mr. Evert responded yesterday in Zakynthos. "But it's not his fault," he added. "It's the fault of those who support and bear him and (both the premier and his colleagues) are responsible for the country."
Earlier in Aigion, he said: "Since I was young I had one goal, to be close to the people. As long as I can, I will be close to the people... when I feel that I can no longer be, then I will withdraw".
Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras attacked both ruling party PASOK and main opposition New Democracy yesterday, saying his party was ready to meet the challenge posed by potential early elections. "The period is neither black nor white, but gray and could give birth to elections," he told reporters upon arrival in Iraklion, Crete, for a three-day tour of the Lasithi prefecture.
Mr. Samaras said that Political Spring was the only party able to lead the country's economic development, stressing that the party's five-year development plan related to Greece's convergence to the European Union.
Referring to the Elefsina Shipyards crisis, Mr. Samaras said that PASOK and ND were equally responsible for the crisis. "It is obvious that their views over these issues are identical, as it is also clear that they do not show any sensitivity for the problem," he added.
Referring to National Economy Minister Yiannos Papantoniou's statements Wednesday that things were looking positive in the economic sector, Mr. Samaras said: "Mr. Papantoniou believes the only achievement in the economy which can be accredited to PASOK is inflation and its decrease. He is mistaken, however, because the so-called inflationary nucleus has not really fallen and the government is wrong to celebrate."
Regarding the tour by US presidential adviser George Stephanopoulos to Ankara, Athens and Nicosia, Mr. Samaras said he was disappointed. "I expected (Mr. Stephanopoulos) to have greater sensitivity to the issue of the occupation of Cyprus," he said. "However, he spoke (as though there were) similar and equal distances between assailant and victim".
Meanwhile, in a statement while touring the island of Zakynthos, Coalition of the Left and Progress leader Nikos Constantopoulos called for a complete change in government policy. Mr. Constantopoulos said the spectacle of various ministers each claiming to be undermined was a blatant example of failure.
Referring to foreign policy, Mr. Constantopoulos said Greece's absence from developments in the Balkans was tragic and proposed a strengthening of diplomatic initiatives for peace in former Yugoslavia and the lifting of the embargo imposed on Serbia.
The first Greek claims for reparations from Germany, filed by private Greek citizens, will be heard in the courts next month, a press conference was told yesterday. "In Viotia prefecture alone, more than 2,500 people have filed for war reparations," Viotia Prefect Yiannis Stamoulis told reporters. "But all (54) prefectures around the country have been notified of our initiative and we expect thousands more claims."
According to the Viotia initiative, Greek citizens will be able to file suit individually for compensation or initiate proceedings through local government organizations. The local government initiative to take up the cause of thousands of Greeks who suffered under the Nazi occupation of Greece, Mr. Stamoulis said, was based on the view that the various legal obstacles which had previously blocked compensation claims no longer existed.
According to professor of international law at the Panteion University, Stelios Perrakis, Greek court decisions can be executed in Germany, in line with the provisions of the 1968 Brussels Agreement, which Greece ratified in 1988. A press statement said total damages could run to $35 billion.
"Germany was responsible for the bloodshed in Europe and after the war it emerged victorious in the economic sector with the aid of the allies. It is the duty of today's Germany to pay back for the war crimes, the crimes against humanity and the crimes against peace. Once it has fulfilled these obligations, then Germany can behave in a generous manner towards other countries which were not even affected by the bloodshed of World War II... I am referring, of course, to our neighbor, Turkey," Mr. Stamoulis said.
The Nazi response to fierce Greek resistance to the German 1941-1944 occupation was characterized by mass executions in many villages and towns around the country and razed villages. The prefecture of Viotia was one of the areas that suffered greatly. The bustling 50,000-strong Jewish population in the northern capital of Thessaloniki was decimated in six months in 1943; fewer than 2,000 people survived the Nazi concentration camps to which they were deported.
The issue of war reparations has been simmering for some time: in January this year the Professional and Craft Industry chambers of Thessaloniki said they were setting up a body to look into the issue and estimated claims would run to $30 billion, double Greece's then-foreign exchange reserves and a quarter of the total public debt.
And last week, Harilaos Florakis, a former resistance fighter and honorary president of the Communist Party of Greece, called on the government to move on the matter.
Asked why Greece had so far made no move to seek reparations from Germany, Mr. Stamoulis said "relations between states are governed by a logic of their own". He added, however, that he had been assured by the competent ministers that the government viewed the local government initiative favorably.
On Wednesday, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said claims for damages by individuals was a 'private matter' but that the government would deal with the political issues of reparations "in a manner appropriate to national interests".
Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias arrived in Ioannina, northern Greece, yesterday where he is due to begin consultations on the crisis in the Balkans and economic issues with Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts tomorrow. Terming the series of meetings "very important", Mr. Papoulias confirmed issues related to the crisis in the Balkans would be discussed.
