Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias said yesterday that the meetings between Serb President Slobodan Milosevic and US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke in Belgrade were of "decisive importance" for peace in the war-torn former Yugoslavia. He said he was optimistic that a peaceful solution to the Bosnian crisis was near.
His feelings were echoed by government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos who said that the optimism sprang from the acceptance of the US peace plan as well as from the meetings between Mr. Milosevic and Mr. Holbrooke.
"After the tragic hours, we are near a path for the peaceful resolution of the problem," Mr. Papoulias told reporters after briefing main opposition New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert on the latest developments in the Yugoslav crisis. He said that, after the Milosevic-Holbrooke meeting which was planned for later yesterday, "perhaps an epilogue of success will be written". But Mr. Papoulias expressed reserve "because every time we are near a solution something happens and we are taken two steps backwards".
Asked whether "certain powers are undermining the peace process", Mr. Papoulias replied: "There are powers on all sides that breed on war." The Greek foreign minister reiterated that "air raids do not help and do not serve as a 'cold shower' on the sides involved", and said the time was "ripe for advancing the peace process".
Mr. Papoulias further said that the US, backed by the European Union and Moscow, "should be praised" (for their mediation efforts). He disclosed that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had sent Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou a copy of the text that he had sent to former US President Jimmy Carter, while he himself (Mr. Papoulias) had met with a delegation of the Bosnian Serb leader in Athens.
Mr. Papoulias described as positive Mr. Karadzic' participation in the Serb delegation (to the peace talks), adding "we all support what is taking place at this time in Belgrade". Asked whether he planned to go to Belgrade, Mr. Papoulias replied: "If it is necessary, I am prepared to do so." Mr. Papoulias said he had repeated telephone contacts with his Serbian counterpart.
During the meeting, Mr. Papoulias and Mr. Evert also discussed Greek-Albanian relations in the light of Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi's two-day visit which started yesterday, and Mr. Evert's trip next Monday to Paris. They further discussed the FYROM issue, in view of Monday's debate in the Council of Europe on that country's membership application.
Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos told reporters that the optimism for a peaceful solution sprang from the acceptance of the US peace plan, which he described as "very positive", as well as from the meetings between Mr. Milosevic and Mr. Holbrooke, who is expected to visit Greece shortly.
Replying to questions, Mr. Venizelos said that Greece had from the outset expressed disagreement with military operations in the region. He described as "strange, peculiar and unprecedented" the fact that a large-scale military operation was being carried out at a time when a diplomatic initiative was underway for peace in the region. "What is important," he added, "is that the peace process is not interrupted and that a political solution be found".
Asked to comment on Moscow's position, as expressed by President Boris Yeltsin's spokesman, Mr. Venizelos said that the unchanging target of both Greece and Russia was the attainment of a peaceful solution in Bosnia. Mr. Venizelos also remarked that it was the first time that the United Nations had reached a conclusion (as to the side responsible for Monday's mortar attack on Sarajevo) "so quickly".
On the participation of Turkish aircraft in the NATO operations in Bosnia, Mr. Venizelos said that Greece had strongly objected to this participation and that its objections "are now well understood".
Former premier Constantine Mitsotakis also expressed deep concern yesterday over the situation in former Yugoslavia. "The prospects are quite clear. We are either heading for peace or for a Balkan war. I should also like to stress that peace can only be founded on (Serb) President Slobodan Milosevic," Mr. Mitsotakis said.
The honorary president of the main opposition New Democracy party added that "they who presently have the responsibility must bear in mind that there are certain margins of tolerance which should not be overstepped".
"This is a great danger... they must not wrong any side but I am afraid that in their efforts to help those who they perceive to perhaps be the weaker side they are making a big mistake in their behavior towards the Serbs," Mr. Mitsotakis said.
Political Spring party leader, Antonis Samaras told the press that "international hypocrisy, separating civilians (in Yugoslavia) into good Moslems and Croats and bad Orthodox" continued to reign. "It is an unacceptable international phenomenon," he said. "In Greece, just a few of us dare to say it clearly," he added.
Coalition of the Left and Progress leader Nikos Constantopoulos yesterday also linked the issue of peace in former Yugoslavia to the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Speaking to reporters in Katerini, Mr. Constantopoulos said the Greek government contradicted itself and was irrational in saying it wanted to promote a peaceful solution while keeping the issue of FYROM open and in saying that it supported the lifting of the embargo against Serbia but insisted on the embargo against FYROM.
In a similar announcement, the Greek Communist Party of the Interior-Renewal Communist and Ecological Left (KKE es-AKOA) condemned the NATO alliance's intervention in Bosnia as well as "nationalism of all kinds which leads Serbs, Croats and Bosnians to disaster." It said the latest developments revealed the repulsive face of the New Order about to be imposed on the present world.