At the same time, delegations from the three countries would discuss plans for important economic programmes, primarily concerning the building of major road projects included in inter-European networks.
A solution is also expected to be promoted to the construction of a bridge spanning the Danube, linking Bulgaria with Romania. The two countries have been unable to agree on the bridge's exact location. The road projects, which has prompted great interest from Greek firms, are to link Greece with the rest of Europe and with Russia.
On the question of the Bosnian crisis, Mr. Papoulias said the deaths of the three US diplomats was a serious blow but expressed optimism that peace efforts towards finding a peaceful solution to the problem would continue.
The "chronic, latent crisis of the Cyprus problem" was brought up yesterday during the discussion of a UN secretary-general's report on the necessity of measures to reinforce safety and co-operation in the Mediterranean at a UN General Assembly committee.
In a letter, distributed as a General Assembly document, Russia said it retained close historic, geopolitical, financial and cultural ties with the countries of the Mediterranean and expressed content at certain "positive developments in the region, wit h the promotion of the peace process in the Middle East." But Russia expressed deep concern at the existence of restraining factors threatening peace and security, such as "the Balkan conflict and the differences between Greece and Turkey."
According to the document, Russia calls for the detailed examination of the immense political and geographical importance of "the close inter-dependence of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea basin, as well as the common interests shared amongst the states in the region for the solution of the regional problems."
Russia also proposed to participate in the capacity of observer in a Mediterranean Forum in the likelihood that this is established. Russia also said that the United Nations can contribute a great deal to the process of reinforcing stability in the region.
Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America told reporters yesterday that Greece was going through difficult times. "Times are critical because Greece is surrounded by 'non-friends'," the archbishop said upon arriving on the island of Hios. "In the Balkans, our country is surrounded by a ring," he said, "but the Greeks know how to break through it."
Iakovos is visiting Hios at the invitation of Greek shipowner Lucas Ktistakis. He is reported to be scheduled to meet on Saturday with President Kostis Stephanopoulos. The archbishop will inaugurate a church at the army camp of Giala on the island and will return to Athens on Saturday evening.
Communist Party of Greece (KKE) deputy Stratis Korakas has addressed a letter to Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Miguel Martinez, calling for the immediate dispatch of a CoE delegation to Turkey to examine the situation existing in Turkish prisons.
Mr. Korakas also urged Mr. Martinez to make the necessary representations to the Turkish government on respect for human rights in Turkish prisons, the Geneva Convention to end torture and murder in prisons and put an end to attacks against Kurdish villages. He said he was distraught by what he had seen during his recent visit to Istanbul and noted a public prosecutor's refusal to allow him to visit prisons, invoking an order by his minister.
Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller visited the widow and children of the late former Greek Moslem deputy Ahmed Sadiq. Sadiq was killed when his car ran into a tractor in northern Greece last month. His wife and children, who were in the car at the time, were injured in the crash.
Ms Ciller visited the members of the Sadiq family in a hospital in Istanbul where they have been receiving treatment. The visit took place during the prime minister's visit to Istanbul, which ended Tuesday.
The Turkish press agency Anatolia said Ms Ciller has shown personal concern for the education of Sadiq's children.
During her visit to Istanbul, Ms Ciller also visited Greek Moslem cleric Mehmet Emin Aga, who has been admitted to an Istanbul hospital following his release from a Greek prison recently, where he served six months for encroachment of religious authority.
Mr. Aga, a self-proclaimed mufti of the Greek Moslem minority in Xanthi in the northeastern region of Thrace, was freed after paying off the rest of his 10-month prison sentence.
***** Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou will participate in the informal EU summit in Mallorca late next month, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday.
***** Parliament yesterday voted in favor of a draft bill providing for the establishment of three national inter-party committees to oversee foreign policy, education and public administration issues. All the opposition parties voted against the draft bill and it is not yet clear whether any opposition deputies will participate in the committees.
***** Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos yesterday reiterated Greece's position for a political or diplomatic solution to the crisis in former Yugoslavia, saying it was the only "just and viable solution" and that the government was "closely watching with concern and interest developments in the country."
***** Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis has received the unanimous resolution of the New Zealand Parliament condemning the decision of French President Jacques Chirac to resume nuclear testing in the southern Pacific. The resolution, sent by Mr. Kaklamanis' New Zealand counterpart, Peter Tapsell, calls on France and China to scrap their nuclear testing programmes and close down all testing installations.
***** Foreign Ministry spokesman Costas Bikas yesterday expressed the government's grief for the victims of a bomb attack in Jerusalem on Monday. Four people were killed and 100 wounded by a suicide bomber from the Islamic Hamas movement in a morning rush-hour bus attack. Mr. Bikas expressed the hope that the attack would not create obstacles to the ongoing Middle East peace process.