Meanwhile, in a demonstration in Thessaloniki yesterday, hundreds of people shouted "Americans murderers of peoples", "Hands off Bosnia" and "No to war." The demonstration, condemning NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serbs, was organized in Thessaloniki by the local party organization of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi kicked off his two-day visit to Athens yesterday with extensive talks with his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias. Mr. Serreqi told the ANA that the latest developments in Bosnia, together with Belgrade's bid to settle Croatian Serb refugees in Kosovo, were among the issues discussed in the first round of scheduled talks.
Albania has voiced strong opposition to the re-settlement of Krajina Serb refugees in Kosovo, saying it could heighten ethnic tension in the volatile Serb province. Ethnic Albanians make up 90 per cent of the Kossovo's population of two million plus. Belgrade has begun resettling large numbers of Serb refugees who were forced to flee their homes in the Krajina enclave after a Croatian sting offensive earlier this month.
Mr. Serreqi said talks on Greek-Albanian bilateral issues would continue today. The two men will hold a joint press conference later. It is probable that agreements on the control of illegal immigration and seasonal work for Albanians will be signed but an agreement on the establishment of schools for the ethnic Greek minority still appears to be pending.
Greek Foreign Ministry officials said the talks would focus on these tenacious problems, such as the establishment of ethnic Greek minority schools in Albania and the status of about 150,000 illegal Albanian immigrants in Greece.
The contentious issues have been tackled by bilateral committees set up after Mr. Papoulias made a fence-mending visit to Albania in March. Then, Tirana pledged to ensure the opening of Greek minority schools in exchange for legalization of Albanian workers in Greece.
Political Spring party leader Antonis Samaras yesterday said the proper operation of minority schools for the ethnic Greek minority in Albania should constitute a precondition for the development of Greek-Albanian relations.
"Greek-Albanian relations must and can be improved," he added. He said that improvement in relations between the two neighboring countries should follow "the enlargement of the freedoms of Northern Epirots (ethnic Greeks in Albania), starting with the priority issue of the (proper) operation of the schools of the Greek minority."
Serb President Slobodan Milosevic yesterday received Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos and exchanged views on bilateral relations and the latest developments in the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Avramopoulos told reporters after wards that discussion had been constructive and that the Serbian president appeared optimistic on the course of the peace process. He declined further comment because, as he said, the process was in progress, and any statements by parties not involved in it might create problems.
The mayor set out an initiative of the Athens municipal authority, providing for meetings of all mayors of the capitals of southeastern European countries in Athens. He announced that his counterpart in Belgrade had accepted the invitation to visit Athens in October.
Mr. Avramopoulos attended the opening of a basketball tournament organized for the provision of humanitarian aid to the Serb refugees from Krajina, in which two Greek teams, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, are participating.
The Foreign Ministry said yesterday that Athens was maintaining contact with Russia on the latest developments in the Balkans and that Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who is due in Thessaloniki next week, would meet with his Greek counterpart and , probably, with the prime minister.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Costas Bikas told reporters Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias had a "lengthy" telephone discussion at noon today with Mr. Kozyrev during which "the positions of Greece and Russia on the Bosnian problem coincided".
Mr. Bikas expressed optimism that the peace process would soon show results. He said Mr. Kozyrev was due to arrive in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, next Friday and not Athens as originally scheduled.
While there he will hold talks with Mr. Papoulias who will be in the northern Greek capital with Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou for the opening of the annual Thessaloniki International Trade Fair on September 8.
Mr. Bikas did not rule out a Papandreou-Kozyrev meeting while government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said a meeting between the Greek prime minister and the Russian minister was "very likely".
Foreign Ministry sources said Mr. Papoulias was in "constant telephone contact" with his Serbian counterpart Milan Milutinovic who Wednesday night expressed optimism that the Bosnia peace process would soon make headway.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry officials reportedly voiced "displeasure" with the Spanish European Union presidency's failure to call an urgent meeting of the EU foreign ministers council to discuss the Bosnia crisis. The officials reportedly said a special session of EU foreign ministers would not only contribute to the peace process but also make Europe's presence felt in developments on the Yugoslav crisis.
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and ruling party PASOK executive bureau member and European commissioner Christos Papoutsis held talks yesterday on European-related issues.
Sources said the meeting also centered on domestic policy issues. The same source s said that Mr. Papoutsis feels that if there are going to be changes, either in the government or the ruling party, these should be slowly-paced.
In another development, deputy and former minister Theodoros Pangalos, deputy and former EU commissioner Vasso Papandreou, Industry Minister Costas Simitis and PASOK Eurodeputy Paraskevas Avgerinos held a meeting yesterday to discuss government and party-related issues, sources said.
The Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that Italian Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli would visit Athens on September 14 and the Tunisian foreign minister was also expected in Athens for a two-day visit on September 13.
A draft agreement providing for co-operation between Greece and China in the shipping sector was initialed yesterday at the conclusion of four days of negotiations between Merchant Marine Ministry officials and a delegation from the People's Republic of China.
The final agreement will be officially signed by Merchant Marine Minister George Katsifaras and his Chinese counterpart during the minister's forthcoming visit to Beijing. The Chinese delegation at the talks was headed by Hu Hanxiang, general director of marine transport of the Chinese Ministry of Communications.
The agreement provides for the implementation of principles such as free and fair competition, non-discrimination in international marine transport, favored nation status treatment, the facilitation of the movement of seamen during their stay in the ports of the two countries, reduced harbor and navigation dues and the granting of every possible assistance to the vessels of the two countries in the event of shipwreck or running aground.
The Athens Commerce and Industry Chamber (EBEA) announced that it was organizing a Greek business delegation to visit Iran between September 29 and October 6. The visit is being held with the co-operation of the Iranian Embassy and aims at bringing together entrepreneurs from both sides for possible co-operation in the trade and industry sections and the establishment of joint ventures.
A nationwide three-hour work stoppage organized by the General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) will be held today in a particularly tense atmosphere following the recent closures of factories and uncertainty over the future of the country's major shipyards. GSEE, labor centers and labor federations have called on workers to participate in the stoppage between 7am and 10am this morning.
The stoppage has been called to condemn the "adventurist, extortionate actions" of employers, to issue a warning that the workers of Greece are determined to protect jobs and the fabric of society and in support of demands for a national policy on development and employment. GSEE said in a statement that it was "radically opposed" to the "makeshift" solution announced by the government as to the future of Skaramangas Shipyards and expressed support for the proposals of the yards' labor union.
An interministerial committee Tuesday gave the green light for a proposal to be examined from an international consortium wishing to purchase Skaramangas Shipyards, the largest shipbuilding and ship-repair yards in the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos yesterday told the press that Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was closely following developments in the shipyards issue. He reiterated that the essence of the interministerial committee on the bid for the Skaramangas Shipyards was that the offer should be carefully examined.
In another development, yesterday, the GSEE presidium had separate meetings with main opposition New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert and Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras, to whom they set out the confederation's positions on the problems in industry, the urgent need for a development policy, unemployment, wages and pensions.
Describing the talks as "constructive", Mr. Evert said that unemployment in Greece had already surpassed the European Union average. According to ND estimates, he added, unemployment could exceed the "nightmarish" figure of 15 per cent within the next four years. He assured the GSEE that he would carefully examine its positions and that his party would consistently back political dialogue with the trade unions.
Mr. Samaras said that the "nightmarish" rise in unemployment was the result of the austerity policy of the both the ruling PASOK party and ND. He predicted that if austerity continued, thousands of Greek undertakings would either close down or be taken over by foreign multinationals.
Later in the day, ND spokesman Vassilis Manginas criticized the government of "total inability to save the shipbuilding and ship-repair industry." Mr. Manginas said that the government "with its not-serious, non-transparent and illegal actions it exposes Greece in Europe and internationally."
Workers' representatives from Elefsina Shipyards, meanwhile, met yesterday with the chairman of the Commercial Bank of Greece, Panayiotis Poulis.
The Industry Ministry and Elefsina Shipyards workers last week agreed on how to save the yards' 2,000 jobs and keep it operating, one week after a surprise announcement by the yards' proprietors, the Peratikos Group, that it was shutting down the yards and suspending operations in Greece.
The president of the workers' union, Mr. Karabournos, told the ANA after the meeting that he considered Mr. Poulis' assurances particularly positive and that he had reservations only as to whether they would indeed be implemented.
According to Mr. Karabournos, Mr. Poulis had promised that immediately following the decision of the competent court concerning the terms under which the undertaking will be liquidated, the administration of the yards' would be assisted by two managers familiar with the shipbuilding and ship-repair sector.
Two major international shipbuilding companies will undertake as development advisers, to draw up an investment proposal for the modernization of the yards. Sources say one will be the Japanese Mitsubishi company.
At the end of September, it is hoped that work will begin on the construction of tank landing craft for the Hellenic Navy and rolling stock for the Greek Railways Organization.
Six people were killed last night when a Mali air force plane crashed into a field in Thessaloniki. The plane, a Russian-made Antonov 26, was traveling from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, when the pilot told Thessaloniki air control that it had run out of fuel.
The plane was unable to reach the runway and came down in a field. Sources said the victims were all passengers on the plane and that there were no other casualties on the ground.
Private deposits increased by 436 billion drachmas during the first seven months of the year, compared to an increase of 1,288 billion drachmas in the corresponding period last year, according to latest figures from the Bank of Greece. This increase was noted only in savings deposits while time and sight deposits decreased.
In July, savings bank deposits amounted to 9.39 trillion drachmas, time deposits to 2.89 trillion drachmas and sight deposits to 1.08 trillion drachmas. Investments in repos were also down by 231 billion drachmas as against a decrease of 956 billion drachmas in the corresponding period last year. Total investments in repos was 86.4 billion drachmas in July.
Investments in bank bonds increased by 7.4 billion drachmas, down from 45.9 billion drachmas last year. Net private investments in short-term treasury bills have increased considerably, amounting to 207 billion drachmas in the January-July 1995 period compared to 45 billion drachmas in the corresponding period last year. Investments in short-term dollar bonds were lower than corresponding bond payoffs.
On the contrary, investments in long-term bonds increased considerably. According to the Bank of Greece, the rate of increase in the supply of money in a wider sense (M3) in July 1995 was 7.3 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year.
Although the rate of monetary expansion was smaller in June (6.1 per cent), the situation does not justify concern since the change in money supply remains within the limits of the annual monetary target which is 7-9 per cent.
The economy's wider liquidity indicator (M4) increased 13.4 per cent in July compared to last July. It is reminded that the prediction for the liquidity increase, which is considered consistent with the target set by the government for inflation this year, is 11-13 per cent.
Olympic Airways' deficit has been reduced considerably during the first half of the year, according to a board meeting held on Wednesday. The deficit had been 17.3 billion drachmas in the first half of 1994, but decreased by 5.3 billion drachmas, registering an impressive and stable reduction.
Passenger traffic increased five per cent in the first half of 1995, which is due to a considerable improvement in its domestic network. Due to the seasonal nature of Olympic's work every year, economic recovery and primarily an increase in revenues is observed in the second half of the year. In this context, the airline justifiably expects to gain profits this year for the first time since 1978.
The last president of the now-defunct Soviet Union and architect of perestroika Mikhail Gorbachev will be in Athens on September 4 to take part in a round-table discussion on "the fate of democracy in the 21st century".
Also taking part in the discussion will be Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides, former French premier Michel Rocard, Greek Parliament Speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis and New York University President John Brademas.
Leon Karapanayiotis, editor-in-chief at the Athens daily Ta Nea, will chair the discussion. The discussion is being held to mark the official opening of a three-day international conference "The Athens Meeting".
En route to Athens, Mr. Gorbachev will visit the island of Hios at the invitation of a Greek shipowner. During his stay here, he will meet with the country's political leaders and have talks with President Kostis Stephanopoulos.
Mr. Gorbachev will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Durham during his visit to Athens, at a function to be attended by the dean of the university as well as renowned actor Peter Ustinov.
The Vice-President of the United States, Al Gore, may attend a symposium marking the 1,900th anniversary of St. John the Divine's vision of the Apocalypse on the Aegean island of Patmos. "Mr. Gore has been invited ... and it is very possible that he will attend," said government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos.
The week-long cruise symposium is organized under the auspices of Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Duke of Edinburgh, president of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The symposium is estimated to cost 250 million drachmas, 100 million of which is donated by the National Bank of Greece and the Commercial Bank.
"About 100 scientists, businessmen, administrators and writers will attend to discuss man's relation with the environment in light of current scientific knowledge and spiritual understanding," organizers said.
Mr. Venizelos said Pope John Paul II would not take part in the symposium, titled "Apocalypse and the Environment." He said Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's attendance was not definite.
To mark the anniversary, a series of celebrations have been planned, including the week-long floating symposium in the eastern Mediterranean.
In a press conference yesterday, the Patriarch's spokesman and president of the symposium scientific committee, Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamos, said the international meeting "is considered as a very proper opportunity for the Orthodox Church to show its concern for the protection of the environment." "We believe that without the contribution of the Church, neither politicians nor scientists can solve the ecological problem," he added.
In a message marking International Environment Day today, which was introduced by the late Patriarch Demetrios of Constantinople, Patriarch Vartholomeos said man was responsible for maintaining the creations of God.
A nuclear-propelled US Navy bathyscaphe will film salvage work on the recently-discovered WWI wreck of the British steamer 'Brittanic', the Navy General Staff announced today. The Brittanic was discovered by an 11-man Greek salvage team in the open seas off the island of Kea, east of Attica last week. The bathyscaphe is accompanied by the US Navy's sister ship "Carolyn Quest" which has a Greek officer on board as a representative of the Greek Navy.